Christ Of The Hills Monastery Aka Monastery Of Christ The Saviour - Christ Of The Hills Monastery Aka Monastery Of Christ The Saviour Aka New Sarov Monks Who Monkeyed Around: Charges of Fraud, Child Molestation, Loss of Accreditation Blanco Texas

THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE AN ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN MONASTERY!
AND THINGS BEGAN TO HAPPEN THERE!

NOTICE THAT RIP-OFF, So-CALLED SPIRITUAL ORGANIZATIONS CHANGE THEIR NAMES, A LOT!

HAD TROUBLES IN 1999-- LOST THEIR RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ACCREDITATION

Episcopal Decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

Concerning the Monastery of Christ the Saviour in Blanco, Texas

28th January /10th February:

Discussed: The situation in the monastery in Blanco, Texas. In connection with the abnormalities which have arisen there, it was suggested that Archimandrite Theodosius (Clare) and Hieromonk Joachim (Parr) should be sent there, being entrusted with carefully examining the life of the monastery and conducting an audit of its finances, while attempting to familiarize themselves with the situation and attempting to put the life of the monastery and the monastics into order.

Resolved: To send Archimandrite Theodosius and Hieromonk Joachim to investigate the situation and carry out a financial audit, and to regularize the life of the monastery, concerning which they are to be given an official directive (ukaze).

15/28 April.: Heard: The written report of Archimandrite Theodosius and Hieromonk Joachim concerning their visit to the monastery of Christ the Saviour in Blanco, Texas. In accordance with the Ukaze of the Holy Synod of 28th January / 10th February 1999, they had visited the monastery at Blanco both to familiarize themselves with the order of life in the monastery and to ascertain the legal and financial situation of the monastery. However, when they arrived and presented the directive from the Synod, the monks, under the leadership of Abbot Vasily and Hieromonk Benedict, the spiritual father and elder of the monastery, refused to cooperate with them in their investigation, citing their lawyer s instructions. They then spoke to the lawyer and the following day a brief conversation was held, but at the instance of the lawyer no examination took place.

Circumstances of this matter: After discussing all aspects of this matter, the Synod resolved:

1. The administration of the monastery, in the persons of Abbot Vasily, Hieromonk Benedict and Hieromonk Jeremiah, who control all the affairs of the monastery, have for the second time refused to carry out the directives of the Ecclesiastical Authorities, and do not desire to cooperate with the persons appointed by the Synod to carry out an investigation of the life of the monastery and ascertain the legal and financial situation of the monastery, thereby breaking the following canons: the 38th, 39th 41st and 55th Apostolic Canons; the 14th Canon of the First and Second Council ( ...and neither ought a presbyter treat his own bishop scornfully or contemptuously ... ); the 18th Canon of the IVth Oecumenical Council, and the 34th Canon of the VIth Oecumenical Council; accordingly, as a result of this, the Synod considers it appropriate and determines to close the monastery of Christ the Saviour in Blanco.

2. Those monastics who wish to remain in obedience to our Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia are to be provided with the opportunity of moving to other existing monasteries or sketes of ours. The Synod will reimburse the moving expenses of those who express the desire to transfer to another monastery.

Resolved:

1. To inform the administration of the Monastery of Christ the Saviour in Blanco, Texas of the above decision, and to transmit this decision to them through Archimandrite Theodosius and Hieromonk Joachim, who are to hand this Synodal decision to them and obtain a written acknowledgment of receipt for it.

2. To entrust Archimandrite Theodosius and Hieromonk Joachim with the task of taking away the Antimensia and Holy Chrism in the monastery's possession. Concerning this matter an Ukaze is to be given to Abbot Vasily and copies thereof to Archimandrite Theodosius and Hieromonk Joachim. From: Church Life (in Russian), 1999, 1-2........

THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OUTSIDE OF RUSSIA HAS WASHED THEIR HANDS OF THESE PEOPLE AND THEIR ORGANIZATION!
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NOTE: This statement will be posted on the Official ROCOR Web Site, in the Russian original, and English Translation.
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INDECENCY CHARGES AGAINST TWO MONKS SHOCKS TOWN 1999
By KELLEY SHANNON Associated Press Writer

BLANCO, Texas (AP) ? In their flowing black robes and matching hats, the bearded monks of Christ of the Hills Monastery were for years merely a curiosity. The faithful at the only Russian Orthodox monastery in Texas lived on a hilltop outside of town, welcomed outsiders who came to see their weeping icon of the Virgin Mary, and said little when they ventured into Blanco to buy groceries or mail letters. Lately, though, the monastery's quiet world of worship has been shaken and its relationship with Blanco townspeople strained by a sex scandal involving two monks. Samuel A. Greene Jr., 54, known as Father Benedict, and Jonathan Hitt, 37, known as Father Jeremiah, have each been charged with three counts of indecency with a child. The charges involve a 17-year-old male religious student who lived at Christ of the Hills in 1997.

The monks, both Americans, were arrested in January and could get up to 20 years in prison. They are scheduled for arraignment Wednesday. ?It is, of course, sad. But we know everything is in God's hands. He permits persecution and things to befall us as he sees fit,? said Father Pangratios, a spokesman for the monastery. Neither the prosecutor nor the attorney for the monks returned calls for comment. Father Pangratios would not discuss the allegations, citing a gag order imposed by the judge. Lin Hughes, an attorney for the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, said the church suspended the two monks in late 1998. ?It is a very unfortunate situation, but the presumption of innocence is still in place,? Ms. Hughes said. ?The church is very concerned for the welfare of everyone involved.?

Both monks are free on $50,000 bail and continue to live at Christ of the Hills. Eighteen people, ages 16 to 98, live at Christ of the Hills, maintaining a life of work and worship. They take vows of chastity, poverty and obedience and help sustain their community financially by making incense, mounting religious icons and selling candles and other items. Christ of the Hills was founded in 1967 and later became associated with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. The monastery moved from the San Antonio area to its site near Blanco in 1981. Since 1985, the monks have said a flat, wooden image of the Mother of God has wept tears of myrrh. Word of the weeping icon spread ? with the help of pamphlets and coupons ? drawing thousands of visitors each year, many of whom put something in the donation box or buy a candle. Women who come to see the icon must cover their heads with a scarf. If they are wearing pants, they must don one of the wraparound skirts the monks provide. Some Blanco residents who have directed visitors to the monastery are upset over the charges and say they don't know what to tell tourists, many of whom also visit Blanco to shop and stroll the historic downtown square in this town of 1,300 people not far from President Lyndon B. Johnson's ranch. ?It's just sad that it happened,? said Judy Dorsett. ?You don't want to hear things like that, especially in a small town.?

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Father Benedict Greene (AKA Samuel A. Greene)

Profile: Benedict Greene is the founder of Christ of the Hills Monastery in Blanco, Texas. Greene and Jeremiah Hitt were indicted of indecency with a child in 1999. Charges stated that they sexually abused a religious student at their monastery.

After the charges surfaced Father Benedict was removed from the ROCOR jurisdiction. Before he was a member of ROCOR, he was under the Archdiocese of Vasilupolis where he, along with Metropolitan Pangratios Vrionis, was influential in training leaders from the Holy Order of MANS to be Orthodox priests.

In 2000 Greene pled guilty of sex abuse with the minor and was placed on 10 years probation and fined $10,000.

