Former Deputy Chief of Greek Intelligence Becomes Governor of Athos

The new governor of Athos began his work on Tuesday, August 6. Athanasios Martinos was appointed to this post Anastasius Matzialis, former deputy commander National Intelligence Service of Greece.

Matsialis's track record is very eloquent. Judge for yourself: in 1995 he became the Greek Ambassador to Argentina, in 1999 the Ambassador to Israel, in 2002 the Head of the Department for Relations with the USA and Canada, in 2003 the General Director for Personnel, Administration and Organization, and in 2004 the Greek Ambassador to Rome.

Stefanis is a retired general in the Greek Armed Forces, who served as Chief of the General Staff of the Army from 2017 to 2019, as Deputy Minister of the Commander of the National Intelligence Service of Greece from 2019 to 2021, and as Advisor for Outlying Regions and Mount Athos in the Mitsotakis government from 2022 to 2023. In May-June 2023, Stefanis was appointed Minister of National Defense in the Greek service government for the election period.

That is Macialis is a scoutwho has worked in Israel, the United States and the Vatican. So it is not surprising that he almost immediately announced that he would resolve the “issue” with EsfigmenAnd shortly before he took office, scandalous rumors began to appear about other monasteries.

The topic of Esphigmenou is extremely irritating for Megaro MaximoNumerous rumors have been circulating around the monastery for many years.

In particular German tabloid Bild wrote a huge custom-made article about the “dark side” of Athos: “Moscow is trying to use Athos as a Trojan horse to gain a foothold in Europe and undermine EU“. It is not surprising that in this case, as in the case of Covid, the main “witness” of the prosecution and the battering ram against the Athonites was… the abbot. “New Esphigmenou” Bartholomew.

In an interview “Bild” he accused the Russian Panteleimon Monastery of having oligarchs from Russia coming there and “donating money”, for some reason omitting the fact that the same oligarchs donate huge sums to Greek monasteries. According to him, old Esphigmenou is “occupied by Russians”.

At the same time “Bild” wrote that it is being prepared “careful screening of people entering and leaving Athos in order to prevent people from transporting weapons, drugs and other illegal items, as well as from carrying out other suspicious activities.”

In the material “Bild” most “got it” the abbot of the Russian Panteleimon Monastery, Evlogiy, who was accused of having ties to Greek and Russian politicians. But not only him, but also the abbot of Vatopedi, Ephraim, the abbot of Philotheus, Nikodim (to whom the Russian oligarch “gave a gun”) and in general to all monks who somehow communicated with pilgrims from Russia. These absurd accusations reached the point that Athonites began to be accused of training “Russian special forces”. Nonsense, you say? Of course. Undoubtedly. But this nonsense “works” in relation to the Athonites, just like “works” in relation to the UOC (which is accused of “all mortal sins”).

In other words, the supporters of the removal of the rebellious monks of Esphigmenou or all monks who disagree with “the party line”decided to use an old trick that had been tried in Ukraine – accusing monks of “connections with Moscow”call them “agents in cassocks” say that they hide “machine guns in the bell towers.” And that's it – you can do whatever you want.

The appointment of a professional intelligence officer and diplomat to the post of secular governor of Mount Athos is probably connected with the difficult situation in the monastic republic, as well as with the plans of the Greek leadership to eliminate the hotbed of freethinking in the country.

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