Holy Esphigmenou Monastery

[Oblio]

Before we go any further, we need to know who their Bishop is. I have yet to see a definative answer.

 

[Oblio]

And the second question each of us needs to ask, is what does my Bishop say regarding the monks at Esph.

 

[Silentchapel]

Serbian Orthodox Church considers them schismatic. Bishop Athanasius wrote a book about them.

 

[jckstraw72]

Helena Smith in Athens
Wednesday January 29, 2003
The Guardian

Armed police, bent on expelling a group of maverick monks vehemently opposed to reconciliation between the Greek Orthodox and [FONT=Trebuchet MS,Tahoma,Helvetica,Arial][FONT=Trebuchet MS,Tahoma,Helvetica,Arial]Roman [/FONT][/FONT] churches, last night began blockading their high-walled settlement on the all-male monastic republic of Mount Athos.

In an unprecedented step the holy mount's civilian administrator called for the police as the rebellious monks vowed to defy an order demanding that they leave the far-flung peninsula today.

"We could hold out for two years," declared a defiant Abbot Methodius, who heads the ultra-conservative Esphigmenou monastery. "We are prepared to fight on even though the authorities have cut off our electricity, water, heating and food supplies."

The 117 monks, the most doctrinally rigid of the 2,000 who inhabit an array of monasteries on the semi-autonomous republic, have denounced the Pope as a heretic.

For years they have shrouded their medieval settlement with a banner proclaiming "Orthodoxy or death" while demanding that the Orthodox faith's leader, Bartholomew I, tone down his overtures towards Rome.

The two main branches of http://euphrosynoscafe.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=127&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=7# have been separated since the Great Schism of 1054. But patience seems to be running out with the monks.

Last month Bartholomew - who, as the Ecumenical patriarch, is based in Istanbul - pronounced the monks "schismatics". As such, he said, the clerics no longer represented the spirit of Orthodoxy and should be expelled - a decision that allowed the republic's state-appointed administrator to step in.

Last night, the Greek authorities said police would remain outside the monastery until "every one" of the monks left.

The row comes amid growing demands that Mount Athos lift its centuries-old ban on females, which extends to animals.
_________________

 

[jckstraw72]

From a Greek publication.....

Many monks on Mt. Athos, the spiritual center of the Orthodox faith, disagree with the patriarch's unorthodox teachings, particularly as it pertains to unity with the Roman Catholic Church, and as a result are facing his wrath.�What the monks really protest is not dialogue with other Christian denominations but the acceptance of an unreformed reconciliation among Christian churches, creating a church with a diverse and conflicting set of beliefs.�They believe that Bartholomew is on a path toward a new uniate church. The patriarch cherishes loyalty to himself over faithfulness to Orthodox Church teachings. "Rather than teaching the faith, he compromises the faith.� Instead of persuading others to come to the truth of Orthodoxy, he persecutes� those who disagree with his own ideas and innovations" said Methodios, Abbot of Esphigmenou Monastery. "The use of force to accept the faith is a concept that is totally alien to the Orthodox Church.�It is not just the patriarch's teachings, but his actions which are unorthodox, and we cannot accept this" said Methodios.

Professor George Metalinos, Ph.D. Professor of Theology at the University of Athens said 'The monks have an obligation under church law to object to what the patriarch is doing.�According to the Protodeutera Ecumenical Council 15th cannon, the monks had an obligation to cease commemoration of the patriarch, since the Roman Catholic Church is a known heretical group to the Orthodox Church, and has been declared as such by the holy synods of the Church.�The fathers of Esphigmenou correctly invoked the 15th cannon'�The declaration of heresy of the Roman Catholic church can only be lifted by another ecumenical synod, and cannot be done by any one individual in the church, patriarch or otherwise.�The patriarch can only enforce church law, not his own personal beliefs.�He is not above the law and has no authority to re-create the faith.

Neither the Greek constitution, nor any Greek law gives the patriarch, a Turkish citizen, legal authority over the monastery in Greece or over any other part of Greece.� These evictions not only violate church teaching but violate due process and the human rights of the monks, some of whom have been there for 50 years and have no other homes, having forsaken everything to become monks. These humble monks of Mount Athos live a life of spiritual and monastic tranquility in the unbroken tradition of over a thousand years.� Their ascetic life is widely respected on the holy mountain.

 

[repentant]

Great article straw. It really shows how unfair they are being treated.

And Oblio for like the 5th time now, the EP is there foremost Bishop. They are not Old Calendarists, and this has nothing to do with what calendar they use anyway. Have any of you even read anything about this, or you just assume they are OC so automatically whatever it is they are saying is wrong? Have you seen in any of the articles that the reason they are being kick off of Athos is because of what calendar they use? I haven't. So please get off the old calendar slandering.

Like I said before I agree with their view on what is going on with this false ecumenism. And again that is all this is about. They are allowed under Church Law to oppose the EP as stated above by using Canon 15. Don't forget the people are the ones who can depose clergy. Also based on other things I have heard on this subject..the other Monastery's on Athos will pretty much do the same thing, they are just waiting to see exactly how far the EP will take it. Esph. Monastery just took a head start..

Let's just wait and see what happens in November...

