Monk nabbed at airport trying to smuggle dead nun’s skeleton out of Greece

19/1/2011

BY Philip Caulfield
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Church of Cyprus

A monk and two accomplices were busted Sunday trying to board a plane in Athens with the skull and bones of a dead nun in their luggage.

When questioned about why he had a skull and skeletal remains wrapped in cloth in his suitcase, the 42-year-old monk, who is from Cyprus, told police that he was transferring the remains from Greece to a monastery in Cyprus because the nun was a saint.

The Cypriot Orthodox church, though, showed little faith in the monk’s story, saying the attempted smuggling was sacrilegious.

“It appears to be the work of charlatans with a financial interest, that is what I suspect,” Cyprus’ Archbishop Chrysostomos II told Reuters.

The trio, which included a man in his 50s and a woman in her 60s, were charged with theft and desecrating human remains.

The monk was also suspended from his monastery for three months, according to the Cyprus Mail.

The graverobbers allegedly stole the remains of the nun, Eleni Vathiadou, after a memorial service held by her family at a cemetery to mark the four-year anniversary of her death, the Cyprus Mail reported.

Vathiadou had once served as a nun in Cyprus but had been living in Greece when she died.

She was never officially declared a saint by the church.

However, it is common for sects within the Orthodox tradition to worship their own saints and revere their remains, which are often placed on display along with donation boxes, Reuters reported.

With Wire News Services
pcaulfield@nydailynews.com

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