Persecution of Mount Athos' Esphigmenou Monastery by the EP

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UPDATE - NOVEMBER 29, 2006 - The monks have sent a letter to Patriarch Bartholomew and to the Holy Community on Mt. Athos which does his bidding, asking them to lift the blockade of food on the monastery.

They [, the holy Community on Mount Athos] have told Esphigmenou they will not lift the blockade of food, unless the monks agree to receive the food as private individuals rather than who they are, the monks of the Holy and Sacred Monastery of Esphigmenou.

Patriarch Bartholomew has ignored this request, as he has ignored every other request by the monks for dialogue. As [he] waits for the monks to submit or die of starvation, he offers magnificent food and hospitality today to the Pope of Rome. http://Esphigmenou.com

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I was just emailed this very important update:

ESPHIGMENOU MONASTERY-UNDER ATTACK-12-19-06

Dear List members world wide, A call for your help, your Orthodox help, has been issued by Abbot Methodios and the 105 Monks of Esphigmenou Monastery earl today.

Put all other things aside and see how you can assist the besieged fathers who are fighting the battle for Orthodoxy, for all of us worldwide.

Patriarch Bartholomew's hand picked identity thief Monks (5 five of them who have taken the name of the real Monastery) again attacked with sledgehammers, today December 19, 2006, and broke down the wooden entrance door of the Konaki, the administrative building housing eight monks located at Karyes, Mount Athos, injuring several monks who were inside the historic Esphigmenou Monastery building. This is another attempt (2nd, last one was in Nov. 2005) to forcefully take over property belonging to the Esphigmenou Monastery, which is waging a struggle for Holy Orthodoxy and is against unbridled Ecumenism, of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

You can assist by protesting these unprovoked and uncivilized acts by calling the Greek Prime Minister Kosta Karamanlis' office, in Athens Greece. (Cost of phone call, usually less than a dollar) from U.S. Telephone from U.S. for Athens: 011 30 210 3385491; call the Police on Mount Athos 011 30 23770 23260.

Send an Email - but do something to protest these REAL PHYSICAL attacks on the Esphigmenou monks -when they think no one is looking- and the embargo of food, medicine and heating fuel to the Monastery.

These acts, especially just after St. Nicholas Holy Day and just before the Nativity of our LORD are simply unacceptable and the Greek government should be told so by everyone of us.

For more information on this issue visit:
http://www.Esphigmenou.com/

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7 injured as monks storm monastery

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Two groups of monks clashed on Wednesday at a monastery facility in Mt. Athos, resulting in at least seven injuries, police said.

Fighting broke out between a group of rebel monks occupying facilities of the 1,000-year-old monastery of Esphigmenou, and a group of legally recognized monks on the outside.

The rebel monks, unrecognized by the Orthodox Church, reacted strongly when the outsiders attempted to force their way into the monastery's representative offices in Karyes, the administrative center of the medieval community. They were trying to enter in order to begin construction of a new building.

The clashes turned violent as the occupying monks attacked the intruders with crowbars and fire extinguishers, breaking a door down.

Seven monks were reported injured. Four were taken off the peninsula by boat and hospitalized at Polygiros, including two with head wounds, while three more were being taken to hospital, according to Athos police.

Esphigmenou monastery — one of 20 in the all-male medieval community in northern Greece — has been the scene of a long-running dispute between Orthodox Church authorities and rebel monks at Esphigmenou, who bitterly oppose efforts to improve relations between the Orthodox Church and the Vatican.

Both Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, leader of the Orthodox Christian church, and Greece's highest administrative court have ordered their eviction, but the monks have refused to budge.

In October, a Thessaloniki court handed down two-year suspended sentences against nine monks and former monastery members for illegally occupying Esphigmenou's offices.

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Greek monks clash on Mount Athos, seven injured

By Karolos Grohmann ATHENS (Reuters) - At least seven Greek monks were injured on Wednesday when opposing groups of monks in the Mount Athos monastic community clashed inside a disputed chapel. The monks of the Esfigmenou monastery, which has broken away from the 19 other monasteries on the male-only community and refuses to recognise the Ecumenical Patriarch as the head of the Orthodox faith, said they had come under attack.

"We were inside the chapel when a group of monks broke in with sledgehammers and crowbars and attacked us," Father Methodios, the abbot of Esfigmenou, told state television. "How could they do this during this time of peace, days before Christmas?" He said the opposing monks had been appointed to replaced them by the community's top administrative body. Three of those injured belonged to the alleged attackers. The chapel belonging to the monastery was in Karies, the capital of the community in the mountains of northern Greece. The community has been trying to evict the rebel monks for years, saying they had no place there since they refuse to fall under the patriarchate's jurisdiction. Under Greece's constitution, the Patriarchate has supreme spiritual authority over the semi-autonomous region.

"We did not provoke them. They came to throw us out of the chapel that is ours and we defended ourselves," Father Methodios said. "They hit us and we defended ourselves." Holy community representatives could not be reached for a comment. Police confirmed seven monks had been taken to a hospital and several of them were being treated for head wounds. Esfigmenou monks say the 1,000-year-old monastery is theirs. They have also clashed before with police sent to evict them. The monks have sharply criticised attempts to improve ties with the Catholic Church and the Pope. The Mount Athos peninsula is considered as Orthodox Christianity's spiritual home from which all females are banned.

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The latest on Esphigmenou Monastery.

Four injured Monks of Esphigmenou have been expelled by the Greek Police from Mt. Athos, for defending themselves against intruders with crowbars, picks and sledgehammers. The Esphigmenou Fathers were inside the Konaki sleeping at the time of the early morning attack by monks of Patriarch Bartholomew. Three fathers of the Monastery were injured by the attackers of Patriarch Bartholomew, who had in the past, reassured the world that aggressive tactics would not be used against the fathers of the Monastery. The news, is making the wire services, CNN, AP, Reuters, etc but the story that has circulated is that the fathers of Esphigmenou ( the real one) used crowbars, picks, sledgehammers to attack the intruders of Patriarch Bartholomew.

We want to thank the other web sites for picking up the story and publicizing it. For in depth information on the issue visit: http://www.Esphigmenou.com Please call the Greek Prime Minister's Kostas Karamanlis office (011 30 210 3385491) and leave your message or email him at: Pressoffice@Primeminister.gr

[Fr. Panagiotes]

Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople has set up a small group of monks in order to drive out of Mount Athos, the over 100 fathers of Esphigmenou Monastery.

Early this morning, around 6:00 am, this group of hooligan monks broke down the doors of the Monastery's administrative centre in Karyes and attacked the fathers with crowbars. Frs. Mardarios, Chrysostomos and Ambrosios were wounded so badly that they were taken off the Holy Mountain to a hospital in Polygeros and then were transferred to Thessaloniki.

The wounded fathers were charged with disturbing the peace and given a restraining order which forbids their returning to Mount Athos. Fr. Cleopas, who was in charge of the administrative centre, was also arrested and expelled from Mt. Athos.

Only one of the Patriarch's hooligan monks was injured and that is because when another intruder monk swung a crow bar at one of the fathers, he missed and knocked out one of his own band.

All this was precipitated by Patriarch Bartholomew who loves all the heretics but hates the Orthodox.

In Christ,
+Fr. Panagiotes

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ESPHIGMENOU MONKS ATTACKED, HOSPITALIZED

Mount Athos, Greece - In another brutal an unprovoked attack, members of the Patriarch Bartholomew's brotherhood launched a pre-dawn assault on the Esphigmenou building in Karyes, breaking down the door with sledge hammers, and assaulting the Esphigmenou monks inside, sending four to the hospital. Fathers Cleopas, Mardarios, Chrysostom and Ambrosios were hospitalized at Polygero Hospital, 500 miles north of Athens, after having been attacked with crowbars by monks from Patriarch Bartholomew's brotherhood. According to the attending physician, Dr. Athanaseos Papageorgiou, the most seriously injured monk, Fr. Ambrosios, has multiple bodily injuries and a broken skull.
The imposter monks who launched the attack, are under the spiritual authority of Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul, who recognizes these monks as his spiritual children and the monks that have been attacked, assaulted and sent to the hospital as "rebels" who need to return to the fold and obey his personal interpretation of the faith. The monks of the historical monastery of Esphigmenou, who were attacked by the Patriarch's monks, reject all violence as unchristian, and have requested dialogue with Patriarch Bartholomew to clarify his actions and teachings which are in conflict with the teachings of the Orthodox church. So far, Patriarch Bartholomew has ignored these requests for dialogue, preferring instead to persecute them by proxy, using the Greek police and his own sledge hammer wielding monks to do his work.