Most of you have heard by now of the troubling news regarding Fr. Efrem, the abbot of Vatopaidi monastery on Mount Athos.
For those of you who may not have heard, you can read most of the details here. For news on the latest protest, click here.
This is so heartbreaking. It's a sign of the sad condition that Greece is in right now. I cannot believe that an Orthodox country would start arresting it's monastics to push political agendas. And there is no doubt in anyone's mind that this is exactly what is going on there. And what timing! After 60 Minutes shed some light on life there and introduced this holy place to many people who never even knew it existed, Greece goes and does something like this to discredit the monasteries. It's such a shame. My heart cries for the motherland...
It does bring me joy to hear that after Fr. Efrem was thrown into prison with terrorists and other high profile criminals, he began spreading his love for Christ and teaching and confessing many of the inmates there. What an inspiration! The first thing I thought of when I heard this news was that he is a modern day Fr. Arseny. Have any of you read that book? It is an incredible book.
Following is a statement taken from the website Pemptousia, an association of friends of the Vatopaidi monastery, and letter of appealing the courts for the decision to imprison Fr. Efrem:
Letter condemning the decision
To
The President of theHellenicRepublic,
The Prime Minister,
The Attorney General
We hereby condemn with abhorrence the judicial ‘’crime’ committed in Athens on the 23rd December 2011, against the Church in the face of Elder Efrem, Abbot of the Great, Holy Monastery of Vatopaidi on the Holy Mountain.
The decision to take Elder Efrem into custody was based on hatred and prejudice. This is manifested in the following:
We call upon you to do the utmost to reverse it.
Yours faithfully,
You may also sign the petition via the web. Please click here
For those of you who may not have heard, you can read most of the details here. For news on the latest protest, click here.
This is so heartbreaking. It's a sign of the sad condition that Greece is in right now. I cannot believe that an Orthodox country would start arresting it's monastics to push political agendas. And there is no doubt in anyone's mind that this is exactly what is going on there. And what timing! After 60 Minutes shed some light on life there and introduced this holy place to many people who never even knew it existed, Greece goes and does something like this to discredit the monasteries. It's such a shame. My heart cries for the motherland...
It does bring me joy to hear that after Fr. Efrem was thrown into prison with terrorists and other high profile criminals, he began spreading his love for Christ and teaching and confessing many of the inmates there. What an inspiration! The first thing I thought of when I heard this news was that he is a modern day Fr. Arseny. Have any of you read that book? It is an incredible book.
Following is a statement taken from the website Pemptousia, an association of friends of the Vatopaidi monastery, and letter of appealing the courts for the decision to imprison Fr. Efrem:
Dear friends,
We, the Orthodox people, Greeks and non-Greeks, have been astounded and appalled at the unwarranted decision of the Athens Court of Appeals to remand Elder Efrem into custody.
We are, therefore, called upon to express our firm condemnation of this decision and our support to Elder Efrem by signing the following form.
Letter condemning the decision
To
The President of theHellenicRepublic,
The Prime Minister,
The Attorney General
24 December 2011
Your Excellencies,We hereby condemn with abhorrence the judicial ‘’crime’ committed in Athens on the 23rd December 2011, against the Church in the face of Elder Efrem, Abbot of the Great, Holy Monastery of Vatopaidi on the Holy Mountain.
The decision to take Elder Efrem into custody was based on hatred and prejudice. This is manifested in the following:
- The timing of the decision: Christmas Eve
- The surrounding of the Holy Mountain by armed police forces despite the declaration by the attorney representing the Elder that the latter intended to present himself to the police willingly.
- The sentence passed is normally given to people who have the intention to repeat the offenses accused of.
- During the preliminary hearing the reason given for the sentence was the Elder’s recent trip to Russia, when he accompanied the Holy Belt of the Most Holy Mother of God. During this visit millions of people, including the President, the Prime Minister and the Attorney General of the Russian Republic came out to greet them.
