Police, monks gear up for another battle on Mount Athos

Monks are preparing for a major raid on Mount Athos, the Greek mountain considered a sacred site for Eastern Orthodox Christians, after Greek police sent a letter on July 16 asking for increased resources to evict scores of brothers who have been living there without authorization for more than two decades.

The 130-square-mile peninsula houses 20 monasteries and about 2,000 monks from across the Orthodox world. It is a special jurisdiction under Greek law and the European Union, placing it directly under the purview of the Ecumenical Patriarchate—which is based in Istanbul—and allowing local traditions to continue, such as the complete barring of women and even female animals from the mountain.

“With this letter we request the organizational and wider support for the entry, accommodation and movement throughout the Athonian peninsula for a long period of time of a sufficient number of police officers and heavy vehicles, in order for our service to respond immediately and with operational precision to a request submitted by bailiff for the execution of evictions in areas of the Athonian State,” stated the letter sent to the Holy Community of Mount Athos, which administers the peninsula.