Mt. Athos, December 27, 2011
CLICK ON THE PIC AND GIVE SUPPORT TO ELDER EPHRAIM
A website has been opened to gather signatures for a
petition in support of Abbot Ephraim of Vatopedi
Monastery. Abbot Ephraim was arrested on Christmas Eve
(December 24, 2011), on charges of financial crimes that
date back to a 2008 scandal involving politicians who have
since been acquitted of any crime (see
Greek Reporter).
Court of Appeals Judges’ Council in Athens on Friday
decided that Abbot Ephraim of the Vatopedi monastery, one
of the leading defendants in the highly publicized case
concerning suspect land swaps between the monastery and
the Greek state, be held in custody pending trial. A
medical examiner who accompanied the prosecutor on his
visit to the monastery with Halkidiki Police Director
Konstantinos Papoutsis to execute warrant found Abbot
Ephraim confined to his bed with high fever. The Abbot has
also been diagnosed with blood sugar irregularity, a
diagnosis confirmed by the medical examiner, reports
Athens
News.
Representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate have expressed
their serious concern over the arrest, and many Russians
intend to turn out today in front of the Greek Embassy
today to protest the detention of a respected Mt. Athos
abbot, who recently won the hearts of Orthodox Russians by
bringing the Cincture of the Virgin Mary to fifteen
Russian cities. The number of people who venerated the
relic in Russia is estimated at about 3 million.
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