In response to critics of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' visit to Mount Athos (such as here: https://orthodoxmiscellany.blogspot.com/2025/07/former-abbots-worship-sinful-tyrant.html), the commemorating Abbots of Mount Athos issued the following statement today, July 22, 2025:
ANNOUNCEMENT
OF THE HOLY COMMUNITY OF MOUNT ATHOS
In recent days, we have been
observing with reflection the public discussion that was opened on the occasion
of the recent visit of the Prime Minister of Greece to Mount Athos, accompanied
by comments which at times express perplexity, suspicion, irony, or even anger.
Questions that are charged, often
well-intentioned, but also trapped in a perspective that is more human than
ecclesiastical. We understand these questions.
We do not reject them. However,
we are obliged to respond with ecclesiastical speech—humble, discerning,
inspired by Tradition—and at the same time to present reality as it is.
Mount Athos speaks in the manner
of the Fathers, with discernment. Even when it is silent, it is not silent by
chance. The silence of the Athonite Fathers is not indifference nor an
indication of agreement or submission, but the Christian ethos—the way the
Spirit works: without voices, without public quarrels, but within the mind and
the heart.
Mount Athos receives all with
discernment and prayer, for it is a place of repentance, not denunciation,
where the anger of the age does not prevail, but the stillness of prayer.
The Apostle Paul did not teach us
to pray for moral or just rulers, but for all who hold authority, so that “we
may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and dignity.”
He himself, addressing his
disciple Timothy, continues: “I exhort therefore, first of all, that
supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings be made for all men, for
kings and for all who are in authority” (1 Tim. 2:1–2).
Saint John Chrysostom, commenting
on the passage, says clearly that in daily worship we pray for the whole world,
for kings, even for the impious (PG 62, 530–531, Homily 6).
This spirit is not weakness, but
cruciform strength. Mount Athos does not show partiality, but prays “for all,”
with the faith that God can transform everyone.
It is noted here that indeed the
bitterness and concern of the Athonites regarding the recent legislative
measures—which cause anxiety in the conscience of the faithful people, as they
are considered a threat to the Orthodox ethos of the Greek people and to the
value of the human person—were emphasized to the Prime Minister, and the wish
was expressed that a spirit of respect may prevail toward the spiritual
identity of the Nation
Additionally, a special request
was submitted that the Greek Government contribute to the utmost toward the
immediate resolution of the emerging issue concerning the Holy Monastery of the
God-trodden Mount Sinai.
As regards the Prime Minister’s
announcement about financial support for the Holy Monasteries, we remind that
the funding of NSRF [the EU's National Strategic Reference Framework – tr.]
projects for Mount Athos, with a timeline extending to 2030, has already been
under consideration by the competent state authorities since the year 2023.
It is well known that no Holy
Monastery possesses the necessary financial resources for maintenance and
restoration works, given that the resources of each Monastery barely suffice
for the sustenance of its monks and the hospitality of its visitors.
Mount Athos, due to the wear of
time and other extraordinary phenomena, such as the recent earthquakes, is in
need of care—for the preservation of its buildings and relics, the heritage
which it keeps alive.
These things we mention
indicatively for the restoration of the truth, with the assurance that Mount
Athos remains a place of prayer, unity, and hope for the modern fragmented and
disoriented world.
All the Representatives and Abbots
in the common Assembly
of the twenty Holy Monasteries of Mount Athos Athos.
Greek
source: https://www.orthodoxianewsagency.gr/agioreitika/anakoinosi-tis-ieras-koinotitas-to-agion-oros-mila-me-ton-tropo-ton-pateron/
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