August 3, 2014

A Response to the False Report of the Removal of the Avaton of Mount Athos


The following is in response to a false rumor spread through the newspaper "Orthodoxos Typos":

In a statement to Amen.gr, Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Messinia calls the information in reference to the 10th General Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) that took place last October in Busan of South Korea, that decided, among other things, to remove the avaton (the rule that forbids females from entering Mount Athos) of Mount Athos and allow common worship services among Christian Churches, a falsehood and fabrication of the imagination among some circles. The Metropolitan of Messinia, who led the delegation of the Church of Greece in Busan, spoke of circles who "distort the truth" and "caress the psychopathological Orthodox lechery of some" and clarifies that "there was no appeasement on the part of the Orthodox delegation in Busan".

In response to the alleged removal of the avaton, the Metropolitan of Messinia, Chairman of the Department of Theology of the University of Athens, stressed that "the motivation behind this is foolishly based on the mistranslation of the texts!"

The complete statement can be read in Greek here.