Suicide Incident Shocks Monks St. Anthony Monastery in Arizona

Areti Kotseli
16/6/2012

A 27-year-old young monk committed suicide at the at St. Anthony monastery in Arizona, according to a National Herald report. He had been in the community for six years prior to his death.

The suicide was made known on Monomakhos by Ashley Nevins the victim’s father.
The Orthodox monk’s civilian name was Scott Nevin and he was American from Modesto, California.

It appears that the 27-year-old had some sort of hatred against Ephraim, the igoumen or abbot of the monastery. He had published the following post,“We are here simply to expose St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Monastery as a cult, and to expose Elder Ephraim as a cult leader . . .I (Scott Nevins) was a novice at St. Anthony’s monastery for six years and saw Elder Ephraim, the charlatan, on a daily basis. I am convinced, based on my experience, that the Elder is a cult leader, and the monastery is a cult,” at http://www.elderephraimscult.com, a website he founded.

The information so far is rather obscure. It is only certain that he had fled the monastery 15 months ago, unable to endure the monastic suppression and deprivation. He returned to the monastery last Sunday armed with two guns and a knife, having previously visited Oregon.

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