The silent abbots and monks, through their tolerance, ratify the lawless choices of a dangerous minority of the six mentored abbots
Georgios Trampoulis,
theologian | July 18, 2025
The notion of personal
responsibility and a confessional struggle for the tragic events taking place
in the Church of Christ in our days has almost disappeared, as a generalized
complacency prevails, which produces inertia. Whereas for the Fathers of the
Church, all alike—great and small, bishops and simple faithful Christians,
shepherds and the shepherded—bear equal responsibility, each according to his
part, for the problems faced by the Orthodox Church, and they are obliged to
struggle for their resolution, from whatever position each one holds as an
equal member of the body of Christ. All are obliged with boldness to confess
the truth and not to remain silent. In contrast to this, today the indifference
of the great portion of the People of God, as well as the various “fears” and
interests of ecclesiastical officials—not to lose their salary, their position,
and the privileges that derive from the ecclesiastical office they hold—are
what prevail, resulting in the reinforcement of complacency and spiritual
inertia.
Primarily, however, it is the
monks who ought to serve as examples of selfless boldness and a confessional
disposition toward the confession of the truth—something for which they will be
held accountable on the Day of Judgment—since they have taken a vow of
virginity, poverty (not only carnal and material but also spiritual), and
absolute obedience, not only to the abbot and the brotherhood, but above all to
the very Gospel of Christ. Yet, what is observed today is that a large part of
monasticism is occupied with European subsidies, restorations and maintenance,
cultivation, the luxurious embellishment of monastery buildings, as well as various
other “exotic” business activities… As was demonstrated by the presence of the
Prime Minister on the Holy Mountain, all these things are not only useless and
highly harmful, but they constitute causes of compromise and betrayal of the
faith, and ultimately prove that the monks have come to terms with Caesar and
that there exists between them a dark give-and-take.
It was revealed beyond all doubt,
on the occasion of the Prime Minister’s presence on the Holy Mountain, that
even when the holy monasteries display some “spirituality” or when the
“virtues” are cultivated by the monks or when some typikon and
liturgical life is “observed,” or when some “social work” is offered, at the
same time they manage to show complete indifference toward the vital matters of
the faith and the dogmas of the Church, toward the confession of the truth.
When indifference is shown toward the (unto death) spiritual deviations of the
ecclesiastical administrators and the corresponding ones of Caesar, then the
spirituality is proven to be counterfeit and fake, and we witness a shifting—even
a dissolution—of the very purpose of the existence of monasticism!
It thus becomes clear that it is
toward this kind of nerveless and corrupted monasticism that both the
unscrupulous bishops and the amoral political rulers look—a monasticism that
tolerates and applauds their wicked deeds, and walks alongside them without
exercising any criticism of their wickedness. In contrast, the Fathers of the
Church have shown us that it is foreign to monasticism to remain inactive and a
mere spectator in matters of the faith, since monks have been entirely
dedicated to God and must be ready to sacrifice even their very lives for the
sake of the faith and the truth. This is something the monks of the Holy
Mountain certainly did not demonstrate.
Leaders beg
The Evangelist Matthew,
immediately after the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, where the Beatitudes are
listed, says: “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its flavor,
with what shall it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything except to be
thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” Of course, these words of our Lord
are addressed to all Christians, but all the more so to the monks—and
especially to the monks of the Holy Mountain…
The holy Chrysostom, interpreting
the above passage, says that the human race lost its reason and underwent
corruption because of its sins. For this reason, our Lord demands from all
Christians—especially from monks—to possess the virtues which are necessary and
beneficial for those who are destined to undertake the admonition of the many.
And while the Lord is the one who healed, says the holy Father, the human race
from the disease and freed it from the stench, Christians—but much more so
bishops, shepherds, and monks—have the task of preserving this new state in
Christ, keeping it undefiled, just as they received it from Christ, both
through their words and through their example, precisely what salt does. The
avoidance of a return to the condition in which the human race was before the
Incarnation of the Lord is a concern and arduous struggle for all of us, but
all the more for those who have been appointed by the Lord Himself for this
work.
