Mt. Athos, October 22, 2019
Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.gr
“There is great misinformation about the Patriarch’s visit to Mt. Athos,” writes Orthodox Typos and several other Greek outlets.
The site notes that several Greek outlets have reported that the whole of Mt. Athos came out to give Patriarch Bartholomew a hearty welcome in Karyes, the administrative center of Mt. Athos, on Sunday. For example, Orthodox Times, the English edition of Romfea, published an article entitled, “The warm welcome of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Karyes.”
However, “the truth is completely different,” Orthodox Typos reports.
While Orthodox Times correctly reports that all of the ruling monasteries were represented at the reception except for Konstamonitou, it is also significant that the abbots of another three monasteries did not attend, sending lower representatives instead: Karakallou, Xeropotamou, and St. Paul’s.
It is notable that Karakallou, Xeropotamou, and Konstamonitou Monasteries are under the spiritual guidance of Elder Ephraim of Arizona, and have taken strong Orthodox stands against receiving or recognizing the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”
Moreover, the Sacred Community, the administrative body of Mt. Athos consisting of one representative of each of the 20 monasteries, did not accept Xenophontos Monastery’s invitation to attend the Patriarchal Liturgy on Sunday, where the Patriarch commemorated Epiphany Dumenko, the primate of the OCU.
The Sacred Community also declined to send an official delegation to Epiphany’s enthronement in Kiev in February, and it did not vote to officially recognize the OCU, allowing each monastery to formulate its own stance.
In the end, only 7 abbots attended the Liturgy: of Vatopaidi, Hilandar (Serbian), Dionysiou, Simenopetra, Iveron, Stavronikita, and Pantocrator.
The participation of Fr. Methodius, the abbot of the Serbian Hilandar Monastery, could be surprising for some, given the monastery’s strict stance against the Ukrainian schismatics.
On the other hand, Pantocrator was the first monastery on Mt. Athos to allow a schismatic bishop to serve Liturgy.
