Greek monks reading the newspapers

Feb. 28 Militant Monks On Mount Athos: In the Esphigmenou monastry on Mount Athos in the north of Greece, 40 mnrks are refusing to comply with the decision of the ecumenical orthodox Patriarch in Constantinople. These monks are know to be the rebellious core of the Zealots who stick to an extreme traditionalism. It actually all started in 1924, when the autonomous Greek orthodox church decided to conform to the Gregorian calendar, like the rest of the Christian western world and abandoned the Julian calendar. This split the Greek orthodox church in two, although both considered the Patriarch in Constantinople their head. The calendar problem came to a head when the orthodox church began to open towards the West and the schism between the Roman Catholic church and Constantinople which existed since 1054 was abolished in 1967 and the ecumenical orthodox patriarch Athenagoras returned this visit by going to Rome in the same year, the Zealots refused to include the orthodox patriarch in their prayers. In the course of these events the Zealots began to concentrate in four monasteries on Athos and started disobeying orders. The Athos monks refused to admit three delegations, so in March this year stern measures were served on the disobedient monks, including the removal of the Abbot Athanasius and many other senior brothers. The patriarch decision actually triggered the fierce reactions by the Zealots who made the Esphigmenou monastery their headquarters and retaliated by closing the gates and cutting themselves off from the outside world. The self-confined Zealots insist on the withdrawal of the patriarch's decision and the abbots and monks who are expelled from Athos by the verdict found refuge from the seizure of the executing authorities at the monastery with the Zealots who hoisted a black flag from their belfry and words on their banner, Orthodoxy or death'. The monks wouldn't do without newspapers. Are they interested in who will succeed Pompidou?

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