Greece: Orthodox monks against the ecumenism of the patriarch

Threatened with expulsion, about a hundred dissident orthodox monks are "besieged" by the police in the monastery of the Ascension, on the Greek peninsula of Mount Athos. Brandishing the motto "Orthodoxy or death", this conservative religious are determined to resist peacefully and state that they have food for several years.

The conflict has already been lasting for over three decades and has its source in the reconciliation of Greek orthodoxy with the Catholic Church. "Our Church forbids contacts with the Catholics and the Protestants", said Archimandrite Methodios to the journalists. For decades, the monks have been opposing the efforts for a dialog between orthodoxy and other branches of Christianity. According to the media, a banner reading "The Pope is the Antichrist" has been hanging on the walls of the monastery ever since the visit of Pope John-Paul II in Athens in May 2001.