The Desecration Of Mount Athos

Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland is paying attention to the Monastic Republic of Mount Athos. Since the tenth century, Athos which is located in the Greek province of Macedonia has been a Monastic Republic. There are twenty Monasteries (most of them Greek).

The Serbs, Bulgarians, and Russians have one Monastery each. It is the Russian Monastery of Saint Panteleimon which has attracted the attention of Nuland and the State Department. Russian Monks have been present on Mount Athos for centuries. It is only in the minds of Russophobes and fanatics that every Russian is doing the bidding of Moscow.

There are disturbing reports of plans to expel the Russian Monks on the grounds that the Russians are serving Russian interests. American leaders being secularists do not comprehend that Russians might have gone to Mount Athos for reasons of faith. Greeks should be enraged by the plans to expel the Russian monks.

Greece is a Christian country with countless Orthodox shrines that are visited by pilgrims. Mount Athos is one of the most important. Politics do not belong on the Holy Mountain which is dedicated to the Mother of God.

The American government’s intervention on Mount Athos is sacrilege. The greatest blame for politicizing the Holy Mountain lies with Patriarch Bartholomew who for his own selfish plans for power has invited the State Department into the affairs of both the Holy Mountain and the Greek Churches. The silence of the Greek Bishops to both Bartholomew’s effort to become an Eastern Pope and their own failures to resist the Patriarchate’s hostile takeover of the Church of Greece speaks volumes.

The Greek government stupidly ignores the Phanariot-State Department alliance at the expense of Greece’s sovereignty. Bartholomew has become the King of Greece cutting deals with Washington even at the expense of Greek national interests and independence. The Greek Government and Church look the other way.

Greece and Cyprus face an existential threat from Turkey. It is insane for Greece to allow a Turkish citizen to accumulate the power and influence that the Patriarch has. The only good news is that the more conservative bishops, priests, and theologians are hostile to the Phanar. The bad news is they are a minority and many of them have been subject to bullying for daring to criticize Bartholomew’s anti Orthodox actions.

Greeks should be alarmed by the American influence on the Holy Mountain. The idea that Russia is going to take over is itself stupid and irresponsible. Mount Athos is in Greece and so Greeks will naturally be the majority. Saying the Russian Monastery is going to take over Athos is like saying that Argentina is going to take over the Vatican because of the present Pope’s nationality.

A further problem lies with the fact that the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of America is a Turkish citizen. The Archbishop gave himself away when he attended that Turkish dinner in New York last fall. It is time to think about reforming Greek Orthodoxy.

The Church of Greece must be fully autocephalous in both fact and theory. Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens is a moral failure and a stooge of Patriarch Bartholomew. He must be deposed and all funding to the Patriarchate from Greece must cease.

Crete and the Dodecanese islands must be taken from the Patriarchate and given to the Church of Greece. Mount Athos should also be taken from the Patriarchate. The last vestige of Turkish influence in Greece must end.

The Church of Greece needs bishops such as those it had in the past. An Archbishop Damaskinos or an Archbishop Christodoulos. A man of spirituality and morality mixed in with healthy nationalism in defense of the Hellenic nation and its Orthodox faith.

The desecration of Mount Athos must awaken Orthodox Greeks from their slumber!