A prosecution witness in the Avakoum monastery fraud trial described on Wednesday how footage from a monastery security camera showing one of the defendants apparently faking a religious trance convinced him to leave the community for good.

The witness said he was shown the video by officials at the Bishop of Tamassos shortly before his departure, and that it depicted Abbot Nektarios appearing to enter what he called an “alleged trance”, impersonating Saint Porphyrios before fainting.

“The alleged trance was pure theatre,” he told the court, saying the footage made him realise “I did not belong to these people.”

The prosecution put to the witness that his account of ‘oppressive treatment’ at the monastery was inconsistent with his vote to elect Nektarios as abbot.

The witness said he had voted “after being instructed” and that Nektarios had done “preliminary work” beforehand to secure the outcome, insisting that the vote did not reflect a change in the abbot’s behaviour towards him.

The defence presented photographs and video from the witness’s two years at the monastery, including trips to Jerusalem and Istanbul, arguing they showed he was treated no differently from other monks.

The witness rejected the comparison, retorting that “you have now shown me ten videos of ten seconds each and based on this, a period of two years that I was in the monastery is judged,” he said.

He stressed that footage intended for the defendants’ social media accounts would never show mistreatment.

Questioned on the monastery’s finances, the witness acknowledged it covered his food, utilities, clothing and travel costs, but said he did not know where his salary had gone, telling the court his complaints about the abbot’s conduct had existed throughout his stay regardless.

Both Nektarios and Porphyrios deny charges including conspiracy to defraud, forgery, theft, money laundering and submitting false tax returns.

The trial continues next Monday on September 28.