The abbot of the New Esfigmen Monastery spoke about how Mount Athos “resists Russian influence”

Abbot Bartholomew of the New Esfigmen Monastery on Mount Athos spoke about how Mount Athos is combating “Russian influence.” The clergyman emphasized that Mount Athos falls under the canonical jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and has consistently opposed “Moscow’s expansionist ambitions,” which, in his words, “are political and ideological in nature”.

In his interview with the publication Libertas Fidei, Hegumen Bartholomew noted that even after the 1917 revolution, the monastic community took strict measures to protect itself from external pressure by enshrining in the 1924 Statute a provision according to which every monk on Mount Athos automatically receives Greek citizenship, thereby legally separating them from their national affiliation with their countries of origin.

The abbot also commented on the economic aspect, stating that Russia is allegedly attempting to influence the monasteries through financial injections; however, these actions, he said, “have not achieved their goal.” To date, according to the abbot, Mount Athos is functioning successfully with the support of other Orthodox communities, including the Romanian and Ukrainian ones, as well as European Union funds. Responding to a question about possible risks, Bartholomew assured that all new candidates for monastic life undergo strict vetting by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which makes it impossible to use the monasteries for “anti-church propaganda.”

As a reminder, earlier, the head of the OCU, Epiphany Dumenko, during a meeting with a delegation from the Mount Athos monastery of New Esfigmen, stated that the current process of expelling monks of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is a process of “liberating” the monastery from the so-called “shackles of the Russian world.”