Sometimes you can find such an expression in stories about a little-known event of World War II. Without going into estimates, we will only offer for consideration the facts of the relationship between the monks of Mount Athos and the Nazi leadership.
Request to Hitler to protect Athos
In April 1941, German and Bulgarian troops invaded Greece and occupied that country. Mount Athos, due to its geographical position, remained aloof from military operations. But upon their completion, the occupation troops appeared on it.
Initially they were Bulgarians. The Bulgarian government intended to annex Mount Athos to Bulgaria, expel from there all the Greek monks and populate Bulgarian monks in their place. Bulgarians have already done this in two Greek and one Serbian monasteries in Macedonia. The inhabitants of the Bulgarian monastery Zograf on Mount Athos even donated part of the library of the monastery to the Bulgarian officers. In the 1980s, the Greek government negotiated the restitution of these cultural property with the Bulgarian government. Information about their results is contradictory.
In conditions when the majority of the monasteries of Athos were threatened by the Bulgarian occupation and ruin, the Sacred Kinot - the government council of the monastic republic, consisting of representatives of 20 monasteries - decided to apply for patronage directly to Adolf Hitler.
The epistle was compiled by Elder Gabriel from the Dionysian monastery and translated into German by the monk Gerasim (Menagias) from the same monastery. It stated, in particular, that the Holy Mountain since the 9th century has been a separate independent state, whose sovereignty has been repeatedly confirmed by international treaties, including the Berlin Treaty of 1878.
"The purpose and purpose of the monks asceticising in the Holy Mountain - it was indicated in the message - regardless of their place of origin and nationality, … is the preservation, prosperity and provision of its sacred abodes, … an ascetic life and unceasing prayer for the peace of the whole world."
Promotional video:
"Preservation of this system of an autonomous monastic state" Sacred Kinot asked Hitler "to take under his high protection and care." The message was approved at a meeting of the Holy Kinot on April 26, 1941. Together with the letter, an image of Hitler himself was sent, carved on a tree by the monk Arseny from the skete of St. Anne, with the inscription in Greek: "Adolf, the great king."
Monastic republic under the protectorate of the Third Reich
Mount Athos was included directly in the zone of occupation of the German troops. Byzantine scholar Dölge was appointed governor of Ouranoupoli, a city at the foot of Athos. Bulgarian troops were removed from the Holy Mountain and small German garrisons were stationed there in the Great Lavra and in Vigla. At the same time, German soldiers were forbidden to enter the temples with weapons.
In addition, the Germans became interested in the cultural wealth of Athos. The Holy Mountain claims to have exclusive possession of the secrets of hesychasm, a meditative practice that developed in the XIV century. In August 1941, a large scientific expedition arrived from Germany to Athos. It included both pseudoscientists-occultists from "Anenerbe" and serious researchers - historians, archaeologists, Byzantinists, theologians, and linguists. The guide in their scientific excursions and research was, on behalf of the Holy Kinot, the Russian monk of St. Panteleimon Monastery, Father Sofroniy Sakharov, who spoke German the best on Athos. As a result of the work of the expedition in 1943 in Munich, a thick collective monograph "The Monastic State on Mount Athos" was published.
Prayers for the victory of Germany
In June 1942, correspondents from the German news agency DNB visited the Holy Mountain. Sacred Kinot circulated through him his statement, in which he expressed gratitude to Germany for its policy towards Athos. Sacred Kinot also announced support for the efforts of the Third Reich in the war with the Soviet Union. The statement, in particular, stated:
“With great emotion we followed the courageous struggle of the German army and its allies for the liberation of Russia from godless Bolshevism. Wherever German troops come, religious life is restored and church bells are ringing again … The sacred community on the holy Mount of Athos is confidently awaiting the victory of the defender of Christianity - the German Reich and its allies. She prays, God bless the victorious weapon of the Reich leader, and sends her heartfelt congratulations and sincere wishes for the best to believers in the eastern regions [that is, in the occupied territories of the Soviet Union - Ya B].
It should be noted, however, that the statement of the Athonite monks was not something out of the ordinary in the voice of the Orthodox churches in Europe. All of them were in the territory occupied by Germany and its satellites and expressed support for the Third Reich. The Bulgarian and Romanian Orthodox Churches were in solidarity with their governments, which were in allied relations with Germany. The hierarchs of the Church of Greece did not lag behind them.
Thus, the Metropolitan of Thessaloniki called for prayers "for all those who, with arms in hand, are fighting on the Eastern Front against godless Bolshevism, and this enables us to freely profess the Orthodox faith." Metropolitan Florinsky Vasily expressed "deep gratitude of all civilized mankind to the leader of the German Reich." Metropolitan Irenaeus of Chalcis invoked God's blessing on German weapons. The Patriarchate of Constantinople, being on neutral territory, did not make such calls. But in the church of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Berlin in 1941-1945. every evening, prayers were served for "the deliverance of Russia from the atheist power."
Yaroslav Butakov