A Greek court arrested the abbot of the Vatopedi monastery, from where the belt of the Virgin Mary was brought to Russia

After the Greek court decided to arrest the rector of the Vatopedi monastery, Archimandrite Ephraim, from where the belt of the Virgin Mary was brought to Russia, today the archimandrite himself will come to the internal affairs bodies, Interfax reports, citing a representative of the monastery. Greek police suspect him of economic offenses. The monastery insists that the case “is of an exclusively political nature.” “Less than a month ago, the belt of the Blessed Virgin Mary, kept in the Vatopedi monastery, was brought to Russia, and I do not exclude that this step by the Greek authorities may be connected precisely with this,” they said in the monastery.

One of the most revered Orthodox relics, the belt of the Virgin Mary, was in Russia from October 20 to November 28 of this year. During this time, more than 3 million people bowed to her, of which about a million were in Moscow. Initially, the belt was supposed to return to Athos on November 23, but its stay in Russia was extended due to the unprecedented scale of pilgrimage to it. The record for the length of the queue to the shrine and the waiting time in it was set by Moscow - 6 km and 26 hours. In St. Petersburg - 3 km, in other cities - about 2 km.

The Belt of the Mother of God was first delivered to Russia by the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation. Usually the ark with the belt of the Virgin Mary is brought to one or another Greek city once a year in response to the urgent requests of believers. Previously, the Vatopedi Monastery, which is the largest in Greece, refused all requests from other countries, in particular from the USA and Romania, to bring the ark. An exception was made for Russia.