E/CN.4/1995/91/Add.1
page 36
Pilot Officer Sarandis Ioannis to 15 months’ imprisonment, with
three years’ suspension, and commutation to a fine of 1,000 drachmas
a day; Pilot Officer Larissis Demetrios to 13 months’ imprisonment,
with three years’ suspension, and commutation to a fine of 1,000 drachmas
per day.
The persons concerned appealed and, by sentence No. 390/92, the
Court reduced the sentence of imprisonment against Mandalaridis and
Sarandis to 10 months, the same conditions applying as to suspension and
commutation.
The Court confirmed the sentence of imprisonment of 13 months
imposed on Larissis Demetrios by the court of first instance, but with
suspension of three years and possible commutation to a fine. Actually,
the persons concerned spent no time in prison as they were not remanded
in pre-trial detention and the sentences on them were suspended for
three years.
B.
The case of the expelled monks
On 20 May 1992, four schismatic monks, Seraphim Babits,
Ioannikkos Abernerthy (American nationals of Russian origin who had
acquired Greek citizenship), Nikolaos Seveldisky, and Mitrophanes Bentiya
(American nationals of Russian origin), all members of the
para-ecclesiastical and schismatic organization known as the ’Russian
Church outside Russia’, were expelled from the skite of Prophet Eliash,
a dependency of the Monastery of the Pantocrator on Mount Athos.
Background
On 20 May 1992, a Patriarchal Exarchy headed by the Metropolitan of
Heliopolis and Therare, Kyr Athanasios, together with the Committee of
the Holy Community, went to the skite of the Prophet Eliash for the
purpose of bringing back the members who had been in breach of canonical
and ecclesiastical order since 1957. Also present was the Holy Assembly
of the Elders of the Monastery of the Pantocrator. It should be noted
that repeated efforts had been made to no effect in the past and that the
Church had on numerous occasions and through the intermediary of the
Exarchies that had come to Mount Athos - the last mission of this nature
being in June 1991 - emphasized the importance of a return to canonical
order, but in vain. The patience of the Church having been exhausted, it
was high time to put an end to this long-standing problem. For that
reason the Patriarchal Exarchy, the Community Committee and the Assembly
of Elders unanimously decided that the monks in question should be
removed from the skite if they insisted on being unrepentant and
schismatic - which proved to be the case - and proceeded to occupy the
premises immediately (see above).
All efforts to persuade the monk Seraphim and the others to
renounce their zealotry and to observe henceforth in perpetuity
the Charter of Mount Athos and the Order of Mount Athos - in which event
pardon would have been possible - failed. The monks bluntly rejected the
brotherly proposal of the Holy Assembly. Following that, the Head of the