Holy Kinot outraged by the actions of OCU “clerics” on Athos

The delegation of the newly created church structure on Holy Mount Athos. Photo: Romfea

The central executive conciliar body of the Holy Mountain of Athos appealed to the Greek Foreign Minister Georgios Katrougalos with a strong protest in connection with the visit of the OCU delegation to the Holy Mountain, reports the Greek news agency "Romfea".

In the letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Holy Kinot recalled the provocative actions of the OCU "Metropolitan" Mikhail Zinkevich and his delegation, who came to Mount Athos with the national flags of Ukraine and chanted their national anthem.

"This action of this metropolitan <...> constitutes a violation of article 184 of the Constitution of Mount Athos – "any proselytizing and propagandistic action moral, religious, ecclesiastical, social, nationalist and any other nature such as in the Holy Mountain are strictly prohibited," the Protos noted in the letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Also, Mount Athos emphasizes that "this action is incompatible with the hesychastic, spiritual and sacred character of our Holy Land and its over-thousand-year tradition, creates a dangerous precedent for the repetition of such actions from any aspect of the origin and the transfer of nationalist conflicts therein; is totally contrary to the Charter of the Holy Mountain".

Finally, the Holy Community asks the Greek Foreign Ministry to take the necessary measures to prevent such acts in the future so that the character of the Holy Place may remain untouched.

We recall that in April 2019, OCU “Metropolitan” Mikhail Zinkevich, together with 10 pilgrims, visited the Xenophon Monastery on Mount Athos, where he “served the liturgy” and also performed the Ukrainian hymn with the pilgrims.

From 21 to 23 June 2019, the representatives of the OCU also “concelebrated” at the Xenophon Monastery and “proceeded to the sacrament of the Eucharist in the Pantokrator monastery”. Later, the media reported that on the top of Athos, representatives of the OCU shouted "Glory to Ukraine!"

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