The Lord says through the holy
Chrysostom that it is not enough for you to be merely moral and prudent
yourselves, but you also have the obligation to make others moral and prudent
as well, and for this reason you must have an abundance of virtue; for if you
do not achieve this, you will not be capable even of saving yourselves. If,
therefore, others stray from the moral path, you must be able to bring them
back to it. But if you yourselves stray, you will destroy others in addition to
yourselves. Others, then, may be forgiven, even if they sin a thousand times;
but if the teacher sins even once, he will have no excuse whatsoever and will
be punished most severely. For this reason, the holy Gospel says, “to be cast
out and trampled underfoot by men.”
And the holy Father continues: so
that the teachers may not hesitate to take up the struggle when they hear,
“they shall revile you and persecute you and say every evil word against you,”
He says that if you are not ready to struggle to make others moral and prudent,
then I have chosen you in vain. For you should not be afraid of slanders, but
of your hypocritical conformity to the opinions of others. For then you will
stray from the moral path and will be trampled underfoot by men. If they
slander you because you persist in reproving them, you should be pleased, for
salt has the property of causing pain and grief to sinners. Slander, therefore,
is necessary, but it does not harm you; however, if you fear slander and
diminish the zeal you ought to have, you will suffer much worse, and all will
slander you and despise you—that is what I mean when I say that you will be
trampled.
Comparing the words of the holy
Chrysostom with the behavior of the Athonite monks during the Prime Minister’s
visit to the Holy Mountain, it becomes clear that the monks did not act as
salt; they refused to align themselves with the example of the Lord, who did
not hesitate to use harsh language against the Scribes and Pharisees and spoke
those dreadful “woes,” which concern people with feigned, false piety and
hypocrisy, such as that of the Prime Minister. The monks ought, if they were
“the salt of the earth,” to have pointed out to the Prime Minister his many
transgressions and to have admonished him accordingly—and not to bow to him and
chant “many years” for him…
They preferred to
bend the knee to the ruler of this world
They feared the slanders that
would result from rightful rebuke and chose hypocritical behavior instead; they
refused to struggle to make the Prime Minister “moral and prudent,” to point
out to him the stench exuded by his actions, and that he has strayed from the
moral path he ought to follow. It was shown that the monks preferred to flatter
and display servility rather than to cause a saving pain, as salt does. It was
shown that they do not possess those virtues which are necessary for those
destined to undertake the admonition of the many—and all this for the Mammon of
money… For 100 million euros, they preferred to bend the knee to the ruler of
this world rather than to the Lord of glory. They refused to become bearers and
channels of virtue, truth, and holiness, and it was shown that, though they
tasted the gifts of the Lord’s grace, they ultimately rejected them, being
drawn again by the sinful world and thus becoming apostates from the will of
the Lord, thereby losing their quality as spiritual salt. It was shown that the
Lord and the Lady Theotokos chose them in vain to serve the Garden of
the All-Holy One—for this reason, “to be cast out and trampled underfoot by
men.”
The Fathers say in this regard:
“The disciple whose life has been conformed to the Beatitudes will make the
Gospel more acceptable and more beneficial. But the self-seeking one—in this
case, the Athonite monks—and apostate becomes nothing other than useless. Many
substances, when they rot, are useful as fertilizer. But salt that has become
foolish is not even useful as fertilizer.”
It is a fact that Athonite
monasticism, up until the early 1990s—when the influx of European funds
began—remained more or less faithful to its mission as the authentic living out
of the Gospel. However, the endless state and European subsidies critically
altered its character and adulterated its salvific mission. A consequence of
these dealings—which amount to billions of euros—with political authority is
the various secret and “devious” transactions between the State and the
“monks,” dealings with mutual benefits that operate according to the principle
of communicating vessels. This became most evident during the recent visit of
the Prime Minister, along with his statement that the government would
immediately provide 100 million euros for the needs of the monks, in exchange
for their acceptance of him. The result of these dealings is that the People of
God lose their trust and love for the institution of Athonite monasticism,
since they see that contemporary monks are drawn irresistibly more by the sinful
world than by the will of the Lord.
However, the problem is
exacerbated by the silent monks, who, through their tolerance and silence,
ratify the lawless choices of a dangerous minority.
Men of responsibility, do not
transform monasticism—the symbol of authentic Christian life—into a symbol of
shame. Do not cast “what is holy to the dogs,” do not inspire disappointment in
the People of God; your action reflects upon the body of Christ, defiles the
Church, weakens its message, pushes it to the margins, shrouds it with the
hideous shroud of mockery and disrepute…
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