The Greek government sent riot police to Mount Athos in Northern
Greece this morning, to forcibly remove a group of monks from
Esphigmenou monastery, one of the twenty monasteries that form part of
this famous Eastern orthodox complex.
Esphigmenou monastery is renowned
for the war it has waged against the Ecumenical Patriarchate of
Constantinople which it accuses of betraying the Orthodox Church by
opening ecumenical dialogue with the Vatican.
A war which has been going
on since the 70s.
According to an Associated Press report, the
traditionalist monks threw stones and Molotov cocktails at police and
judicial officials as they attempted to storm the building.
Patriarch
Bartholomew declared the monks of Esphigmenou an illegal brotherhood in
2002 and ordered their eviction. But the monks ignored this, claiming
the Patriarch of Constantinople does not have the power to evict them.
The conflict has been going on for decades: it all began when Paul VI
visited Patriarch Athenagoras in 1967.
The Esphigmenous community
protested against the two religious leaders praying together by famously
raising black flags displaying the message “Orthodoxy or death”.
Patriarch Bartholomew decided to resolve the question by contacting the
Greek Foreign Minister who - according to the complex jurisdiction
regulations which apply to the Hagiorite institutions - is in charge of
the security of the twenty monasteries which make up the monastic
community of Mount Athos.
Over the years, the Greek authorities have
tried almost everything to get the Esphigmenou community to back down.
They even tried cutting off food supplies to the monks, but in vain.
The situation was complicated further after a Greek court granted an
injunction allowing the new brotherhood Bartholomew wants installed, to
replace the old monastic community.
There are 500 thousand Euros at
stake, which the European Union could dish out for restoration work to
be carried out on the 11th century monastery.
But given the current
crisis Greece finds itself in, the funding has been yet another cause
for tension between the rebel monks and Constantinople.
Local sources say about twenty monks have barricaded themselves
inside their monastery. Some supporters apparently joined them this
afternoon.
On the Esphigmenou monastery website,
the monks are calling on faithful to support them and accuse the
government of “giving the green light to the police to raid the
monastery,” ignoring the fact that “this could cause bloodshed among the
monks at Mount Athos.”