- The investigation lasted more than three years and no incriminating evidence has been found.
- The offense which the Elder is accused of is ‘aiding and abetting’ even though the suspects of this offense have been acquitted.
- During the last three years of the investigation, the Elder has taken numerous trips abroad and if he had intended to leave the country he had plenty of opportunity to do so.
- The Elder, as a spiritual figure, is honored and praised worldwide and constitutes an excellent envoy for Greece.
- The people who have been revealed as the masterminds of the conspiracy against him have been honored with ministerial posts and are attempting to cover up their deception at all costs.
- In Greece, enormous scandals have been uncovered and established while those responsible are not only walking free but are also given political posts.
We call upon you to do the utmost to reverse it.
Yours faithfully,
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You may also sign the petition via the web. Please click here
6 comments:
How extremely sad...I still cannot believe it. and YES it does sound like Fr. Arseny....Glory be to God for all things.
Praying that he is released very soon.
No, offense...but what if he is guilty? The problem with the Church in Greece is that it receives funding from the State. In other words, the Church hierarchy is often "in bed" with the government. We have seen that the government is rife with corruption and nepotism (as are many in Greek society...not paying taxes for example). Perhaps the abnormally harsh response to this alleged crime reflects the desire for an end to corruption. Look, I love the Greek people and the Church but lets not full ourselves and think that the Church is not beyond reproach. Pray for all involved...that the truth may come out. If he is innocent, well Our Lord said that part of being his follower is to face unjust persecution. If his is guilty then hopefully this experience will help him repent.
The facts of the case speak for themselves. Public land was swapped for the monastery's "lake" and then sold at a high price by the monastery. The only injustice here is that Efrem was singled out because he certainly did not pull this off alone. His partners in public office got off scott free.
Andrew, I agree. And it is certainly always possible. Look what the Patriarchate did to St. Nektarios! Throughout history, certain hierarchs have sold their souls, so to speak.
However, I believe this case to be very different. I don't know every detail about the case, but I was under the impression that Mount Athos receives no funding from Greece. And, Geronda Ephraim's character should speak for itself. Which is why he accepted God's will and was punished unjustly and is now ministering and confessing the inmates! But that doesn't mean that since the Lord said we would be persecuted that we should stand by and allow this.
You are right, these matters require a lot of prayer. May the truth be exposed! Thanks for your thoughts!
Anonymous, Yes, the facts do speak for themselves but I think people are hearing what they want from them.
Since when did it become illegal to sell land at a high price? From what I understand, the government wanted the land for the Olympics and agreed to the price. The fact that they changed their minds later is irrelevant. I was also under the impression that someone donated the land in the first place. And I see no wrong in the monastery making as much off of the property as they could to support themselves. It's a huge monastery and is not funded by Greece. When real estate sky rocketed in the States and homes were sold for 2 and 3 times their value, no one was imprisoned, right? I don't see a difference. If Greece didn't want to pay that much they shouldn't have agreed!
I'm in Greece and have been reading about this scandal for a couple of years now. In my mind, those involved have done wrong.
I can understand your concern, but there's no need to worry about the funding of Vatopedi Monastery. It's the richest monastery on Mt Athos. They have acquired public lands worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The public lands were swapped for very little even though their actual value is very high because of politicians who facilitated the deals for their own profit. These transactions have done serious harm to the economy of Greece who as we all know has a huge debt and may default.
Yes, when the house you own increases in value in the U.S. or anywhere else, the capital gain is yours. But, this situation is not the same. "Greece" was not asked how much they wanted to be paid because dishonest politicians arranged these transactions to be profitable only for themselves and the monastery. The value of the lands did not appreciate later, after the transactions. It was there all along which is why the monastery turned around and sold the land right away in most cases. Much has been written about this, but Wikipedia has a succint and objective overview at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatopedi_monastery#Land_deal_controversy
Sylvia,
Please remove my two previous comments labeled Anonymous.
Thank you.
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