Archbishop Ieronymos ends years of tolerance of Mount Lycabettus’ “miracle-working” priest

Five years after a church probe that he had ordered condemned the "miracle-working" priest, Demetrios Loupasakis, who drew thousands of faithful with a crucifix that he claimed to contain part of the True Cross of Christ, to the church of the Saints Isidore on Mount Lycabettus in Athens, Archbishop Ieronymos has said he will remove the priest and his entourage from the chapel, giving them a five-day deadline and the option of moving to an ecclesiastical foundation in Vari, where their activities will be monitored.

The 63-year-old priest has said that he will obey the decision of the archbishop, who reportedly wanted to give him a "second chance".

In an interview with the Sunday edition of Kathimerini, Ieronymos broke years of silence to explain his recent decision to remove the charlatan priest who claimed that his crucifix performed hundreds if not thousands of miracles, healing a host of even incurable diseases.

Op-ed: For the West, Erdogan is one thing, Turkey is another

A number of personalities from the arts and politics reportedly were among the thousands of faithful who flocked to the chapel for divine intercession through the crucifix.

Metropolitan bishop of Argolida's intervention helped lead to action

Metropolitan bishop Nektarios of Argolida in June unleashed an attack against Loupasakis. He spoke of fake miracles and cited one case in which the parents cut off their child's medical treatment with the belief that the priest with the crucifix would cure it, but the child died.

"They called me from Thessaloniki and told me that we had a sick child and we ceased its hospital therapy. We travelled to the Church of the Saints Theodore but the child's condition worsened and it died," Nektarios...