All monasteries of the Holy Mountain officially support Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

This was stated in an interview with LF by Abbot Bartholomew of Esphigmenou Monastery.

Answering a question about whether all 20 monasteries of Mount Athos, including the Russian monastery, support the Ecumenical Patriarch, the abbot said that officially they all do. No monastery has publicly declared a different position.

“If we are speaking officially, then all stand with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Those who are against him remain silent because they are afraid. Behind the scenes, in secret, they may say different things. They do not have the courage to say openly, ‘I do not support him.’ They are afraid and act covertly, like the devil,” the monk said.

He called on people to pay attention to what Patriarch Bartholomew says.

“If anyone wishes to seek the truth, let them always listen to what the Ecumenical Patriarch says and to what Holy Mount Athos says through the Holy Community, the supreme executive, legislative, and judicial governing body of the Holy Mountain, ” the abbot concluded.