Orthodoxy or Death

NEW PERSECUTIONS OF THE ZEALOT MONKS OF MOUNT ATHOS

Readers of THE ORTHODOX WORD are aware of the existence on Mt. Athos of the "Zealots," some 250 monks who hold to uncompromising Orthodoxy and refuse to have communion with the apostate Patriarch of Constantinople and those who commemorate him (see THE ORTHODOX WORD, Sept.-Oct., 1972). Most of these monks belong to the sketes and hermitages of the Holy Mountain, but in 1971 one of the ruling monasteries, Esphigmenou, with its 45 monks, joined the Zealots, and since then this monastery has been subjected to numerous pressures from the Holy Community (the governing council of Mt. Athos) and the Patriarchate. The newest attack against the monastery and the Zealot monks is described in the following article by one of the leading Zealots of the Holy Mountain, himself a candidate for expulsion; and then in a more recent letter from another Zealot monk of the Holy Mountain.

1. THE CRISIS ON MT. ATHOS

By Theodoritos, Monk of St. Anne's Skete

BEGINNING on the 10th of March, 1974, the Holy Mountain has been passing through a critical period, perhaps the most serious crisis of its later history.

The reason for this crisis is the refusal of the Zealot Fathers to accept as Orthodox Patriarch Demetrius of the Phanar, because they believe him to be a pure and true follower of the heretic Athenagoras. They refuse to commemorate his name in their prayers, and they have broken off communion with those monks who do commemorate him.

In 1972 and in September, 1973, emissaries of the Patriarchate attempted to persuade the Fathers of Esphigmenou (45 monks), and also the approximately 250 independent Zealot monks who are spread out all over the Holy Mountain, to accept Demetrius, the new Patriarch who succeeded Athenagoras, as Orthodox. All these attempts having failed, the Patriarchate has decided to take radical measures against the Zealots.

Therefore, in cooperation with the Holy Community of Mt. Athos, the Patriarchate has decreed the deportation of thirteen of the Zealot Fathers, among them the Abbot of Esphigmenou, Archimandrite Athanasios, and three monks of the Monastery's ruling council. Already nine of these Zealot monks have been expelled from the Holy Mountain.

The monks of Esphigmenou, however, have resolved to defend their Abbot and spiritual father and the three other monks scheduled for expulsion. They refuse to give them up, and in protest they have raised a black flag over the tower of the Monastery with a sign: ORTHODOXY OR DEATH.

The Holy Community, therefore, in cooperation with the political governor of Mt. Athos, has disconnected the Monastery's telephones and has prohibited the delivery of mail, while two policemen are on permanent guard outside the Monastery gate. The Holy Community has likewise sent an encyclical letter (No. 50/K of March 10 OS) to the other 19 ruling monasteries, exhorting them to obey the Patriarchal decision to deport the leading Zealots, because, as the document says: "For a long time the breath of genuine Orthodoxy has been blowing in the Phanar."

But on the contrary, Patriarch Demetrius in his Paschal Message for 1974 proposes a fixed date for Easter for all who call themselves Christians, contrary to the holy Canons, "greeting and embracing" all the heretics of the West, and especially "our most holy elder brother the Pope of Rome"!

Several months ago the same Patriarch declared to Cardinal Willebrands that "the work commenced with such sincerity and zeal by our illustrious predecessor, Patriarch Athenagoras, will be continued just as conscientiously for as long as God will permit us to occupy this post" (See Episkepsis, no. 90, Dec. 11, 1973, p. 12). Thus he shows his complete indifference to the letter of Professor and Archimandrite Justin Popovich, who since 1971 has declared that Athenagoras is an "apostate and heretic" (see Contacts, 1971, no. 4; and Orthodoxos Typos, Nov. 1, 1971).

And so again the Zealot Fathers of the Holy Mountain prove that genuine and true Orthodoxy is still alive on Mt. Athos in the hearts of at least onefifth of its inhabitants, as a challenge not only to the rest of the monks of the Holy Mountain but also to the whole Orthodox world, which observes with indifference the heretical proclamations of the Ecumenical Throne. Now we see the result of this cruel indifference: the adoption against believers in Greece, and especially on Mt. Athos, of the methods of the Soviet Iron Curtain!

