The National Herald reported that Sister Christonymphi Fitzpatrick who is a nun at the Patriarchal and Stavropegial Monastery in Astoria, NY, left the monastic life. The nun offered a statement to the 114th Police Precinct on Saturday night November 6, 2010. She revealed a great deal about the events that transpired in the Monastery under the leadership of its Abbot Metropolitan Paisios of Tyana throughout the years she spent there. Sister Christonymphi also handed over to the authorities a briefcase containing approximately $500,000 in cash. Presently the 26-year-old nun has been taken to an unknown location to ensure her safety and protection, following police directives.
Resignation of Metropolitan Paisios
On October 5, 2010 an official letter of resignation was submitted to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew by Metropolitan Paisios of Tyana, who will no longer serve as abbot of the Saint Irene Chrysovalantou Patriarchal and Stavropegial Monastery in Astoria, NY. The Metropolitan cited health related issues as the impetus for this sudden resignation. Rumors for scandal and controversy have been circulating this high profile heirarch and his right hand man Bishop Vikentios, but this time there are official reports. National Herald’s sources report that Sister Christonymphi gave a detailed account of licentious acts that included members of both sexes, some of whom were underage at the time that the events transpired. The Ecumenical Patriarch Mr. Vartholomaios and the Holy Synod’s Metropolitans preceded Abbot Paisios of the Monastery of St. Irene of New York’s Metropolitan of Tyana and the deputy abbot Mr. Vincent, into quarantine restrictions in Athens. Abbot of Dionysius’s Monastery at Mount Athos, Archimandrite Mr. Petros and the Abbot of Saint John the Baptist Monastery Archimandrite Mr. Kirilos from Essex – England, will visit The Monastery of New York to conduct investigations. The case is also under investigation by U.S. authorities.
(Panos Kontogiannis contributed to this report)
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