ABBOTT EUTHYMIOS 

Abbot of Esphigmenou Monastery from 1975 - 1999 

 

Abbott Euthymios, who reposed in the Lord in 1999, was considered one of the great defenders of the faith on the Holy Mountain. He was abbot for many decades of Esphigmenou, one of the 20 Great Monasteries and the only monastery which does not commemorate the Ecumenical Patriarch.

In recent history, he resisted all efforts by Patriarch Demetrios of Constantinople to force his monastery to commemorate him. It was under his watch, that when threatened by the Greek Police with forcible eviction, because of his resistance to Demetrios, that he made a huge black flag, which he draped over the north wall of the monastery facing the sea, where there sat a Greek Navy Cruiser. The inscription on this flag, which said "Orthodoxy or Death", has become renowned.

He was an enormously courageous defender of Orthodoxy during the many years of his abbacy.


Before his repose he told the brotherhood of the monastery that his choice to succeed him as abbot was Father Methodios, but that the choice was up to them who to elect as their next abbot. After his repose, the monastery elected Abbot Methodios by acclamation to follow in the footsteps of Fr. Euthymios and Athanasios, and their courageous stand against the heretical teachings of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople.