Athonite Monks Protest Against Dumenko’s Visit to the Holy Mountain
Monks called for the excommunication of abbots who received the head of the OCU and for their exclusion from liturgical services until repentance.
KARYES — The Athonite Kellion monks, in a joint statement published on the UOJ-Mount Athos website, have emphasized that Epiphany Dumenko of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) does not belong to the canonical Church, and that his presence on Mount Athos has caused deep sorrow and concern.
They point out that the participation of schismatic individuals in sacred services violates the holy canons and offends the spiritual ethos of the Athonite community. Among the monasteries mentioned as having received Dumenko are Vatopedi, Iviron, Xenophontos, Pantokrator, Simonopetra, and the Skete of Prophet Elijah.
According to UOJ's Mount Athos bureau, those appearing in the photograph are, from bottom left:
- Metropolitan Apostolos of Miletoupolis, of Fanarion.
- Epiphany Dumenko.
- Protos Epistates Abba Abraham, of the Great Lavra.
- Civil Governor of Mount Athos, Alkiviadis Stefanis.
From top left:
- Gabriel "Katsoulieris", epistates.
- Sisoes, epistates of Xenophontos Monastery.
- All others (4 cassocked individuals and 2 laymen) are companions of Dumenko.
The monks wrote that the visit of Dumenko to the Holy Mountain was a spiritual loss, adding that it was a "spiritual degradation" that the "schismatic, heretical Uniate Mr. Epiphany Dumenko celebrated the Divine Liturgy within Mount Athos."
Those who welcomed Dumenko and his delegation, they said, bear spiritual responsibility and will answer before the dread Judgment Seat of Christ:
"This contamination, as spiritual gangrene, will be transmitted through joint liturgies and common prayers, ‘greeting one another…’”
They also cited the Second Canon of the Council of Antioch, which states that it is not permitted to communicate with one who is excommunicated, "nor to receive in another church those who are not received in their own. If any bishop, presbyter, or deacon is found communing with the excommunicated, let him also be excommunicated, as one who confounds the order of the Church."
Not only was the spiritual character of the Holy Mountain affected, but also the physical, as Karyes was blocked off by security services and Athonite monks were restricted from entry. Ironically, this happened despite Dumenko's claim that he came as "a simple monk and pilgrim."
Rather, the monks argue in their letter, the visit was "openly conducted as that of a secular ruler." They stated their belief that security and police prevented monks from entering Karyes "out of fear of their reaction to the presence of the schismatic, heretical, and self-ordained Uniate Epiphany."
Attention was also brought to the desecration of holy relics at the Kyiv Caves Lavra, as well as violent raids of churches and monasteries:
"While they co-celebrated and prayed together within Mount Athos, the DARK agents of Mr. Epiphany Dumenko violently acted in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, using chainsaws and grinders to break into church and monastery doors — like neo-Nazis — attacking Orthodox priests and monks and forcibly expelling them from their monasteries…"
Finally, they provided a firm call for the majority of Mount Athos monasteries who did not receive or concelebrate with Dumenko to sever communion with those who did, out of duty to Christ and His Church. They invoked the words of Jesus Christ from the Book of Revelation:
“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot… So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth…”
Previously, UOJ reported that the visit of Dumenko to Mount Athos was being arranged in secrecy.
