HOLY METROPOLIS
OF NAFPAKTOS AND SAINT VLASIOS
Decalogue of the former Holy Transfiguration Monastery’s deviation from the canonical and legal order.
The former Holy Transfiguration Monastery differs from all monasteries, either of the Church of Greece or of other Orthodox Churches. It is not a monastery operating under canonical and church law, but rather a monastery that does not respect basic rules and laws in its administration and operates in a secular and commercial mentality.
In few words ten (10) indicative signs will be presented that show the deviation of the former Monastery from the canonical and legal order, a deviation noted by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, as early as January 1999, thirteen (13) years ago:
"This condition has definitely deviated from the evangelical and the canonical order" (263/19-1-1999 the Holy Synod).
This Synodical finding was made at the beginning of the archibishopry of the late Christodoulos even before Synodical Decisions, one after another, started sentencing the former monastery, after reports and allegations made by the former monastery, and which finally resulted in the recent unprecedented, ecclesiastically Synodical Decisions (on excommunication, dissolution of the legal person of the monastery, appointment of an Administrative and Management Committee, removal of monks from their official registrar - monachologion).
The behavior and attitudes of the leaders of the Monastery, as well as of others who live in the monastery and agree in everything with them, is unprecedented for monasticism.
1. A Para-Ecclesiastical organization of Protestantic character
The way the Monastery works constitutes a para-ecclesiastical organization of protestantic character in confrontation both to the Holy Synod and to the Metropolitan. For over thirty (30) years it obeys neither the Holy Synod nor the local bishops.
Indeed there are sad documents published by the former monastery itself which manifest the rebellion and aggression of the monks of the monastery against the Metropolitans. Old Nafpaktians know this problem and many have been witnesses and heard first-hand various facts.
The Holy Metropolis should not tolerate this distortion of Orthodox monasticism, the disruption and constant agitation of the society of the historic town of Nafpaktos and of the Holy Metropolis of Nafpaktos.
The former Holy Transfiguration Monastery has created a generation of Christians with strong anti-ecclesiastical principles, with a spirit of blaming the clergy, a spirit of contempt and scorn of the Mysteries of our Faith: the Archbishopry, the Penance, the Holy Eucharist.
The contempt for the Sacraments is shown in the way they handled their excommunication. Some stay excommunicated for five years and others for more than a year, continuing all their other activities, giving appalling example to the Christians.
They reached the point of appealing to the Council of State for the issue of the ordination of monks to Deacons and Priests, causing the Holy Synod to express its abhorrence:
"An Orthodox Abbot requesting from a secular Court to obtain a decision to impose the Sacrament of Priesthood! A sad fall! "(1634/9-5-2003 Holy Synod).
The highlight of irreverence is the celebration of "liturgy" by the excommunicated and many times rebuked priest-monk and the reward by his mentor.
The former monastery serves as a para-ecclesiastical organization with a strong protestant character, since it does not obey the Church, the Holy Synod and the Bishop. The Holy Synod in its letter stated:
«You are a unique exception of disobedience, insubordination and lack of respect to the canonical monastic institutions and the institution of the church" (3039/27-8-2009 Holy Synod).
And in another letter it writes:
"We expressed not only our question but also our deepest sadness when an Abbot and for thirty-five years preacher expresses such an extreme and anti-orthodox view, full of secularization and civil-state perception" (1634/9-5-2003 Holy Synod).
This civil-state perception - that obeys not even to the State laws if they are not in their own interests – is, in practice, Protestantism.
The para-ecclesiastical nature of the Monastery will also be seen from what will be listed below.
2. The distortion of the monastic ideal
The former Holy Transfiguration Monastery is nominally a monastery, but in fact functions as a secular organization-association, which was established in the city, essentially to dominate the city and to occupy the Metropolitan See.
For this reason companies, clubs and associations were established and operate, as satellites to the monastery and there is an administrative and economic confusion of all these formations. The Abbot and the monks are also members of the monastery and of the various Associations and Companies.
Certainly the whole of this mode of operation of the Monastery is uncanonical and is part of the reason that the then Abbot Fr Spyridon Logothetis was punished by the Synodical Court with the penalty of deposition from his office, a decision which has not been respected.
