Yesterday, I received an email from from the brothers at Macheras Monastery objecting to a reference I made in this Hellenic Antidote post on Grigoris Afxentiou to a copy of Nikos Kazantzakis' Christ Recrucified, allegedly given to Afxentiou by the Abbot of Macheras, being found in the cave among the EOKA hero's possessions when the British killed him.My source for this detail was Colin Thubron's Journey into Cyprus, which does, admittedly, contain many half-truths and improbable stories. Indeed, now that the brothers mention it, it does seem unlikely, firstly, that the Abbot would have given Afxentiou such a book; and, secondly, that it would have survived the fire that killed the hero.
Here's what the brothers say:
Recently, it has come to our attention the article about Afxentiou on your website. We were shocked to read that amongst other events, the abbot of the Monastery of Macheras has given Afxentiou a copy of the blasphemous book of Kazantzakis Christ Recrucified and it was found in the hideout next to the burned body of Afxentiou. This is fiction, not an historical event.
We don’t know from where you received this information because it is the first time we hear about this. Deeply disturbed, we contacted Avgoustinos Efstathiou, a co-fighter of Afxentiou, who took part in the battle and was with the hero till the end. Avgoustis confirmed to us that he never saw anything like it and such a book was never found in the cave. After all, is it not irrational for a book to survive after the total burning of the hideout?
Therefore, we kindly ask you to correct your article by emitting completely the fairy tale about the book.
With many wishes in Christ
The brotherhood of the Monastery of Macheras
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