Mt. Athos, March 9, 2021
Photo: discovergreece.com
At its session yesterday, March 8, the Sacred Community of Mt. Athos, the governing body representing the 20 ruling monasteries of the Holy Mountain, decided to send a letter of support to the Holy Synod of the Cypriot Orthodox Church concerning the protest over the song chosen to represent Cyprus at the international Eurovision singing competition this year.
The Sacred Community and the holy fathers of Mt. Athos state in their letter to Archbishop Chrysostomos and Cyprus and the Holy Synod that they also understand the need to be sensitive to the true traditions of the Cypriot people, reports Pemptousia.
The song, El Diablo (The Devil) by Elena Tsagrinou, should be replaced with one that “reflects the history, culture, and traditions and aspirations” of Cyprus, the Synod stated last week. The song has also sparked controversy among the Orthodox faithful on the island.
Many Athonite monks are themselves Cypriots, and a great many pilgrims to the Holy Mountain come from the island nation. Among them is Abbot Ephraim of Vatopedi Monastery, who also issued his own fiery statement on the matter.
According to the Athonite fathers, the song El Diablo offends the spiritual tradition of Cyprus and the Greek Orthodox conscience of its people.
The Sacred Community calls for the song to be pulled from the competition and congratulates the Cypriot Synod for the stance it took on the matter.
In his own message on the matter, Archimandrite Ephraim of Vatopedi states that, “Cyprus is vying for first place among the member states of the European Union in terms of corruption.”
“By the same token, it is by no means strange that, in the general putrescence prevailing in Cyprus, the toadstool of satanism has sprung up, with the well-known song which will represent Cyprus at the forthcoming European Song Contest. That is simply the cherry on the cake of the general blight,” the abbot writes, not pulling any punches.
Cyprus is at the forefront of doing works of evil, Fr. Ephraim writes, and thus, “it is natural to expect it to reveal the God it venerates and submits to. And that is none other than the devil.”
But it is not that the people have become so morally corrupt, Fr. Ephraim believes, but rather that “key positions have been infiltrated by people of negligible maturity, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.”
“They are now tarnishing the image of the Cypriote people and are improperly insulting and dishonoring all that is holy and sacred,” he continues.
The people of Cyprus, who “walk upon the bones of saints and of the righteous, of friends of Christ,” must rid themselves of such authorities, Abbot Ephraim emphasizes, in order to maintain their Christ-centered Tradition and its sanctity.
The Athonite concludes, explaining the importance of this Tradition:
And this Tradition—which is simultaneously an honor and responsibility for them and their children—is not to be toyed with, nor can it be cast off like a foreign body. Because it is bone of their bones and flesh of their flesh. It’s the truth of their entity as a people, it is the light in their lives, it is their path to the eternal Kingdom of God, it is the point of metaphysical transformation, of attraction, of ignition and inspiration of all their parallel, transitory activities and earthly actions—it is their very life.
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