Mt. Athos, November 14, 2024
Photo: tilegrafimanews.gr
After years of confrontation with the Greek state and the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Esphigmenou Monastery is appealing to the UN Human Rights Committee for the first time, denouncing what it characterizes as the systematic persecution and violation of its religious freedoms.
Esphigmenou is an Old Calendarist monastery, in schism from the rest of Mt. Athos and the broader Orthodox world.
In the appeal published by tilegrafimanews.gr, the monastery cites violations of Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which protects religious freedom. In its official announcement, Esphigmenou accuses the Greek state of systematically obstructing the monks’ right to follow traditional Orthodox practices as taught by their fathers, calling it a “flagrant violation” of their religious rights.
The situation stems from a long-standing conflict over the monastery’s strict stance, which has intensified in recent years. In its appeal, the brotherhood under the Abbot Archimandrite warns that its position has become nearly untenable under mounting pressure. The monks argue that recent government measures, including judicial interventions and restrictions on their access and residence in the monastery, directly violate their religious freedom.
The appeal to the UN Human Rights Committee has drawn significant attention both in Greece and abroad. With the monastery having supporters across many Orthodox countries, the issue is likely to extend beyond Greek borders. The monks are seeking international recognition of their situation and condemnation of the government’s actions, while pledging to pursue all legal avenues to protect their rights.
The case marks a new phase in the ongoing dispute between the monastery and the Greek authorities.
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Esphigmenou has been in schism from the rest of the Holy Mountain, the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the rest of the Orthodox World for many years, in protest against the ecumenistic activity of the Patriarch of Constantinople and other Local Churches with the Catholic Church and other bodies.
While the Athonite monasteries have protested such activity by ceasing to commemorate the Patriarch in the Divine services several times in recent decades, the Esphigmenou brotherhood has gone further by joining a schismatic, Old Calendarist jurisdiction.
The constitution and statutes of the Holy Mountain prohibit monastic cohabitation with the heterodox or schismatics, thus there have been several attempts to evict the monks, including a 2013 incident in which Abbot Methodios and other monks threw Molotov cocktails at the police.
The abbot and another monk initially received 20-year sentences in 2017, with 6 others receiving sentences of 10 years and 4 months, though those sentences were reduced to 17 years and 9 years and 5 months respectively in 2019, and again to 5.5 years and 2 years and 9 months respectively in 2021.
In July 2020, Greek courts ordered the schismatic brotherhood to hand over all territories both on and outside of Mt. Athos to the New Esphigmenou Brotherhood created by Patriarch Bartholomew in 2005, which has been living in the Athonite capital of Karyes. Authorities began evicting monks from the monastery’s properties in Greece later that month.
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