St. Anthonys' Monastery Exposed

[Euthymios]

I looked at a closed thread, and people claimed St. Anthony's Monastery has been slandered. But I don't know of any good reason to believe they were slandered. Slander is stating a falsehood. I believe the evidence shows that this monastery does have unhealthy elements. Father Paisios is of bad will, and he lacks Christian love and prudence. I believe the monastery does have some of the criteria for unhealthy groups/leaders and cults, as explained by counter-cult experts.

Danger: St. Anthony's Monastery - YouTube

 

[Euthymios]

By the way, why was the other thread about this monastery closed? Why do you close threads here?

 

[Euthymios]

Cult Warning Signs
Cult Education - Warning Signs

Eight Criteria for Thought Reform
Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[GoingByzantine]

Take no offense, but when someone did underhanded things like faking suicide as the man in the video did, it is hard to take their allegations seriously. The man in the video also claims to have forgiven father Paisios, who even let him come to the monastery after all the accusations, yet the man is still making videos trying to expose him.

Clearly father Paisios should have been more involved initially during the suicide threat, and later he should have been more conciliatory. However, with all the emails and letters that the man in the video was sending, I can hardly blame father Paisios for being standoffish. If the life of the monk is one devoted to prayer, then you really don't have time to answer 5000 emails from some guy with a grudge (whether it is right or wrong). Just my 2 cents.

 

[SeventhValley]

The monastery seems pretty standard. Some people cannot take being told what to do. I have seen many military members put under suicide watch because they could not take the stress of constant criticism from the lifestyle.
A mentally unstable person should take time off from being a monastic and get help.
Most "demons" can be treated with the right medicine and some self TLC.

 

[SeventhValley]

Heck even the famous Catholic monastic Thomas Merton suffered a stress breakdown in his monastery because he stressed himself out.
He learned that even he had to take small breaks from the lifestyle occasionally(he found a work around by taking walks in the woods to escape and chill out).

 

[~Anastasia~]

By the way, why was the other thread about this monastery closed? Why do you close threads here?

I can't view the video so I have no comment on it.

But this might be the question to ask before creating a duplicate of a thread that has been locked. Very possibly the new thread is against the rules, if the old one was locked for a reason.

 

[Jesus4Madrid]

I don't like the tone of the video. He assumes that unless the monastery takes on his problems, they are lacking in Christian love. That doesn't follow and thus the tenor or the video appears to be calumny.

My protestant parents visited the monastery and came way very impressed. I don't see why I should change my impression on the monastery based on this video.

 

[seashale76]

I got two minutes in and stopped listening. Who goes around testing theories about people by claiming they are going to commit suicide? We also don't know the content of the conversation this guy had. We're getting an extremely vague and edited version. This guy could have been making all kinds of demands, et cetera. In such a scenario, Fr. Paisios ' saying that there wasn't anything more he could do for this guy would have been correct. Prayer would be the only option. In light of the suicide deception, we can easily come to the conclusion that we're not dealing with someone who is working with a full deck.

I know people who have had great experiences at St. Anthony's. I also know someone who had a negative experience there (my husband). A monk was pushing him to be re-baptized (convert that was chrismated). Despite this, I think that overall the monastery is good.

 

[ArmyMatt]

having been to St Anthony's and having gone to confession with Fr Paisios, and having been to two other Ephraimite monasteries, I can say this is garbage. to say he lacks Christian love and prudence, and has a bad will is just incorrect.

they said the same stuff about Elder Joseph the hesycast.

 

[prodromos]

Euthymios, no offense but have you been to St Anthony's or met Fr Paisios? Are you willing to judge based on the internet account of someone else you have never met?

 

[Ioustinos]

Euthymios,

I say this in all sincerity - I think you need to seek both mental and spiritual counsel. The obsession you have for "exposing" individuals you feel have slighted you through theses posts and the YouTube videos you make is not healthy.

In Christ,

Kirillos

 

[Knee V]

My wife and I have personal ties with many regulars at St Anthony Monastery, as well as personal ties to another of the monasteries started by Elder Ephraim. The allegations hurled at this monastery do not represent reality and are either the result of blatant lies or mental delusion, depending on the specific allegation. For example, it was alleged that Elder Paisios told a married couple not to have sex ever again. But the truth behind that allegation is that they needed help and the monastery offered for them to stay there for a short time, and Elder Paisios asked them to refrain while on Monastery grounds.

There are people who have an axe to grind for whatever reason. Pay them no mind.

 

[jckstraw72]

what it comes down to is - Americans are lame. people are coming from Greece to visit St. Anthony's, when Athos is in their backyard, and we're too dumb to value what we have here.

