Still Running Off at the Keyboard

A GREEK Orthodox monk awaiting trial on corruption charges is alleged to have plundered the ecclesiastical relics he sold on the black market from his own monastery.



Archimandrite Iakovos Yiossakis is accused of digging up the relics from tombs beneath the floor of the monastery on the island of Kythera, off the southern coast of Greece.

A judicial report into the allegations alleges that the monk, with unnamed accomplices, opened the graves of at least three clergymen and removed gold and silver ornaments from the human remains. Investigators said that they had found evidence of the desecration.

Archimandrite Yiossakis was arrested in February to face charges related to the illegal sale of sacred icons. He had previously served as a priest ministering to Greek-Americans in Chicago, some of whom said that he had embezzled an undetermined amount of money while there.

The judicial report also said that he had ties with a trialfixing ring made up of senior judges, several of whom have been dismissed from the judiciary.