Financial crimes taking place at Osiou Avakoum monastery are being investigated by police, where two monks were allegedly found to be having sex and receiving thousands of euros in cash they claimed were donations, it emerged on Saturday.
Until the complaint was filed with police, state authorities had stepped back from the incident, which was the topic of an emergency Holy Synod meeting on Friday, where it was decided the two monks, embroiled in the scandal, would head to ecclesiastical court.
According to police spokesman Christos Andreou, who spoke to CyBC in the morning, Bishop Isaias of Tamasos had given a long statement to police.
Andreou said that officers had gone to the bishopric to take Isaias’ statements.
Later in the day, Andreou said that the monks at the monastery had also made statements to the police.
Asked by the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) to comment on the latest developments and on claims police refused to take statements from monks previously, Andreou said that no such thing happened.
He added that the police informed the monks that statements will be taken by investigators on Saturday, as was the case.
On Friday, the two monks had been summoned three times to appear at the emergency session convened to investigate the accusations against them.
However, the monks did not attend.
In a letter sent by the monks from the monastery in Fterikoudi village through their lawyers, the two men denied all charges brought against them.
The letter said that the two had been pressured to sign letters admitting to the charges, which include having sexual relations with each other and gaining €800,000 for fake miracles.
Following the Synod’s announcement, the monk’s lawyers highlighted that the alleged ‘confessions’ and ‘order to defrock’ were signed under duress.
The lawyers, Adrianna Klaedes and Nikolaos Koulouris, also weighed in on the alleged sex scandal surrounding the two men.
They said that the sex scandal has nothing to do with the two men, but with a third former cleric of the same monastery, for whom individuals had filed a sexual abuse claim.
Klaedes and Koulouris added that their office represents the victims of that scandal, and that they have informed the Synod of the matter.
Allegedly, the letters were signed following a 14-hour interrogation by Bishop Isaias.
The bishop had, according to information, appeared a few weeks ago at the monastery, which belongs to the metropolis of Tamasos and Orinis, to examine the allegations.
In their statement after a five-hour-long meeting, the Synod also called on the faithful to remain ‘steadfast’ despite the scandal, emphasising that the church was taking the issue seriously.
They also said that members of the public, who may have any complaints about clerics should step forward so the church can examine them.