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Sister Seraphima consoles Fr. Jeremiah (Jonathan I. Hitt) after guilty verdict


Jeremiah Hitt (AKA Jonathan Hitt)

Profile:

Convicted on eight counts of indecency with a child in 1999. Victim: teen-aged boy. The punishment will be up to ten years in prison. A civil case is still pending.
Hitt's colleague, Benedict Greene, founder of the Blanco monastery pled guilty of similar charges in 2000.
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JUNE 22, 2001: FEATURES

FROM THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE
in Austin,Texas

CRYING IN THE CHAPEL
The Most Holy Theotokos Icon of New Sarov Sheds Tears of Myrrh at Blanco Monastery
BY DEVIN GREANEY

Residents of Texas between Austin and San Antonio have long referred to their area as God's Country. It's where the one billion-year-old Enchanted Rock rises over the much more recently established state of Texas, and where thick forests shade rivers, ferns, and waterfalls while a few feet away, rocks, cactus, and juniper provide an altogether different kind of beauty. It's the place where Lyndon Johnson flew to get away from the confines of the White House. It's the Texas Hill Country and according to the monks, nuns, and priests at Christ of the Hills Orthodox Church, the area was and continues to be blessed by a miracle.

The monastery of New Sarov was founded near Boerne in 1967, by two monks, Fathers Benedict and Vasili, who still reside in there today. The present location of the Eastern Orthodox community was built in the spring of 1980, in a remote section of Blanco County, two miles off the main road, past several cattle guards. A group of modest structures make up the religious hamlet. The unassuming group of buildings surrounded by ranches gained little attention until the mid-Eighties. In 1983, an icon of the Christ child and his mother, Mary, was commissioned by the church, painted by a fellow monk in California, and delivered to New Sarov. Icons are an important part of life in the Orthodox faith. So the news on May 7, 1985, that the image of the Virgin Mary, or Theotokos, as she is known to those in the Orthodox, was reported to be weeping tears of myrrh, a fragrant oil, caused quite a stir. The icon is reported to have wept constantly until October of 1985 and has purportedly continued to weep occasionally since. Father Anthony, a brother at the monastery, says the tears average once a day, "But it's up to God, [when the icon will cry]."

Mother Seraphima, the only nun in New Sarov's community of eight monks, says she has seen people come for a variety of reasons. One would guess the faithful would show up, and they do. "Sometimes people are out for a Sunday drive, and find themselves drawn to the icon in ways that they can not explain," she said. Mother Seraphima, who has lived at Christ on the Hills since 1989, believes that it is New Sarov's job to provide "love in a little place [for people who wish to come visit]."

"Some people come here looking for a miracle, some people come needing help with their faith," said Father Pangratios, who has been with the order since 1980. "Some people don't come for any particular reason, only they are drawn by the spiritual," he said, remembering a family who flew in from Egypt just to see and pray before the icon.

Another of those pilgrims was New York City attorney Sheri Rikert, who was in Dallas for a legal conference. Some friends told her about the monastery, and she wanted to make a pre-Easter visit for a couple days of prayer. Rikert, a Catholic, is like many of the visitors who are not part of the Orthodox faith. "Ninety-five percent [of our visitors] are not Orthodox," confirms Father Andrew.

Holy items from Greek and Hispanic cultures surround the icon. Items such as a bag of hair from a cancer patient and other relics from those who need prayers are also left with the artistic rendering of Jesus and Mary. "We realize everyone is sent by God in a time and a way that is best," offered Father Pangratios. "A good number of the people are Roman Catholics, but we've had people who are Baptist. There was a family who was Church of Christ, people who I thought wouldn't be interested in a weeping icon of the Virgin Mary but who came, and came in faith, and God touched them," he said.

The services may be somewhat different to those accustomed to the ones offered by Roman Catholic or most Protestant churches. The Orthodox church is neither Catholic nor Protestant, having separated from the early Christian Church in 1054. (For timeline comparison: Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation didn't take place until 450 years later.)

Little about the mass has changed in the centuries since the first services. The church at New Sarov, for example, has no pews, as most of the congregation stands during the mass, which runs about two hours; shoes are removed before entering the church. Parishioners face east to remind them of the risen Christ and the second coming. Women stand on the left, before the image of Mary and men stand on the right, in front of Jesus. Prayers and scripture readings are sung. Father Anthony explained this reluctance to change. "If we loosen hold of tradition, we lose part of the faith," he said.