 

[Damaris]

I could only take a few minutes of that video.

The fake suicide threat is a classic trick of a manipulative person. I would first suspect that Fr. Paisios saw through it than that he just didn't care whether this man lived or died.

 

[xenia]

The Ephremite monasteries, especially Saint Anthony's (which I have visited), began to be attacked by nominal Orthodox Christian parents whose children made the decision to join. These parents were not familiar with Athonite monasticism (or any kind of genuine Orthodox monasticism) and it seemed to them that their kids had joined a cult, like the Moonies or Jonestown. They relabeled many monastic practices, putting them in the worst possible light: to them, monastic obedience was redefined as brain-washing; fasting was food deprivation; midnight prayers was sleep deprivation, etc. These parents were so far removed from traditional Orthodox monasticism that they couldn't recognize it when they saw it.

Some clergy also oppose the Ephremite monasteries because they offer what many parishes have abandoned. When one grows weary of ethnic dancing and ethnic food fairs and the disregard for keeping the fasts, going to confession, and so on that is found in many parishes, the nearby monastery is an appealing alternative but it is an alternative that many find threatening and scary.

Some of these folks have set up anti-Ephremite websites, to which I say:

1. No monastery keeps anyone against their wishes.

2. If American parishes offered more than a watered down version of Orthodoxy they would not be losing people to the nearest Ephremite monastery.*

3. What would you do if your parish priest never heard confessions? Didn't care about the fasts? I know Orthodox Christians who have never been to confession in their entire lives, who, when you bring it up, tell you its a Roman Catholic thing. If this is the state of Orthodoxy in certain sectors of America, then thank God for all genuine monasteries, Ephremite included.

*I don't mean people necessarily become monastics, but come to regard the monastery as the center of their Christian life as lay people.

 

[ArmyMatt]

even when I went to St Anthony's, and Elder Paisios absolved me during confession, the thing he harped on was to check his advice against my own spiritual father's. the idea that they brainwash folks is absurd.

 

[~Anastasia~]

The Ephremite monasteries, especially Saint Anthony's (which I have visited), began to be attacked by nominal Orthodox Christian parents whose children made the decision to join. These parents were not familiar with Athonite monasticism (or any kind of genuine Orthodox monasticism) and it seemed to them that their kids had joined a cult, like the Moonies or Jonestown. They relabeled many monastic practices, putting them in the worst possible light: to them, monastic obedience was redefined as brain-washing; fasting was food deprivation; midnight prayers was sleep deprivation, etc. These parents were so far removed from traditional Orthodox monasticism that they couldn't recognize it when they saw it.

Some clergy also oppose the Ephremite monasteries because they offer what many parishes have abandoned. When one grows weary of ethnic dancing and ethnic food fairs and the disregard for keeping the fasts, going to confession, and so on that is found in many parishes, the nearby monastery is an appealing alternative but it is an alternative that many find threatening and scary.

Some of these folks have set up anti-Ephremite websites, to which I say:

1. No monastery keeps anyone against their wishes.

2. If American parishes offered more than a watered down version of Orthodoxy they would not be losing people to the nearest Ephremite monastery.*

3. What would you do if your parish priest never heard confessions? Didn't care about the fasts? I know Orthodox Christians who have never been to confession in their entire lives, who, when you bring it up, tell you its a Roman Catholic thing. If this is the state of Orthodoxy in certain sectors of America, then thank God for all genuine monasteries, Ephremite included.

*I don't mean people necessarily become monastics, but come to regard the monastery as the center of their Christian life as lay people.

This makes sense - that people in such a situation might react that way. I was not aware things were like this in some places.

I would always like to know before moving, etc. I can't imagine the idea of a priest allowing communion on a regular basis and never hearing a confession, for example.

 

[katherine2001]

My former priest's son is a monk at St. Anthony's and one of his daughters is a nun at St. John the Forerunner monastery in Goldendale, WA. He and Matushka visit both monasteries quite frequently. They have nothing but good to say about both of these monasteries.

 

[Lukaris]

There is so much slander splashed across the internet towards the Ephraimites. Ephraimite monasteries witness a traditional piety (for ex. I witnessed an abbess telling a man in a muscleman shirt was inappropriate attire to enter a chapel & he understood, no big deal), they receive many visitors (families etc.), & are very hospitable. There is an Ephraimite of Agia Skepe (Holy Protection) in White Haven, PA about 20 miles from where I live (their website;
Holy Protection Monastery of the Theodokos ). Here is a posting from an Orhtodox group who visted them: Holy Protection Monastery of the Theodokos & another group:

Praying With My Feet: Holy Protection Monastery: Exterior and Grounds