Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and ELAS president Alexis Tsipras both met recently with Abbot Elissaios of Simonopetra Monastery as party leaders step up efforts to court Mount Athos.
As Greek newspaper Proto Thema reports, the monasteries of the autonomous Orthodox peninsula wield strong political influence, especially in northern Greece, drawing leaders across the spectrum to cultivate senior monks.
Tsipras posted photographs with Elissaios at Simonopetra, a cliffside monastery nicknamed the Eagle's Nest, quoting a lyric by Greek songwriter Thanasis Papakonstantinou saying that chanting at Simonopetra is heard in Hades.
Mitsotakis, who has a close personal relationship with Elissaios, met the abbot weeks ago while travelling to Arnaia in Chalkidiki. Stopping at the women's monastery in Ormylia, where Elissaios was waiting, the prime minister spoke with him at length over coffee and sweets in the monastery's Synodikon hall.
Political influence of Mount Athos in Macedonia
Mount Athos has long been a field of political competition, with many monasteries playing a major role in directing votes toward right-wing parties beyond Mitsotakis's ruling New Democracy party.
While rumours are not always verified, a direct line of support linked Mount Athos to Niki, a religious party that emerged suddenly in Greek politics in 2023. Greek Solution leader Kyriakos Velopoulos also keeps strong ties with Athonite monasteries.
That influence extends beyond the peninsula itself through the sway Athonite monks hold over other monasteries across prefectures in Macedonia and other Greek regions.
Same-sex marriage backlash and 100 million euro funding
Developments on Mount Athos alarmed the government after the 2023 elections and the rise of parties to the right of New Democracy. Russia's invasion of Ukraine also played a role, as Moscow has historically held key mechanisms of influence on the peninsula.
Tensions worsened after Mitsotakis announced legislation legalising same-sex marriage, which passed in early 2024 after months of debate. Furious monks made their anger clear, and in the 2024 European Parliament elections, parties to the right of New Democracy gained ground while New Democracy dropped below 30 percent.
Officials at the Maximos Mansion, the prime minister's office in Athens, saw the depth of the rift when planning a visit by Mitsotakis in late spring 2025. At a Holy Community meeting, representatives of the Philotheou, Konstamonitou, Karakalou, Docheiariou, Grigoriou, Koutloumousiou and Agiou Pavlou monasteries objected to the schedule prepared by Mount Athos civil governor Alkiviadis Stefanis, opposing the prime minister's arrival at the Garden of the Virgin Mary and effectively treating him as persona non grata.
Carefully reorganised, the trip took place without incident in early July 2025. Welcomed in Karyes by the Holy Epistasia and the Holy Community, Mitsotakis visited the Iviron, Vatopedi, Simonopetra and Xenophontos monasteries and announced 100 million euros in funding through 2030 for maintenance, earthquake restoration, relic protection, environmental work, pilgrim infrastructure and electrical grid interconnection.
Maximos Mansion channels to Athonite elders
Since summer 2025, tensions have calmed as major projects advance across the monasteries, including library renovations, relic conservation, natural disaster repairs and a new harbour at Iviron Monastery.
Maximos Mansion officials have built secure communication channels with influential elders including Elissaios of Simonopetra, Ephraim of Vatopedi, Alexios of Xenophontos and Nathanael of Iviron. Prime ministerial adviser Christos Zografos, who has longstanding Church contacts and has handled numerous tense situations, acts as a facilitator advancing practical monastic requests under the increased state funding.
Zografos also keeps close ties with those elders and with Emmanuel Papamikroulis, the Archiepiscopal Vicar of the Holy Synod in his forties and confidant of Archbishop Ieronymos. Meanwhile, Secretary General to the Prime Minister Stelios Koutnatzis maintains an open line with the Archdiocese on regulatory issues.
Prime ministerial adviser Thanasis Nezis, who hails from Messinia and has warm relations with Peloponnese metropolitans, favours austere monasteries like Stavronikita Monastery. Michalis Bekiris, director of the prime minister's Thessaloniki office, handles issues involving northern Greek monasteries and Athonite dependencies in Pieria and Imathia, maintaining strong ties with Metropolitan Philotheos of Thessaloniki and Metropolitan Varnavas of Kalamaria, while Deputy Minister for Macedonia and Thrace Kostas Gioulekas is also well regarded by the monks.
The Maximos Mansion and Stefanis's administration in Karyes aim to preserve calm, foster cooperation and stem one-sided voter defections to the right of New Democracy. A source familiar with the delicate balances told Proto Thema that everything can happen when calm prevails without tensions, a balance Stefanis manages daily.
Alexis Tsipras seeks a centrist profile on Mount Athos
Tsipras's visit to Mount Athos also sparked discussion. Lacking traction on the political right, the former radical left leader and self-declared atheist wants to project a milder, more centrist profile.
On Mount Athos, everyone says Tsipras was brought there by Dimitris Linos, a medical professor and ordained priest married to Member of Parliament Athena Linou. A close friend of Tsipras, Linos coordinated the visit with the Athonite State authorities. Tsipras is also close to Kostas Dimtsas, managing director of the Archdiocese's charity Apostoli and a former civil governor of Mount Athos who was succeeded by shipowner Thanasis Martinos, and who holds strong ties with many monasteries.
Right-wing rivals and the Xenophontos anniversary
Upcoming elections will test the influence of right-wing party leaders on Mount Athos. Velopoulos visits regularly, though in 2023 Abbot Bartholomew of Esphigmenou Monastery accused him of close ties with the monastery's rebel monks.
Niki leader Dimitris Natsios, another regular visitor whose speeches carry strong theological themes, won over 10 percent in the 2024 European elections in his home prefecture of Pieria and keeps close ties with Stavronikita Monastery and Abbot Ephraim of Vatopedi.
Ephraim, a rock star figure on Mount Athos whose wealthy Vatopedi Monastery ranks second in the Athonite hierarchy, maintains ties with Velopoulos and also hosted Tsipras and former prime minister Antonis Samaras, who visited months ago and again hinted cryptically at forming a party.
Mount Athos's political weight was also evident at a recent Athens Concert Hall event marking the 50th anniversary of Xenophontos Monastery, where President of the Hellenic Republic Kostas Tasoulas and Archbishop Ieronymos were keynote speakers and ministers Pavlos Marinakis, Vassilis Kikilias and Nikos Papaioannou sat in the front rows.