Visiting the icon during Holy Week, I asked Father Anthony about how he came to New Sarov. He was sick and facing the possibility of a brain operation. "I came here from Chicago to check it out, and the second time I came, I stayed," he said. He is free from his illness, without surgery. Miracles in the Last Days, a book available at the bookstore at New Sarov, details similar stories of healings of cancer, arthritis, addictions, and even hemorrhoids.

Father Pangratios is quick to point out, however, that "It's important for us not to approach God with a shopping list," and further elaborates on people's need to pray. "Of course, there are people with needs, and God wants us to come to him when we have needs, but the most important kind of healing is the healing that goes on in the soul."

Souls are why the faithful believe that this particular Mary is crying. As Miracles in the Last Days states: "God is not interested in making us say 'wow'; rather, God is trying to get us to wake up out of our stupor. To see reality. To realize that there is more than just this earthly life. To realize that we are not the center of the universe; God is the center of the universe." The church believes that the tears of Mary ask five things of the faithful:

1. Daily repentance and weekly confession

2. Fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays

3. Ceaseless prayer

4. Love God, love neighbor, live the Gospel of Jesus Christ

5. Refrain from all judgment

A crying object can easily be faked, according to world-renowned skeptic James Randi of the James Randi Educational Foundation. Randi, who made his name as a professional magician, has for many years been in the business of debunking claims of the paranormal, psychics, faith healers, and religious miracles. In an article on his Web site, he tells about an encounter with a TV news crew.

"I was able to cause a statue -- one the [TV crew] purchased and brought with them -- to weep uncontrollably at will," he wrote. "I simply squirted the figure surreptitiously and the liquid rolled down the face and arms quite convincingly."

Far from the world of the non-religious is the Catholic Church, which requires scientific investigation and evidence before considering something worthy of worship. For example, doctors -- rather than the clergy -- verify stories of healings. Even then, it is not declared an official miraculous sign of God that has a specific message, but is simply acknowledged, stating for the record that something has happened with no other explanation.


In a small building, behind a locked door, is the Weeping Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of New Sarov. Looking at the icon with other visitors, Father Anthony invited all of us to get as close as we wished, but not to touch the image. Two glistening streaks were barely visible. The streaks made their way from the eyes to the bottom of the picture, laying on a stand at a 45-degree angle. Cotton balls at the bottom of the icon were moist with the fragrant oily liquid that the priest used to bless us all.

"I think it's very touching," said Rickert, the New York attorney whose visit to Texas brought her to the icon. "It's a great consolation and a great challenge from Our Lady."

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THEY ATTRACTED "INTERESTING PERSONS" TO THEIR GROUP

The Tampa Tribune
Nov 19, 2004
Suspect Found Among Monks

By CANDACE J. SAMOLINSKI


HOLIDAY, FLORIDA - Sporting a frizzy gray beard like those of the monks who gave him shelter, Gary Sabino emerged from Christ of the Hills Monastery in Texas on the arms of FBI agents.

Two days shy of his 47th birthday, Sabino returned to Pasco County on Nov. 10 in the company of the sheriff's detective whose dogged persistence led to the former carpenter's capture on molestation charges. It was a day a mother and her three daughters had prayed would come.

If Detective Jim Gariepy, then a property crimes detective, had not been temporarily assigned to the Major Crimes Unit in 2003, he might not have encountered Sabino, who was living in Holiday.

When the call came in that Sabino might have child pornography depicting the three girls, Gariepy took it. He could not have foreseen a case that led to a nearly two-year manhunt and ended at the doorstep of a Blanco, Texas, monastery with a history of harboring pedophiles.

''I was determined to find him, even if it took me until I retired,'' Gariepy said Thursday. ''I went back to property [unit] and in between I was still working this case, two hours here, three hours there, and finally it all paid off.

