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While Esphigmenou is ranked eighteenth among the twenty monasteries on Mount Athos, it withdrew its representative from the Holy Community in 1974 and does not take part in the assemblies of the Community. The withdrawal by the monks was precipitated by a break with the Ecumenical Patriarch for violations of the doctrines of the Church in regards Patriarchate relations with non-Orthodox, particularly the [[Roman Catholic Church]]. The abbot, Methodius, stated that the monks of Esphigmenou Monastery do not want some fifteen million euros that was offered by the European Union to the monastery, noting that offers of such large amounts of money surely are made in the expectation of receiving something in exchange.
On [[December 20]], 2006, a group of Esphigmenou monks clashed violently with another group of monks outside the monastery. When the outside monks attempted to gain access to the monastery's representative offices in Karyes, they were attacked by Esphigmenou monks using crowbars and fire extinguishers. The monks have refused an eviction order by Ecumenical Patriarch [[Bartholomew I (Archontonis) of Constantinople|Bartholomew I]] and in October 2006, a Thessaloniki court issued two-year suspended sentences against nine monks and former monastery members for illegally occupying Esphigmenou's offices.[http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/20/greece.monks.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories]
==Treasury==
