Athos monastery at mercy of quake, abbot warns
Amid the recent spate of earthquakes that shook the monastic community of Mt Athos in northern Greece last week, Archimandrite Vartholomaios, the abbot of the Esphigmenou Monastery, has made a dramatic appeal, warning that the building complex, which is occupied by religious zealots, is at risk.
The abbot said the occupiers of the monastery are forbidding any public authority to enter for inspections.
“By occupation they prevent any restoration projects. Their excuse is that if financial aid is given for any restoration with ‘evil money’ from the EU, the inaccessibility of Mt Athos will be abolished and other nonsense. Perhaps they would prefer the extra burden on the country’s state budget or the attraction of ‘blessed’ money from oligarchs in ‘holy’ Russia,” he said, noting that it is perhaps the only monastery on Mount Athos that has not been properly maintained and could collapse from a strong earthquake.
