The 4.8 magnitude earthquake caused minor damage to monasteries on Mount Athos

An earthquake measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale struck Mount Athos in the early morning hours of Monday, September 22, 2025, causing minor damage to three monasteries on the Holy Mountain. Although relatively moderate in strength, this seismic tremor was part of an unusually long series of earthquakes in the region, causing concern among scientists. This is reported by Orthodoxianewsagency.gr.

According to sources, minor damage was recorded at the monasteries of Hilandar, Dohir and, to a greater extent, at the Iversky Monastery. The epicenter of the earthquake was located 7 km west-northwest of Kareia on Mount Athos, with the origin at a depth of 5 km, according to the Geodynamic Institute. Meanwhile, residents of Ouranoupolis, the nearest settlement, expressed no particular alarm, saying they were «used to» such phenomena.

However, the president of the Organization for Antiseismic Planning (OASP), Eufimios Lekkas, has expressed scientific concern about the series of earthquakes in the region. Speaking on ERTNews TV’s «Connections» program, he stressed: «It doesn’t alarm us, but from a scientific point of view we are concerned.» Lekkas explained that seismic activity began in early 2024 and since then has included more than 1,000 earthquakes, nine of which were of magnitude greater than 4. The current tremor was the tenth earthquake with a magnitude greater than 4, and the largest one, with a magnitude of 5.2, occurred three months ago.

Lekkas called the situation a «rather strange phenomenon» because of its 18-month duration and said scientists expect further developments. «It seems that the fault that causes these earthquakes still has energy, but I don’t think we will reach levels above 5.2 on the Richter scale,» he added. The expert explained that this particular fault did not show activity until 2024 and has only now been confirmed based on instrumental data. The fault does not come to the surface and is submarine and partially terrestrial, but at a considerable depth, making it difficult to determine its exact size.

«We cannot investigate the intentions of nature. These are phenomena that we approach with great difficulty. It’s not a cloud that’s coming, or bad weather, or anything else that’s directly visible so we can make accurate predictions. What we know, we know based on instrumental records, which often don’t match the processes going on in the subsurface, and we interpret them based on what we see on seismograms and other records,» Lekkas clarified. He concluded, «I believe that the process will continue with small magnitudes, but we will not reach earthquakes above magnitude 5, which would be of particular concern to us. We expect activity and believe that everything will be fine.»

We will remind, earlier the head of the OCU Epiphany Dumenko tried to explain why the organization failed to build on the Holy Mount Athos «Ukrainian cell». Dumenko claims that the construction of the OCU cell on Mount Athos is delayed because the organization gives all its funds to support the Ukrainian army.