Russian patriarch urges release of Greek abbot suspected of land fraud

The head of Russia's Orthodox Church on Thursday urged the Greek President, Karolos Papoulias, to release from jail Abbot Efraim, the head of the Vatopedi Monastery in Mount Athos, suspected of fraud in a land swap deal, RIA Novosti reported. “I am obliged to inform the Greek president about our common grief and to request that he relaese Abbot Efraim, the head of the Vatopedi Monastery in Mount Athos, from jail” Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said in a statement. The Orthodox Church head said that “millions of worshippers worry about the measures taken against the famous abbot…in the days when Orthodox Greece celebrates Christmas.” Russia's Orthodox Church claims the arrest goes against decisions taken by the European Court of Human Rights and that the Greek judiciary ignored the abbot's willingness to cooperate with the investigation and did not take his deteriorating health into account. The Cypriot-born 56-year-old Abbot Efraim is accused of involvement in a criminal scheme under which the Greek government swapped cheap farmland for costly Athens real estate in favor of the Vatopedi Monastery. Efraim denies all the charges. In November, Efraim visited Russia with the Vatopedi Monastery’s delegation that brought one of the main Christian relics, a belt of Virgin Mary, for the first time in history, to Russia. Nearly 3 million worshippers across the country are believed to have seen the belt. The arrest of Efraim has sparked a diplomatic row between Moscow and Athens as the spokesman for Russian Foreign Ministry, Alexander Lukashevich, earlier said that “the abbot’s arrest violates the recommendations of the European Court of Human Rights.” Greek Foreign Ministry’s spokesman, Grigoris Delavekouras said on Wednesday that "The rule of law holds sway in Greece," and the country "does not accept lessons on such matters."