For the third time in the last 20 years, the Esphigmenos Monastery on Mount Athos and its 118 monks are in direct confrontation with the police who have announced an operation to evict them.

In 2006 and 2013 there were widespread incidents with police forces attempting to remove the monks, who the judiciary says illegally occupy the monastery’s premises.

The latest round of confrontation began last Tuesday (16/7) when the police station in Karyes requested in writing from the Holy Diocese of Mount Athos permission to proceed with an operation to evict the monks.

According to reports, hundreds of police officers in heavy vehicles are at a spot near the monastery, ready to raid.

Conflict with history

The monastery has taken a hard line against the Patriarchate since at least 1972, having broken off all contact. Among other things, it disagrees with meetings with representatives of the Roman Catholic Church the rift remains unbridgeable.

In 2002 the old brotherhood was declared illegal and the monks were declared “squatters” who must leave the monastery and were excluded from state and European funds. For the authorities, the new brotherhood of Esfigmenou in Karyes, founded in 2005, is officially recognized as legitimate.

In the summer of 2013, in fact, members of the new community tried to evict the monks of the old one from the monastery’s convent in Karyes. Characteristic at the time was the image of a monk of the old monastery holding in his hand a Molotov cocktail bomb, ready to throw it at the police.

There are pending convictions against members of the old monastery with sentences of up to nine years in prison, as well as decisions to deport them from Mount Athos. One of those convicted is the monk with the Molotov cocktail.

What the monks argue

Meanwhile, a protest rally was held in Ouranoupoli on Sunday by supporters of the old brotherhood. The faithful, who arrived in Ouranoupolis from all over the country, expressed their opposition to any police intervention in the Esfigmenou Monastery.

Elder Methodios, one of those convicted for the 2013 incidents, told ThessToday.gr that in case of a police operation “we are ready to defend the monastery to the death.”

“This is our spiritual home. Here we were born spiritually and here we will die,” he explained while saying that “all the police officers do is to be employees, I don’t misunderstand them. We have old men who have lived here for 50, 60, 70 years. They forbid us from entering the monastery to go and get food. We carry things on our backs and walk one and a half kilometers. Should we let the old people die because two people want to? For God’s sake, where are we?”

“We are accused of things that are not true, that we are training Russians. We will accommodate whoever comes, we will give them a piece of bread to eat. Even if he is a Turk, we will offer him a glass of water. And this is done at our own expense, because they have taken everything from us. Sometimes I don’t even have 5 euros to buy something for an old monk. I owe to the other brothers who help us,” he said, among other things.

He believes that the monks “have received a persecution of early Christianity. Not from enemies, but from the Patriarch himself, who should be our father, as well as from the Holy Community.” He finally explains that “our difference with the Patriarch is spiritual. We do not consider him orthodox in what he does, since his actions are contrary to the Orthodox Church and therefore we do not mention him.”

He claims, finally, that “European money is the Trojan horse that will destroy Mount Athos” as it will allow women to enter the Athos peninsula at the request of the EU.