“Athos as a whole is not involved in political or party processes and has nothing to do with what might be happening there. The Holy Mountain is expressed only by the Holy Community and by no one else. In private, of course, everyone can say whatever they want…” was the response of Chief Minister Christophoros “K” when I asked him to comment on the claims of the leader of the new party, Nikis, about the alleged “spiritual cover” and “holy blessing” in his descent into the electoral arena.

It is true that the co-ordinated Hagiorian society “as a whole” is not accustomed to interfering in political events unless it considers itself to be affected by them. Therefore, it is placed publicly and always through the Holy Community, that is, its “parliament”. But he also has his own “subsets”, monasteries, sketes and cells, which have increased autonomy from the Charter and there “everyone can say what he wants.”

At the same time, the abbot of the Holy Monastery of Karakallos Filofei indulged in an open election campaign, “spiritually and without coercion”, as he says, in order to support the newly formed Victory Party, a teacher named Dimitris Natsiou who cultivates untruth, for example, the head of the Holy Community also suggests that his the party is the political expression of Mount Athos.

Elder Philotheus writes in his post on the monastery website: “We personally know many of his candidates (some of them confess in our monastery) and vouch for the integrity of their character and their potential, which is strengthened and removed in Christ. All our spiritual children and all the friends of our monastery, without any coercion, will absolutely without difficulty vote for this formation, which can express and resolutely support another point of view, the point of view of Christ in an atheistic and demon-possessed parliament! And, of course, all this in the sense that: We always choose olives for our table with the least damage.

The abbot of Karakallos is not the only one on Mount Athos who openly agitates in favor of Natsios, turning the confessional of the monastery into an electoral center. Almost all of the so-called fundamentalist, pro-Russian – also known as “pulverized” – monasteries (Filotheos, Xiropotamos Konstamonitou, Karakallos) work for Niki in different ways. These are the monasteries where vaccinated believers were not allowed to enter during the pandemic.

Believers hurrying to confession to St. Euthymius, along with his blessing, also carry his “desire” to vote for Victory.

Rumors circulating on Athos claim that the rector of the most pro-Russian monastery after the monastery of Panteleimon granted Natsios as a “blessing” the property of the monastery in Thessaloniki for the party’s pre-election needs, and brochures from the position, “blessed” by the future successor of Paisius, monk Euthymius, were distributed to monasteries, sketes and cells, and even distributed among the students of the Athos school.

He could not be absent from the Nazi campaign, in his attempt to put on the “table”, that is, the parliament, “the olives with the least damage”, Agios Paisios, or, to be more precise, his name and his successor, the monk Euthymius. Outside Athos, Natsios included Paisios’ niece, Maria Eznepis, on the Victory ballots, and inside the Ark of Orthodoxy, he seeks – and succeeded – in active support of Euthymius, a spiritual and emerging saint, with many believers.

Believers rushing to Athos to confess Euphemia, who is considered the leading elder of asceticism, although he does not practice it in all its aspects, or the spiritualists of the named monasteries, along with the blessing of the elder, take with them the “desire” (line) to vote for this particular party. In many cases, they are even given ballots.

Collision with Velopoulos

Similarly, another party, Mr. Velopoulos’s Hellenic Solution Party, which competes with Niki, is allegedly subsidized by Esfimenou’s squatters, the so-called Athos Taliban. The conflict between Velopoulos and Natsios is flaring up in the shadow of Athos, people familiar with the matter say.

However, for the most part, Athos does not function as an electoral mechanism. “We are not naive. Our relations with the state have always been very harmonious, and they cannot be overshadowed by such picturesqueness,” a prominent figure in the Agioreita society commented to K.