Esphigmenou Monastery

Esphigmenou monastery (Greek: Μονή Εσφιγμένου) is an Eastern Orthodox monastery in the monastic state of Mount Athos in Greece, dedicated to the Ascension of Christ. It is built next to the sea at the northern part of the Athonite peninsula. Located near the Hilandar monastery, it is the northernmost of all Athonite monasteries. The current monastery dates back to the 10th century, while tradition holds that the site had been used as a monastery since as early as the 5th century. Esphigmenou ranks eighteenth in the hierarchy of the Athonite monasteries and. In the early 1970s it had proved to be a source of controversy due to its newly established relations to certain groups of ultra-fanatic schismatic old-calendarists. Since 2005 a new brotherhood has been established by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, but the main building of the monastery (and its offices at Karyes) still are under ocuupation by a group of schismatic occupants. The occupants are not more than 60 and are keen on the wide use of television and mass media in an effort to gain support among people. The canonical and legal brotherhood is of approximately 10 monks under Archimandrite Chrysostomos Katsoulieris (Greek: Αρχιμανδρίτης Χρυσόστομος Κατσουλιέρης), and currently resides outside the main monastery building, because of its uncanonical and illegal occupation.