Mt. Athos, October 1, 2025
Photo: monastiriaka.gr
Information about a possible visit to Mt. Athos by “Metropolitan” Epiphany Dumenko, head of the schisamtic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” are causing controversy on the Holy Mountain, according to reports circulating among monastic communities.
The issue appeared on the agenda of the Sacred Community (the governing body representing the 20 ruling monasteries) during its meeting on Monday, September 22. According to the agenda, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople sent a letter of recommendation for a visit and pilgrimage to Mt. Athos by Dumenko, who would be accompanied by Metropolitan Apostolos of Miletus, reports Romioi Tis Polis.
The planned visit has reportedly provoked strong reactions within the Sacred Community, particularly given the ongoing persecution of clergy, monastics, and faithful of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the Zelensky government.
Critics note that His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, the primate of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, faces prosecution while Dumenko’s OCU supports these government actions. Concern about the persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been growing in Greece as more details of the government crackdown become known.
Sources suggest that reactions will be expressed publicly once the planned visit is officially confirmed through a letter from Dumenko to the Sacred Community.
There are also reports of behind-the-scenes maneuvering to minimize opposition. To avoid the kind of public resistance that occurred during Archbishop Elpidophoros of America’s visit, organizers are allegedly planning an unofficial visit focused on two monasteries reportedly willing to receive Dumenko—Xenophontos and Pantokratoros. Following this, with Met. Apostolos’s assistance, visits to two or three additional monasteries and the Holy Epistasia would be arranged to produce photographs suggesting that Mt. Athos accepts the OCU.
The issue of the OCU has been divisive on the Holy Mountain since the organization’s creation. When Dumenko was enthroned in 2019, the Sacred Community was divided over whether to send representatives. The governing body was also deadlocked about whether to permit the schismatics to visit the Mountain, and ultimately left the decision to individual monasteries.
Since then, various OCU delegations have visited, receiving warm welcomes and being permitted to serve by some monasteries while being completely rejected by others.
It remains to be seen whether the planned visit will proceed and which monasteries will support it.
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