By Jean Christou
A GREEK monk was found guilty of immorality by the Cyprus Orthodox Church yesterday, after being accused of molesting nuns and giving them venereal disease.
The Holy Synod’s decision condemning Elder Iosif of the Greek Mount Athos Monastery of Vatopedhi has already caused a rift between the Greek and Cypriot Orthodox Churches.
The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, under whose jurisdiction Mount Athos falls, yesterday issued a statement saying Elder Iosif was beyond reproach and that he was fully supported by Orthodoxy.
The statement says Elder Iosif is a monk “of sound character and morals, who is admired and enjoys the love and affection and trust of the mother Church”.
But according to the Holy Synod in Cyprus, Elder Iosif is a pervert, who molested no less than seven nuns and infected them with sexual diseases 17 years ago.
Yesterday’s marathon session of the Holy Synod of the Church of Cyprus agreed to go with the results of a report prepared by a two-man investigation team, which last week found Iosif guilty of immorality.
In a brief statement, a representative of the Synod said the testimony and a letter from the elder to a nun, along with the testimony of the Bishop of Paphos, had been proved to be valid.
The Synod representative said the “guilty verdict” would be passed on to the appropriate church authorities in Greece and Constantinople.
The Cypriot lawyers for the Greek monastery were yesterday outraged by the Synod decision.
Christos Clerides said such a decision was unheard of. He said the use of evidence based on testimony going back 17 years was not a valid way to reach such a decision.
Clerides also said the fact that the Bishop of Paphos, Iosif’s “accuser”, and the two members of the investigating committee were all members of the Holy Synod and participated in the decision made it ridiculous.
The Synod had also failed to invite Iosif to testify before it, the lawyer said, adding that in effect the decision meant nothing.
“It failed to afford the accused any opportunity of being heard. He was not even invited,” Clerides said. “The decision is ridiculous and is of no legal value at all.”
The lawyer said he was awaiting the instructions of his client on whether to proceed with legal action against Bishop Chrysostomos of Paphos.
It was he who publicised the allegations against Iosif, while levelling accusations against a Greek Cypriot abbot, a former protégé of the Greek monk.
The Synod last week threw out the Bishop’s allegations of immorality against the cleric, Limassol Bishopric candidate Abbot Athanasios of Machairas.
Bishop Chrysostomos has consistently denied that his allegations against Athanasios have anything to do with his opposition to the Abbot’s candidacy for Bishop of Limassol, the elections for which will take place in the new year.
