A church trial will begin on August 30 seeking to defrocks Archimandrites Nektarios and Porfyrios for unethical acts in the Osiou Avakoum monastery scandal.

The indictment is based on the charges that have been brought against them from the beginning by Tamassos Bishop Isaias, to whose diocese they are attached, reinforced by testimonies and similar accusations that emerged during the investigation by the Church’s Investigative Committee.

The church procedure is separate from a civil procedure underway against the monks for money laundering.

The main whistleblower to Isaias was a former monk of the monastic order of Avakoum, Varnavas, who had caught the indecent acts on the CCTV in the monastery.

The charges the church is examining start with allegedly immoral relationships, extend to the embezzlement of church funds, proceed to the concealment of church property (through the keeping of €806,600 in a safe) and extend to conspiracy to commit church offences.

A legal team for Nektarios and Porfyrios has repeatedly called for the charges to be dropped against their clients, saying that Isaias had already punished them for the crimes and calling Varnavas unreliable as a witness.

In June, Data Protection Commissioner Irene Loizidou-Nicolaidou said that there are emerging criminal offences related to the handling of the case against monks of the infamous Osiou Avakoum monastery, specifically concerning the operation of CCTV cameras.

In a statement regarding the CCTV operations at the monastery, she said: “The audit findings recorded acts and/or omissions, which constitute a violation of provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and, by extension, criminal offences. At this stage, no details can be released, as the investigative work of the police is ongoing, which should not be affected.”