''A lot of people said, 'Go onto another case.' I just said, 'You have three girls out there who were abused.' I felt like we had to find this guy.''

Sabino was first arrested in January 2003, after a 9-year- old girl accused him of fondling her. The charge was lewd and lascivious molestation, and a judge reduced the initial $150,000 bail to $25,000, according to court records. Sabino posted a bond and was released.

''He pretty much disappeared,'' Gariepy said.

Soon after, Gariepy got the call about the pornography accusation, and the case s****.> ''There are some particulars about how that happened that I don't want to reveal now, but through investigations I did find him,'' Gariepy said. ''He was living under an assumed name in the monastery. Yeah, they were surprised, but it's not like this is an elite place. The founder and another monk were convicted of child molestation.''

The history of the monastery founded in 1981 by Samuel A. Greene Jr., also known as Father Benedict, is filled with scandal. According to published Texas news reports, Greene, a former real estate agent, gained notoriety for the fledgling mission through a slick marketing campaign in 1985.

It was aimed at promoting scented oil that allegedly began appearing beneath the eyes of a painting of the Virgin Mary. The campaign worked, and thousands of curious and desperate people from across the country flocked to Blanco, a town of about 1,100.

Also, money flowed into the monastery, which was operated by Ecumenical Monks Inc. Internal Revenue Service records showed $750,000 a year in donations in the 1990s, and the gift shop brought in about $100,000 a year. Those who donated were sent letters of thanks and cotton balls said to be soaked in the ''tears of myrrh.''

In 1991, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia admitted the monastery as ''a brotherhood'' into its Eastern Diocese, published reports say. Two years later, an 8- year-old boy, who later would file complaints against Greene and another monk, moved from his parents' home in Houston to the abbey, where his parents had wed and he had been baptized.

The boy continued living at the monastery and eventually became a novice monk in training under the direction of Jonathan Hitt, known as Father Jeremiah. In 1997, the boy accused Greene and Hitt of molesting him, according to published reports about the court case that followed.

In 1999, Hitt was convicted of eight counts of indecency with a minor and sentenced to 10 years in prison. The same year, the Russian church severed ties with the monastery, which then joined the Kiev- based Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Its affiliation with that church continues today, according to the monastery's Internet site.

In 2000, Greene admitted molesting the boy as part of a plea deal that required him to pay a $10,000 fine and serve 10 years' probation, published reports say.

Reached at the monastery Thursday, spokesman William E. Hughes, known as Father Vasili, declined to comment about Sabino's stay there.

Sabino was in the Land O' Lakes jail Thursday, held without bail.

Since Oct. 1, Gariepy has been a full-time detective in the Major Crimes Unit and is responsible for investigating crimes against children.

''I hope I have as much success in other cases. This one was a little bit easier because I only had one case and now I have a bunch,'' Gariepy said. ''I went to extremes and did everything I could. I learned a lot.''
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FORMER MONK CONVICTED OF MOLESTATION CHARGES, GETS LIFE
Aug 6, 2005

By LISA A. DAVIS
Tampa Tribune


NEW PORT RICHEY,FL - In Gary Sabino's eyes, he did no wrong.

If he touched the three young sisters' private parts, it was by accident while he bathed or played with them, he said on an audiotape during his trial in June. Or on one occasion, he said, his dog must have been sniffing around and one of the girls was confused about what happened.

The jury didn't buy Sabino's defense, delivering a verdict in 50 minutes after a four-day trial. He was convicted on two counts each of capital sexual battery and lewd and lascivious molestation on a child younger than 12.

''I think the whole case has been based on lies and deception,'' Sabino told Pasco County Circuit Judge Joseph A. Bulone on Friday.

Bulone sentenced Sabino, 47, to two life and two 30-year prison sentences, served concurrently. He was declared a sexual predator.

''Life means life and he's never going to get out,'' Bulone reassured the girls' family.

In June, the blond sisters, ages 6, 8 and 10, testified one by one that their father's friend ''Sparky'' touched their ''privates'' when they stayed overnight at his Holiday home. Prosecutors say Sabino molested them on several occasions between October 2001 and January 2002.

Only the oldest child attended Friday's sentencing and addressed the judge. Prosecutor Eva Vergos held the girl's hand and walked her to the lectern.

''I would like to say he hurt me emotionally,'' the child told Bulone. ''I don't want him to ever get out so he can hurt another little girl.''

Sabino is awaiting trial in another lewd and lascivious case, accused of molesting a 9- year-old girl whose uncle rented an apartment from him. A pretrial hearing is Sept. 29.

He was arrested on that charge in January 2003 but ran and was found living in Texas under an assumed name at Christ of the Hills Monastery, known to shelter pedophiles.

Assistant Public Defender Paul Firmani told Bulone on Friday that about the time of the incidents with the sisters, Sabino was under a lot of stress because he was separated from his wife. He sought solace from the church.

''And that's why he went to the monastery,'' Firmani said.

Bulone asked Sabino about information in his presentence investigation. According to the report, children's toys and videos were found in his room at the monastery.

''The videos were given to me by one of the pilgrims that came there,'' Sabino explained, adding he didn't have cable television and needed something to watch.

He collected the toys for his daughter and grandchildren, Sabino said.
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Ex-monk jailed for indecency testifies at murder retrial

Web Posted: 03/03/2006 12:00 AM CST
Zeke MacCormack
Express-News Staff Writer

LLANO ? The third day of testimony in the murder retrial of James Tenny saw the renewal of an adversarial relationship between Assistant District Attorney Tom Cloudt and Jonathan Hitt, a former monk now behind bars on charges prosecuted by Cloudt.


Hitt was summoned from prison by the defense to testify about conversations he had with Joyce Mulvey, 57, just before her fatal stabbing on May 12, 1997.

Tenny, 53, was found guilty in 1999 of her murder and sentenced to 65 years, but an appeals court last year threw out the conviction on the grounds he'd had ineffective counsel.

In the retrial, moved from Blanco at the urging of the defense, Tenny's new lawyers have tried to show he killed Mulvey in self-defense after she flew into a rage over his plans to move out of their home near Blanco.

Tenny, a woodworker, and Mulvey, a home health aide, were both employed at the Christ of the Hills Monastery outside Blanco, where Hitt was known as "Father Jeremiah."

Hitt appeared in court Thursday absent the black robe and frizzled beard he sported at his trial in 1999, which resulted in his conviction on eight counts of indecency with an 11-year-old novice monk and a 10-year sentence.

Hitt testified that the day she died, Mulvey was angry over Tenny's departure and quit her job when Hitt declined her request to work more hours because of the financial bind it would create.

Hitt recalled Mulvey saying she would kill Tenny, bury his body in the yard and burn their trailer home.

"I said, 'You're not serious,' and she said the same thing again, that she intended to kill him," Hitt testified.

When she picked up her last check about 5 p.m. that day, he said she also threatened to burn down the monastery.

Cloudt wasted little time getting Hitt to identify himself as a convicted felon.

"I prosecuted you, didn't I?" he said.

"Yes," Hitt said.

"You don't care much for our office, do you?" Cloudt said.

"I don't care one way or another," Hitt responded.

Jurors were released early because of courtroom sparring over whether they should hear psychologist Matthew Ferrara's view of Tenny's mental state during the fight.

Ferrara said Tenny's survival instincts took over when, according to Tenny, Mulvey doused him with gasoline and tried to light him afire in their kitchen, then smashed a platter over his head and stabbed him with a knife.

"His normal cognitive abilities were absent," he testified with the jury absent.

Cloudt argued that jurors would be improperly influenced by Ferrara, who said his findings were 90 percent based on Tenny's version of the fight provided at his first trial.

Elements of Tenny's account were at odds with testimony by a neighbor, who testified Wednesday.

Israel Abers said he heard a thud and saw Tenny appearing to shake a gas can inside the trailer after Mulvey was stabbed, courtroom observers said.

District Judge Guilford Jones delayed until today his ruling on what, if anything, Ferrara could testify to. He said the trial could end early next week.
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Man's retrial in stabbing of wife goes to jury in Llano

Web Posted: 03/07/2006 04:01 PM CST

Zeke MacCormack
Express-News Staff Writer

LLANO ? Jurors began deliberations Monday in the retrial of James B. Tenny after listening to starkly differing versions of why his wife, Joyce Mulvey, died at his hands in 1997.
The state contends it was cold-blooded murder, but the defense claims Tenny, now 53, fatally stabbed Mulvey, 57, in self-defense.

The jury deliberated about three hours Monday before recessing around 5:30 p.m. Deliberations will resume today.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in July set aside Tenny's 1999 murder conviction, which had resulted in a 65-year sentence, ruling that he'd had ineffective defense counsel.

Mulvey, a twice-divorced home health aide, met Tenny around 1994 at craft fairs where she hawked refurbished jewelry and he peddled woodcarvings. They lived together for about three years before the May 12, 1997, clash that left her dead and him behind bars.

In closing arguments, defense counsel David Sheppard told jurors Monday that the evidence was clear that Tenny was trying to fend off Mulvey. The burden to disprove that falls on the state, he said, also asserting no evidence contradicted Tenny's account.

Sheppard pointed out that Tenny called 911 during the fracas and that he tried to resuscitate Mulvey after fatally stabbing her.

But prosecutor Tom Cloudt told jurors not to fall for the elaborate alibis concocted by Tenny or his friends from the Christ of The Hills Monastery, where both he and Mulvey had worked.

"This is not self-defense, this is staged defense," Cloudt said.

Tenny was indicted on a charge of murder, but District Judge Guilford Jones granted a defense request Monday to give jurors the option of convicting Tenny on the lesser charge of aggravated assault, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.

Tenny didn't take the stand, but his testimony from the first trial, in Blanco, was entered as evidence.

He had said Mulvey was upset that he was moving out to live with his son.

Tenny said that after not speaking to each other for more than a day, without warning Mulvey splashed gasoline on him and flicked a lighter, then smashed a platter over his head and stabbed him with a large kitchen knife.

He said he fought back, punching Mulvey and breaking a wooden club over her head before he wrested control of the knife, then stabbed her again and again.

"I was in danger for my life," Tenny testified. "I was terrified."

But Cloudt on Monday cited a neighbor's testimony that it was Tenny who was seen shaking a gas can in the home minutes after Mulvey was stabbed. He also cited inconsistencies between her wounds and how Tenny said she got them.

"It's a fake. It's a fraud," Cloudt said of Tenny's self-defense claims.

Sarah Cramer, appearing by video deposition taken in Missouri, was the trial's final witness.

"Mother Seraphima," as Cramer was known in her days living at the monastery, recalled that on the day Mulvey died, she pushed a monk and then threatened to kill Tenny and to burn down the monastery.

"She was out of control," Cramer testified.

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POLICE RAID CENTRAL TEXAS MONASTERY
Dallas Morning News/July 26, 2006

Law enforcement officials raided a hilltop monastery near Blanco in Central Texas on Tuesday morning after getting indictments accusing five monks of sexually assaulting a boy there about 13 years ago, officials said.

The Blanco County Sheriff's Office and federal investigators continued to search Tuesday evening, KXAN television station in Austin reported.

Samuel A. Greene Jr., the 61-year-old founder of the Christ of the Hills Monastery, was among those charged with sexual assault of a child and engaging in organized crime relating to the assault, Blanco County Sheriff Bill Elsbury said.

