Mt. Athos, August 1, 2025
Photo: Romfea
Dochariou Monastery on Mt. Athos has issued a public statement explaining why it refused to participate in the recent reception of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, adding to growing evidence of deep divisions within the monastic community over the controversial visit.
The monastery’s statement, released in response to criticism from fellow Orthodox believers, reveals that several monasteries privately opposed the Prime Minister’s visit but chose not to publicly voice their objections. The monks at Dochariou, however, felt compelled to explain their position after “many of our brothers felt bitterness, indignation, pain and were scandalized by what took place during the recent visit,” reports Romfea.
“Our ecclesiastical conscience does not tolerate welcoming with festive bell-ringing the one who through legislation dissolved the foundations of Christian anthropology and family,” the statement reads, referencing Greece’s legalization of same-sex marriage and adoption.
The monastery explained that it “initially expressed our disagreement and ultimately refused to take part in the ecclesiastical and overall reception of the Prime Minister.” The monks emphasized they do not oppose “the institutional sovereignty of the Greek State over the self-governing Athonite peninsula,” but could not in good conscience participate in ceremonial aspects of the visit.
The statement particularly criticizes the Prime Minister for permitting what they call the “desecration of the Divine Person of Christ, the Panagia, and His saints” through artwork displayed in the National Gallery, and for “practically nullifying evangelical truths with various unacceptable decisions.”
Dochariou’s public stance appears to support claims made earlier by cell-dwelling monks who stated that approximately 1,400 of Mt. Athos’s 2,100 monks opposed the Prime Minister’s reception. Those monks had contradicted the official statement from the Sacred Community, which represents the twenty ruling monasteries and had defended the decision to receive Mitsotakis.
The Dochariou statement reveals the monastery also declined to participate in the announced €100 million funding program for Mt. Athos infrastructure, saying they wanted to “cut off the opportunity of those who want an opportunity” and avoid causing scandal to “even one simple soul.”
The monks concluded by affirming their commitment to remain on the Holy Mountain regardless of criticism: “We will stay here; we will celebrate the Divine Liturgy daily, we will cultivate with our own hands from dawn to dusk the gardens of the Holy Mountain and we will care for the flowers that grow on the rocks and cliffs, so they will not be crushed by profane hands.”
The statement provides insight into the internal deliberations surrounding the visit, where monastic tradition typically favors silence over public confrontation. The monastery acknowledged this preference, noting that “the angelic way of life and our monastic identity dictate that we do not make noise, but mourn, that we do not self-promote, but pray in silence.”
Read the full Dochariou statement:
“We don’t slumber. We keep vigil, we beseech and we pray... Say and write whatever you want. We will stay here; we will celebrate the Divine Liturgy daily, we will cultivate the gardens of the Holy Mountain with our own hands from dawn to dusk and we will care for the flowers that grow on the rocks and cliffs, so they won’t be crushed by profane hands.”
The above words of our late Fr. Gregory express us completely and with these we will respond to the accusations of our brothers about alleged transgressions or violations of the Lord’s words.
The angelic way of life and our monastic identity dictate that we don’t make noise, but mourn, that we don’t self-promote, but pray in silence.
Thus, we continue our monastic journey, while humbly serving the countless pilgrims, comforting the despairing people, encouraging true repentance and conversion.
However, because many of our brothers felt bitterness, indignation, pain and were scandalized by what took place during the recent visit of the Prime Minister of Greece to the Holy Mountain, and they even wonder why we who had an opposite view didn’t show our reaction through publications and announcements, we thought to simply and humbly present our reasoning.
As much as we are permitted, because we don’t consider it wise to make “what is done at home” public.
The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is a rule of life for all conscious Christians, laymen and monks.
And we try to obey and keep the commandments of the Lord.
And additionally, what we have received from Holy Fathers and teachers guides us.
“Following their words and examples” and obeying our monastic conscience, we did what we did before God as witness. Initially we expressed our disagreement and ultimately refused to take part in the ecclesiastical and overall reception of the Prime Minister.
We neither oppose nor deny the institutional sovereignty of the Greek state over the self-governing Athonite peninsula of the Holy Mountain.
However, our ecclesiastical conscience doesn’t tolerate welcoming with festive bell-ringing the one who dissolved the foundations of Christian anthropology and family through legislation, presenting the Holy Gospel to the one who practically nullified evangelical truths with various unacceptable decisions, singing “Many Years” as most pious to the one who allowed and continues to allow the desecration of the Divine Person of Christ, the Panagia, and His saints, by displaying and hosting wretched and blasphemous works of bad art in the National Gallery.
If we wanted to receive him, our stance should have been prophetic; both corrective and encouraging toward repentance.
Moreover, this visit showed rather an intention to instrumentalize the Holy Polity and not a pilgrimage disposition, as was also evident from the “profane” announcement of the 100 million program inside the most venerable Church of the Protaton.
A program that doesn’t concern the sustenance of the monks of Athos at all, but the maintenance and improvement of its buildings and infrastructure, and doesn’t constitute a personal gift from each Prime Minister, but an obligation of the Greek state toward this unique monument of our faith and nation.
However, to “cut off the opportunity of those who want an opportunity” and not become causes of scandal to even one simple soul, we declare that we will not participate in the aforementioned announced funding.
We dwell on the Holy Mountain and we believe unshakably that this sacred place is the chosen lot of the Theotokos, her select portion.
The promise she had given to one of its first inhabitants, that is, that she will always fight on our behalf against the arch-evil one, this is what rekindles our zeal, gives wings to our hopes and keeps us on the Holy Mountain; neither the funds nor the donations!
Therefore, you who revere the monks and respect and honor the place of their asceticism, pray to the Lord that we may discern, know, and do His good and perfect will.
Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!
