The mysterious death of an high-ranking clergyman in his home in downtown Athens is puzzling the Greek Police that examines the possibility of a homicide.
52-year-old archimandrite Chrysostomos Levogiannis was found in his home at Amerikis Square in Kypseli district of the Greek capital by his cleaner at Wednesday noon.
The cleaner had the keys for the apartment and when she found the body she called the police, church news website ekklisiaonline reported.
According to media, the clergyman appeared to have hanged himself with a belt. An unusual scenario as the Greek Orthodox Church does not allow suicide, how much more, by those who are officially assigned with its representation.
The Homicide Department of the Greek Police investigates the case, as his body was found on the floor of his bedroom and had also bruises.
According to Skai TV, the priest was found hanged inside his apartment, while bruises and blood were found on his body. These signs led the authorities to investigate the possibility that it was a criminal act and not a suicide.
However, there are no signs of violation of the home of the Archimandrite who was working in Agios Panteleimonas church in Chalandri.
According to media, the archimandrite’s mother and brother who live in Argos, Peloponnese, some 120 km away, reject the suicide option.
“My child would never do this,” his mother told Alpha TV on Thursday..
Mother and brother told media and police that they did not talk with him on the phone for two days and that they were worried.
They called the cleaner’s son to check for their beloved son and brother, they said.
“We called her son because he was helping him, he was like his right hand,” the archimandrite brother said.
According to daily ethnos, police authorities examine all possibilities and continue the investigation to find out “whether there was someone with a motive to kill the 52-year-old or someone who had a conflict with him.”
Parishioners speak of the clergyman as “a good man who helped everyone” and are shocked by his death. His co-workers at an Alzheimer’s charity facility of the Archdiocese of Athens describe him as a “very sensitive man.”
An autopsy is expected to shed light into the priest’s allegedly mysterious death.