 

[Silentchapel]

Actually, other monasteries definetly don't see the Esphigmenou the way you suggested. A good deal of monks from other monasteries discouraged my pilgrim friend from visiting Esphigmenou.
And yes, they are Old Calendarists - not that the issue has anything to do with the calendar anymore, of course.

 

[MariaRegina]

I also heard that pilgrims to Esphigmenou are not given rides to the monastery and it is dangerous to travel there.

 

[repentant]

They are not OC..they're wouldn't be an old calendarist Church on Mt. Athos, period. And there could be other reasons for Monks to discourage visiting them. Also I never said how other Monastery's view Esph. in any way. I merely said, based on what I have heard (from Monks) that other Monasteries feel the same way about Ecumenism, but they are waitin to see how far it goes before they respond. Doesn't mean they feel one way or another about Esph.

 

[repentant]

I also heard that pilgrims to Esphigmenou are not given rides to the monastery and it is dangerous to travel there.

Yes you have to watch out for the pirates....
But no, it is in a weird spot, so location is what is dangerous...which is another reason why them not getting food is very harsh, they pretty much can't grow their own..

 

[IsaakScottCairns]

Actually, ALL the monasteries (and sketes, kallyves, kellia, etc.) on Mount Athos follow the old calendar. Mainland Greece, of course, follows the new calendar (as do I here at home), but every monastic enclave on the Holy Mountain sticks by the old calendar; they also follow Byzantine time, meaning sundown is midnight, etc.

I'll be heading back in a few weeks (my fifth pilgrimage!), and hope this time to visit Esphemenou to see for myself what's what.

kalo taxidi,

Isaak

 

[prodromos]

they also follow Byzantine time, meaning sundown is midnight, etc.

Yes, you have to watch out for that when you travel between the monasteries as there can be an hour or two difference in time between say, Philotheou, which has the mountain ridge to the west and so loses sight of the sun quite early, and Simonopetra, which is high above the water on the western side and watches the sun go all the way to the horizon on the sea.

John

 

[walking.away.123]

One monastary is new calandar, can't remember which.

 

[IsaakScottCairns]

Hey, ShiFuBill, 'taint so, brotherman. ALL of Mount Athos is Old Calendar, period. I'm not saying anything against either constituency, mind you; I'm only reporting that the monks of the Holy Mountain, to a man, follow the old calendar, and that, regardless, virtually all find no difficulty in honoring their communion with pilgrims from the "world" who find themselves in a jurisdiction that follows the new.

That, in itself, is a humbling lesson, no?

In love, His,
Isaak

 

[IsaakScottCairns]

Prodromos, tell me, have you wandered the Holy Mountain. Which community has your heart? Just curious.

Evlogite,

Isaak

Yes, you have to watch out for that when you travel between the monasteries as there can be an hour or two difference in time between say, Philotheou, which has the mountain ridge to the west and so loses sight of the sun quite early, and Simonopetra, which is high above the water on the western side and watches the sun go all the way to the horizon on the sea.

John

 

[Oblio]

Yes Mark, he's been there

 

[prodromos]

Prodromos, tell me, have you wandered the Holy Mountain. Which community has your heart? Just curious.

Not nearly as much as I would like. Most of the times I went were spent in a Skete near Koutloumousiou, so I really only know two of the monks there at any depth. I have briefly visited Iveron, Megisti Lavra and Pantocrator and have spent two days at Philotheou and another day at Simonopetra after a four hour walk through knee deep snow. Since I have not really spent much time in any of the monasteries nor gotten to know the monks at each of the monasteries I can't really say that any of the communities has my heart. Perhaps I could say that of Ag. Arsenios in Halkidiki and the nearby convent at Ormylia since I have visited many times and have dear friends there now

A good friend of ours actually went to school on Mount Athos. Man does he have some stories to tell

John

 

[IsaakScottCairns]

I love the sisters and hieromonk at Ormylia. I spent one wonderful afternoon there a year or so ago. There is a strong connection between the women's monastery and Simonopetra, as you probably know. One humbling gathering of facts: The abbess at Ormylia was joined there some years ago by her mother and one of her sisters. Her father followed her brother to Simonopetra where the two serve together. Amazing family, no? Also one other sister is presbytera of the priest of the Simonopetra menachion in Thessaloniki.

kalo taxidi, philemou,

Isaak

 

[IsaakScottCairns]

A good friend of ours actually went to school on Mount Athos. Man does he have some stories to tell

John[/quote]

I remember the first time I learned of the school (at St. Andrew's Skete, yes?). I went to St. Andrew's for the Feast of St. Andrew's two years ago, and was puzzled to see dozens of little guys running around dressed in traditional monastic garb. At first I thought they were very young (too young, I thought) kids who'd sought monastic life; it was only later that I learned of the academy there. Ostensibly, some of the little guys do come back to the monasteries, and a good number enter the priesthood, but the outcomes, I hear, are quite various.

Adios,
Isaak

 

[Oblio]

I really enjoyed my visit to St. Andrew Skete. It is in a bit of disrepair compared to some of the other areas, but I found it more approachable than the others I visited and was able to feel part of the community rather than just a visitor.