 
THE MONASTERY OF ESPHIGMENOU UNDER ATTACK
Encircled are the black flag above the tower, and the sign 'Orthodoxy or Death'

 
The sign on the tower: ORTHODOXY OR DEATH

 
Monks preparing to raise the black flag

 
Archimandrite Athanasios, Confessor-Abbot of Esphigmenou proceeding from the Monastery church to the refectory.


2. A LETTER FROM A ZEALOT OF MT. ATHOS, APRIL 18, 1974

I GREET YOU during these joyous days after Pascha. The Feast is joyous but what is taking place is sad. For this reason I am writing of what is happening here on Mt. Athos.

Last October four bishops from Constantinople were on Mt. Athos. Their purpose was to determine the number of Zealot monks, those who do not commemorate the Patriarch. During sessions at the Holy Community in Karyes, they summoned various monks with this question. They had to send a telegram several times to the monastery of Esphigmenou (whose monks are Zealots), but they received no response. After the bishops returned to Istanbul, nothing more was heard until a week or two before Pascha. A letter was sent to the Holy Community from the Patriarch, naming several monks who had to leave Mt. Athos. As of now the fate of Esphigmenou is still undetermined. I was told today that several Abbots (from Dionysiou, Koutloumousiou, etc. – those who are with the Patriarch) went to speak with the Abbot and monks at Esphigmenou. We'll know in several days what the outcome was.

Now it has been revealed that the bishops will return in early May to determine the fate of all the Zealots. Our future here is uncertain. The aim of the Patriarch is for Mt. Athos to be as one – not with two parties. All monks who refuse to adhere to the Patriarch must leave; the remaining monks will be as one community under the Patriarch and the Pope. Roads will be constructed, tourists will come with cars, perhaps even women – if the Holy Theotokos allows it to go that far. We can be sure the situation will not improve, as the entire world is in such an evil condition.

Now, what can be done? I believe that if Church organizations, individuals, clergy, and hierarchs begin to protest, sending telegrams and letters to the Patriarch and the Government, both in Greece and on Mt. Athos, in order to frighten them, they may ease up for a while, just as happened when the world protested against the Soviet Government's treatment of Solzhenitsyn. This is more important. It seems that all the prophecies about Mt. Athos are coming into reality. I wonder if the Iveron Icon of the Theotokos will leave, and if so, when?

Here we are witnesses that She and God are not pleased. For Pascha and Bright Week we had fog, rain, cold winds, cloudy weather. All the monks commented on this the first Pascha they've seen with such unpleasant weather.

Where the Zealots will go, myself among them, is uncertain. It is rumored that if the decision is that all Zealots must leave, then soldiers with guns will come to enforce this.

It is not for nothing that the Zealot monks of Greece begin to view their situation in the light of the persecutions of Orthodoxy in Russia, for indeed the experience of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 20th century offers a sad parallel to the present crisis of the Holy Mountain: the once-flourishing spiritual center, Valaam Monastery, even though at first it escaped the Soviet yoke, was dealt a fatal blow by the forcible introduction of the "New Calendar" in the 1920's, accompanied by the brutal deportation, with the aid of the Finnish police, of leading Zealot monks and a severe persecution of the rest. The Soviet bombardment of the Monastery twenty years later only brought a final end to a community that was already spiritually destroyed. The Holy Community of Mt. Athos today, defending its position, declares, in a spirit exactly like that of the "moderate" Valaam monks and the Finnish Government fifty years ago: "The Monastery of Esphigmenou not only has deviated from the order of canon law, but has gone counter to it by declaring allegiance to the so-called Auxentian [Old Calendarist Church... The Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Holy Mountain and the State are making efforts in full harmony to pacify and restore order where it has been disturbed" (HELLENIC CHRONICLE, Apr. 18, 1974). Let us recognize the truth: the principal cause of the disorders on the Holy Mountain and in the Greek Church is the Patriarchate of Constantinople itself, which for many years has pursued an anti-Orthodox course. (See Archbishop John Maximovitch, "The Decline of the Patriarchate of Constantinople," THE ORTHODOX WORD, July-August, 1972.) Let the prayers and all possible help of every true Orthodox Christian be with Archimandrite Athanasios and his brethren, and with all the Zealots of the Holy Mountain, who give to us a genuine example of how we too must be prepared to fight and die for our Holy Orthodox Faith!

 
THE HOLY MONASTERY OF ESPHIGMENOU Drawing by Rallis Kopsidis