Greek journalist Thanasis Avgerinos sharply criticized the dozens of religious icons displayed inside the office of Ilias Theodoropoulos, the Stem Cell clinic where singer Giorgos Mazonakis suffered the cardiac arrest that killed him, in a post on social media.
Mazonakis is a well-known figure in Greek popular music, with a career spanning decades and a string of chart hits.
In his post, Avgerinos noted that the icons in the clinic were arranged like what he described as a gallery, and used the moment to recount advice a monk at Mount Athos had given him.
According to Avgerinos, the monk asked him whether he did not know that he should run away upon seeing such a gallery of icons lined up in the office of a folk healer, telling him it was a business reason, not faith, that put them on display.
The monk went on to say that displaying religious icons amounts to arrogance, insolence and, at times, blasphemy, adding that icons should not be treated as jewelry or trinkets, and warning people to stay away, Avgerinos wrote.
In Greek, traditional or alternative practitioners of this kind are often called laikoi, or folk healers, referring to individuals who provide treatments outside formal medical licensing.
Avgerinos said he had visited Mount Athos, the autonomous monastic community in northern Greece that serves as the spiritual center of Orthodox Christian monasticism and is home to twenty monasteries, after resigning as press spokesperson for the political party Hope for Democracy (Elpida gia ti Dimokratia). He closed his post by saying he was still running, giving his own sarcastic spin to the exchange.
Parallel drawn with Maria Karystianou
The post came at a time when Maria Karystianou, president of the association representing families of victims of the Tempi train crash, the February 2023 rail disaster in central Greece that killed 57 people, was also at the center of public debate, with Avgerinos drawing an indirect parallel between the two cases.
Karystianou has previously been photographed in a space containing religious icons, and former collaborators of hers have publicly made accusations regarding her relationships with people connected to religious life.
However, Avgerinos's remarks reflect his own personal position and an indirect comparison; on their own, they do not establish any link between the two situations, according to the report.