The Holy Synod has held:
"The exercise of trading or any related act is deemed unacceptable and forbidden for every Monk, the clergy of any kind, but especially for those Priests originating from the class of Monks" (2005/15-6-2006 Holy Synod).
The former abbot of the monastery was condemned by the Appellate Synodical court for alteration "of Orthodox monasticism, by establishing Associations and Trade Companies (Ltd.)" "together with the guided by him members of the monastic brotherhood, whom he misled in the said deviation from the Orthodox monastic constitution, introducing secular conceptions and approaches in their hearts" (9/2006 Appellate Synodical Court).
3. Arbitrariness – Illegalities
All buildings, which have been reconstructed in the monastery are in various degrees arbitrarily and illegally erected. This is evidenced by the fact that the approved plans illustrating the main buildings of the Monastery are not submitted, probably because they do not comply with the current situation, and from on-site inspections performed by the Church Architecture Office and the State office of Urban planning.
"In case of loss of the architectural documents approved by the license for the reconstruction of the Monastery, i.e., due to the existence of only one part of the building license, we are unable to judge on the legality of existing buildings, as we can not check if they are in line with the approved plans. Certainly it is questioned whether the loss of the approved architectural plans is true or fictitious. In such a case, however, the continuation of the construction work, is blocked and such continuation is illegal in so far as it is impossible to check the structure and approve of the license" (4658/2-10-2008 EKYO).
The hostel erected at the Monastery is an arbitrary building and in accordance with a decision of the State Urban Planning office should be demolished. The case is pending in the Civil Court where the monastery appealed.
“The Monastery erected a Hostel without authorization of the Church Architecture Office, without knowledge of the Metropolitan and without approved auction procedures for it, whereupon misguided the office of Urban Planning of Nafpaktos converting this hostel into a Centre for Educational Training (KEK)” ( 1634/9-5-2003 Holy Synod).
For the new church (Katholikon) of the Monastery, the construction license was issued by the Church Architecture Office of the Church of Greece, but the conditions of construction have not been met, i.e., approval of auction procedures, recording of entries in accounts and budgets files etc, and the Church Architecture Office ruled that a problem exists. They wrote to the Bishop:
"We respectfully consider that, if the above provisions have not been met, you should indicate that you do not bless the construction works, that you will not perform the Opening of the church and that you call the Holy Monastery to observe legal procedures through the Diocese, if they want the completion of the church, declaring that without the procedure prescribed by the laws and rules, any construction work on this church is illegal "(4658/2-10-2008 EKYO).
4. Unaudited management
The Holy Transfiguration Monastery does not accept inspections either by the Diocese or by the Holy Synod. It does not accept auditing from the Inspectors of public management too.
The Metropolis did not approve the accounts submitted, because they were fictitious, i.e., amounts received by the State were not recorded. The Monastery has been without an audit since 1997-1998.
The Holy Synod of the Church of Greece ordered an audit and sent EKYO inspectors, but the monastery refused to accept the audit, appealed to the Council of the State against the decision of the Church in order to avoid inspection by the E.K.Y.O.
The Holy Synod certifies that the Monastery "until today does not accept the orders of His Eminence, Metropolitan of Nafpaktos and St. Vlasios Hierotheos, asking for an audit and the delivery of the books and accounts to the Holy Metropolis of Nafpaktos and Agios Vlasios, so that the management of the Monastery remains totally unaudited by the church authorities " (4905/22-8- 2011 Holy Synod).
Even the audit by the inspectors of public management has not been completed since the year 2005, because requested information is not presented to the inspectors. It is a provocation that an audit has been ordered since 2005 with a ministerial decision, namely the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Education, it has been announced in the Greek Parliament and has not been completed for seven (7) years.
The Inspector of EKYO certifies that: "From the data available we conclude that the management of the monastery operates under a peculiarly arranged regime, which largely breaks the law" and that "the stubborn, on behalf of the monastery, blocking of our approaching the financial data sufficiently establishes the evidence of inability to withstand an audit "(77/29-10-2001).
5. Lack of transparency and misappropriation of church and public money
The former shows a lack of transparency in the finances of the Monastery with its confusion with the Companies and Associations and the failure to complete the audit. Unsurprisingly, therefore, there is a possibility of misappropriation of public and church money.
