[SEDXC] Mt. Athos - to be deleted?

[Barry]

The way I understand the issue, it is just with 1 of the many monasteries on Mt.
Athos. It is the Mt. Athos  government that is kickin 'em to the curb. Don't
think it will B deleted, but with the Newington Radio Klub...who knows,
Hi,Hi....

                                    73 es DX



                                   Barry K4FD

Rick Glisson wrote:

> The following is an AP story that hit the wires today.  Looks like it's only
> some and not all of the monks, though:
>
> Monks say they will wage spiritual war to prevent eviction from Mount Athos
> ap ^ | 1/16/2002 | COSTAS KANTOURIS
>
> THESSALONIKI, Greece - More than 100 reclusive monks living on Mount Athos
> on Thursday said they would wage a "spiritual war" to prevent their
> unprecedented eviction from the all-male Orthodox Christian monastic
> community.
>
> The monks are accused of failing to recognize the authority of Ecumenical
> Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians.
> Their refusal stems from their condemnation of Bartholomew's efforts to heal
> a more than 1,000-year-old rift with the Roman Catholic Church and his
> meetings with Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II.
>
> Bartholomew on Dec. 14 declared the 117 ultraconservative zealots living in
> Esphigmenou monastery as "schismatic." That decision allowed Mount Athos'
> Greek government administrator to order their forcible eviction on Jan. 28.
>
> It is the largest-ever known eviction of monks from Mount Athos since the
> community was founded on a northern Greek peninsula more than 1,000 years
> ago. The last eviction, for the same reasons, took place a decade ago and
> involved five monks living in an isolated hermitage.
>
> Abbot Methodius said his monks would wage a spiritual and legal battle to
> block the eviction order.
>
> "We will fight with our prayer beads," Methodius told a news conference in
> this northern port city, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Mount
> Athos.
>
> Located by the sea, the monks have for 20 years shown their opposition to
> any reconciliation with Catholics by adorning their 993-year-old monastery
> with black flags and a giant banner reading "Orthodoxy or death."
>
> Holding up a knotted rope rosary, Methodius said it would be his weapon
> should police attempt to forcibly remove monks.
>
> "It has 300 knots, these are our 300 bullets. We wage a spiritual war," said
> Methodius, who like most monks goes by just one name.
>
> Although Bartholomew is based in Istanbul, Turkey, he has spiritual
> jurisdiction over the autonomous peninsula that is run by a council of monks
> representing its 20 monasteries. Mount Athos is administered by a civilian
> governor appointed by Greece's ministry of foreign affairs.
>
> The Esphigmenou monks do not belong to any particular brotherhood. Monastic
> orders are not as prevalent in the Orthodox Church as they are in the
> Catholic. Rather, brotherhoods on Mount Athos are defined by the monasteries
> where monks live.
>
> Although all monasteries are deeply religious, some have embraced such tools
> of modern technology as computers, while others are known for their
> asceticism and reliance on traditional tools and a way of life that has
> changed little since the Middle Ages. Esphigmenou, for example, places high
> value on spiritual life and frugality.
>
> Methodius said the monks would try to repeal the eviction order in Greece's
> highest administrative court.
>
> Since the eviction order was issued on Dec. 14, Methodius complained that
> authorities have cut electricity to the monastery and prevented the supply
> of food, heating oil and medical supplies.
>
> The order is based on a clause in the Greek constitution that recognizes
> Mount Athos' governing charter. That charter does not allow schismatics or
> heretics to live in the community.
>
> In the eviction order, acting Mount Athos Governor Aristos Kasmiroglou
> referred to the monks as a "forbidden brotherhood."
>
> "Constitutional procedures were not upheld, they (the monks) were not called
> to testify at the ecumenical patriarchate," said Ifigenia Kamtsidou, the
> monks legal adviser.
>
> Bartholomew's leadership of Mount Athos dates back to the 1,100-year-old
> Greek Orthodox Byzantine Empire, which collapsed when Muslim Ottoman Turks
> conquered the city — then called Constantinople — in 1453.
>
> Christianity split into Orthodox and Roman Catholic branches in 1054. In an
> event known as the Great Schism, the separation was mainly caused because of
> a dispute over papal authority.
>
> Mount Athos is considered a spiritual cradle of the Orthodox faith and its
> conservative monks are widely perceived as being guardians of the faith. The
> inhabitants of Esphigmenou are considered the most doctrinal of all the
> 2,000 or so monks living there.
>
> The monastery's first serious falling out with the ecumenical patriarchate
> came in the mid-1960's, after Catholic and Orthodox leaders withdrew a
> series of anathemas — or damnations — issued in 1054.
>
> Dialogue between the Orthodox and Catholics began in earnest when
> Bartholomew was elected patriarch in 1991. He has met Pope John Paul II
> several times.
>
> - Rick N4XMX
>
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