Greene, who also faces one count of sexual performance with a child, was already on probation after pleading guilty in 2000 to nine counts of indecency with a novice monk.

The current investigation began a year ago after Greene reportedly admitted that he'd sexually assaulted several children more than a decade ago at the monastery, Elsbury said.

The monastery southwest of Blanco - located between San Antonio and Austin - is known for its picture of the Virgin Mary which was said to cry tears of rose oil.

However, Elsbury said that Greene admits that the icon is a fraud.

"The whole thing is going to be exposed as a sham," Elsbury told the San Antonio Express-News for its Tuesday online editions. "They just put the tear drops on there themselves and then got all these people making donations trying to get some kind of miracle cure."

The monastery had a marketing campaign centering on the weeping icon and in some years, tax records show, it took in as much as $750,000.

Walter Paul Christly, 44; Hugh Brian Fallon, 40; Jonathan Hitt, 45; and the monastery's abbott, William E. Hughes, 55; were also charged in the indictments with sexual assault and organized crime.

Christly, Fallon and Hughes remained in the Blanco County Jail late Tuesday. Greene was booked and released.

A telephone message left at the monastery Tuesday night was not immediately returned.

Hitt is serving a 10-year prison term after being convicted in 1999 of indecency with the same novice monk Greene admitted abusing.

In 2002, a suit brought by the youth against the monastery was settled in 2002 for nearly $1 million.

The monastery also had troubles when in 2004, a man wanted in Florida on child molestation charges was found living there.

Before opening the Eastern Orthodox Christian monastery in 1981, Greene was known around San Antonio as "Sam the Land Man" because of his property pitches on television and radio.
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ARRIAGNMENT FOR FIVE IS SCHEDULED MONDAY
LA Times Goes to Texas, Alaska Seeking Church Abuse Scandals
Posted by Dave Pierre on September 6, 2006 - 00:51.
Is the Los Angeles Times "piling on" when it comes to covering sex abuse by Christians? Have they misled their readers again?

In the front section of today's Los Angeles Times (Tuesday, September 5, 2006) is an article, "Sex Charges Shadow a Local Curiosity in Texas: Five monks at the Christ of the Hills Monastery are accused of abusing boys. Police also say the church's famous crying icon was 'a scam'" by Times staffer Lianne Hart. The piece is accompanied by three color photos and a small map of Texas (to illustrate the location of the story, Blanco, Texas (population 1505)).

In a large color photo above the article is a man dressed in black, as a priest, surrounded by several relics and icons depicting Jesus and other Christian imagery. The caption of the photo reads, "Caretaker: Christ of the Hills Monastery in Blanco, Texas, is empty now. Father Thomas Flower of a San Antonio urban mission says he is looking after the place." Another color photo shows an icon of the Virgin Mary.

"Christ of the Hills," "Monastery," "Father," "urban mission," "monks," "Virgin Mary" ... Another example of abuse in the Catholic Church, right? At first glance, it would appear so. But it isn't. Buried more than halfway through the article is the fact that the monastery was affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, and they cut ties with the monks seven years ago. Why are these facts practically hidden in the article? Deception, anyone?

It's difficult to ignore the appearance of an ongoing anti-Catholic and anti-Christian agenda at the Los Angeles Times. The Times coverage of the sex abuse scandal in the Los Angeles archdiocese has been challenged numerous times for inaccuracy and distortion. ( The Catholic League has found several instances of Catholic bashing at the Times. In addition, here at NewsBusters, we've posted several stories that point to an anti-Catholic and/or anti-Christian agenda at the paper (here, here, here, and here are just a few examples).

Also witness: On November 19, 2005, the Los Angeles Times devoted much of the top of its front page, several photos, and a very generous 3805 words to instances of clerical abuse three decades ago in two remote villages in Alaska. As with all stories of abuse, it was a sad, angering, and tragic story. But what about proportionality? Alaska? