Aetolia-Acarnania, Greece, August 22, 2025
eeod.gr
An archimandrite from the Holy Metropolis of Aetolia and Acarnania has issued a scathing open letter to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, condemning his manner of making the sign of the cross during a controversial July 4th visit to Mt. Athos.
Archimandrite Paul (Danas), who serves as preacher in the Metropolis, opens his letter, published by the Union of Orthodox Journalists, by invoking St. Kosmas the Aetolian, describing him as “the Christ-lover, the model of piety, equal to the Holy Unmercenaries, the Equal-to-the-Apostles, the hieromartyr, the example for martyrs, ascetics and priests, the genuine deacon of Christ the Lord, the teacher of Orthodox dogmas, the nation-awakener and the prophet of the nation.”
“With pain in our souls we watched how you made ‘the sign of the Cross’ when you entered during your visit to the Church of the Protaton in Karyes on the Holy Mountain,” the archimandrite writes. “Truly, was there not someone among your communication advisors to teach you how an Orthodox Christian makes the cross? We are amazed that not even one of the abbots or monks grabbed your ‘profane’ hand to teach you how a Christian crosses himself, or were they ‘dazzled’ by the 100 million you promised them?”
The archimandrite accuses Mitsotakis of using his “profane hand” to close churches during the COVID-19 pandemic, legislate same-sex marriage and adoption rights, and promote the “woke agenda” and the “Islamization of the Greek people.” He also criticizes the Prime Minister’s push for Personal Identity Numbers, which he characterizes as leading to “the global dictatorship of the Antichrist.”
“Finally, we would like to ask you: Is the sign you made when you entered the Church of the Protaton papist, masonic, or satanic? Because it reminds us of the inverted Cross,” Fr. Paul writes.
The Prime Minister’s visit to Mt. Athos proved deeply divisive, with representatives from only 8 of the 20 monasteries attending his official reception. A group of Athonite monks reported that the majority of the monastic community opposed his visit.
The ruling monastery of Dochariou issued an official statement explaining its refusal to participate, stating that their “ecclesiastical conscience doesn’t tolerate welcoming with festive bell-ringing the one who dissolved the foundations of Christian anthropology and family through legislation.” They criticized presenting the Holy Gospel to someone who “practically nullified evangelical truths with various unacceptable decisions” and refused to sing “Many Years” to one who “allowed and continues to allow the desecration of the Divine Person of Christ.”
In his letter, Fr. Paul includes extensive teachings about the proper way to make the sign of the cross according to St. Kosmas the Aetolian, who instructed that one should join three fingers of the right hand to honor the Holy Trinity, touch the head representing Heaven, then the stomach to acknowledge Christ’s Incarnation, followed by the right and left shoulders while praying not to be placed with the sinners.
The archimandrite recounts two stories from St. Kosmas about the power of the cross. In one, an Egyptian Patriarch successfully commanded a mountain to move through the power of the cross, splitting it into three parts representing the Trinity. In another, he told of Julian the Apostate whose crossed hand could not repel demons after he had committed murder, demonstrating that “we must be clean from sin, and then the devil flees.”
Fr. Paul concludes by quoting Metropolitan Symeon of New Smyrna, who emphasized that the cross must be made correctly “with precision in a way that shows respect toward the sacred symbol.”
He urges the Prime Minister to repent for his “war against Orthodoxy and Hellenism” and notes that according to the Apostle Paul, God’s wrath comes upon “the children of disobedience.”
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