Proof of this is that the monastery received illegally from the Tax Office of Nafpaktos high amounts of VAT, and after an inspection it is ordered to return to the state about 1.2 million euros. The monastery has appealed to the court against the decision of the Tax Office of Nafpaktos and their appeals have been rejected, and therefore has to return the due amount.
Also, the monastery undertook an investment of 650 million drachmas and the audit has proved that the investment is problematic because the necessary documents were not submitted and there is an investigation under way to order the return to the State of the amounts received by the Monastery.
These events imply not only lack of transparency, but also potential misappropriation of church and public money.
The Inspector of EKYO notes:
"The whole negative attitude of the monastery and the manifested obstruction of the audit is illegal, provocative and certainly contemptuous towards the legal order, the Holy Synod, and the Inspector assigned to the audit. Similar tactics do not contribute or rather have adverse effects on the consolidation of legality, of orderliness, of transparency and the good management of the ecclesiastical area" (Report, 51/19-2-2001).
6. Lack of Administration in the Monastery
After interrogations by the Secretary of the Holy Synod, a 400 pages document was formed and the Appellate Synodical Court imposed on the then abbot Spyridon Logothetis, in 2006, the penalty of deposition from the position of abbot. The decision was endorsed by the Council of State after an appeal by the former Abbot himself. Nonetheless the Monastery has no legal administration (Igoumenosymvoulio) for six (6) years.
During this whole period from 2006 until today, three Superiors have appeared in the Monastery. The punished Fr Spyridon Logothetis who still bears the distinctive features of the Abbot, the elected by the Brotherhood Father Irenaeus Koutsoyiannis, who resigned, withdrew his resignation and never took the seat, and Fr Jeronymos Delimaris, illegally elected Abbot since he was under the punishment of excommunication.
There is no precedent in a Monastery, which is by law a Legal Entity of Public Law, where there is no administration and someone who was sentenced by the Synodical Courts, for whom the Council of State expressly decided to be removed from the administration of the monastery, with quite strict wording, i.e., for reasons of "public interest", still claims to be the Abbot.
The Holy Synod of the Church of Greece certifies that: "It is a defiance by the entire brotherhood that they have not yet elected a new Abbot" (3663/30-10-2009 Holy Synod). And the new Igoumenosymvoulio, elected four years after the deposition of the former Abbot, "despite the rejection of requests against the decision of the Holy Synod Court (EpAnStE 512/2007, 267/2009) and the request for annulment (Council of the State 686/2011), has not assumed responsibilities up to today"(4904/22-8-2011).
7. Criminal offenses
Civil justice has taken action against the Monastery. Two decisions have been published already. One decision for disobedience because they did not present requested data to the inspectors for the audit. A sentence of four months imprisonment with a suspension was imposed on the officers of the monastery. The second decision for usurping authority and a sentence of four months imprisonment with a suspension was imposed because, while there is no canonical and legal Igoumenosymvoulio, they signed several documents illegally. There were also heavy sentences for the death of George Koutsospyrou in the student camps of the monastery.
The Holy Synod stated:
"Moreover the said monastery through persons illegally appearing as its supposedly legal representatives puts obstacles in the investigative work ... as inferred both from the report of events of 27.4.2011 of the said Inspectors, and already from the 24.6.2011 conviction by the Criminal Court of Nafpaktos imposing a penalty of imprisonment for four months with suspension for three years for continual disobedience ... " (4904/22-8-2011).
8. Contempt for decisions of the Holy Synod
In 2007, the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece imposed the penalty of excommunication on four monks because, among else, they do not implement the more than 60 decisions of the Holy Synod.
In 2011, the Synod was compelled to expand the penance of excommunication throughout the Brotherhood and to initiate a Presidential Decree on the abolition of the Legal Entity of the Monastery and its merging with the Monastery of Ampelakiotissa.
Recently, because the monastery showed no spirit of cooperation to solve the canonical and legal issues, the Holy Synod reiterated the penance of excommunication and ordered the Bishop to appoint a three-member Committee for the administration and management of the monastery, and deleted two of its members from the monachologion (Ecclesiastical registry for monks).
These decisions of the Holy Synod are the result of the complete rebellion of the Monastery against the Diocese and especially against the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece.
In a Synodical decision it is written:
"The Holy Synod highlights and underlines its highest disapproval for the obvious contempt for it, regarding both an act full of mockery and intolerable orchestration and the insulting and abusive content of the document" (3663/30-10-2009).
The important decision of the Holy Synod of Bishops on authority of the Hierarchy, rules on the then Abbot:
"By these deeds you committed the canonical crime of insubordination, disobedience and rebellion, not only against your Bishop according to the Holy Canons but also against the Holy Synod of the Church" (4388/19-12-2001).
9. Non-implementation of decisions of the Council of State
The authorities of the monastery repeatedly appealed against the Diocese, the Metropolitan and the Holy Synod to the civil courts. The number of appeals, lawsuits, etc., is two hundred (200)!! Until now they have changed at least ten (10) law firms and elicited, with high fees of course, opinions from university professors, failing to succeed in their objectives.
Specifically they have repeatedly appealed to the Council of State and lost all cases - except one on procedural grounds -, and there are some more pending.
Typical cases of non-implementation of decisions of the Council of State are: for the audit by the EKYO (23-3-2001, 777/2001 E.An., 1391/2001), for bringing to the Diocese the original documents (770/2004 E.An., and documents on resignation 1754/2004 ), on the excommunication (685/2011), and on the penalty of deposition from the position of the Abbot (686/2011). All the relevant appeals were rejected but the monastery did not implement them.
Full rebellion against civil justice, too.
They have already appealed to the European courts against the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece.
10. Division and animosity
The uncanonical way in which the monastery has been organized and the mindset that governs it resulted in the formation of a circle of supporters who willingly overlook all the illegalities and irregularities of the monastery, ignore the criminal offenses taking place and the lack of transparency in the management of church and public money, they engage with the counsel and the motivation of the leaders of the monastery in a slander of the Metropolitan and the Holy Synod, who want to impose the canonical order and transparency. So they succumb to many irregularities which certainly have an impact on their spiritual lives.
The animosity of the members and supporters of the monastery against the Bishopry is proverbial and reaches irreverence. And this is caused by the mentality of their mentor who considers his canonical reference to the Metropolitan a "legal duty" (64/26-5-2003).
The Holy Synod stated:
"This is a rare form of ecclesiastical sickness and the beginning of an ecclesiastical schism and conventicle" (3663/30-10-2009).
The first of the eight specific conditions laid down by the Holy Synod to the Monastery in its important decision after authorization of the Bishops Hierarchy (October 2001) were:
"As soon as possible, you should restore your relations with your canonical Bishop and stop your rebellion and disobedience, which evolves into potential schism, so that by this way you walk on the path of salvation and sanctification to which you were invited and this is necessary, to avoid that "you fall short while preaching others"'(4388/19-12-2001).
The Synodical Appealate Court ruled that the former Abbot "incited clergy and laity to animosity against their Sheperd, Metropolitan of Nafpaktos and Agios Vlasios Hierotheos, by spreading slanderous and untrue allegations against Him"(9/2006).
The rapporteur at the Synod of Bishops Metropolitan of Ilia Germanos said among others: "They continually and with specific acts show their disobedience against their Bishop, by breaking his oral and written commands, they propagate false news and slanders, reaching the limits of canonical offenses of rebellion and faction and tyreia"(Oct. 2001).
In brief, this is a concise, partial of course, decalogue of the deviation of the former Monastery from the canonical, ecclesiastical and legal order. The Holy Synod has repeatedly established committees of bishops and abbots to solve the issues, but has always come up against the disobedience of the leaders of the monastery. The Bishop has tried many times to solve the issues, but the monastery did not take a step towards the normalization of the open issues. On the contrary they started a slander production either by announcements at the festivities in the Monastery or by anonymous texts, which were issued certainly at their own instigation and by various persons whose intentions we do not know.
The case of the Monastery shows clearly who are Orthodox monks and who are not, who really are members of the Church, and who belong to para-ecclesiastical organizations, who are the disciples of Christ and who are fans of autonomous priests and monks who do not respect the ecclesiastical order and the rules of the Church. All these "Christians" forget the "Let all things be done decently and in order." (I Cor 14:40) and that in the end the spiritual law will prevail.
From the Holy Metropolis
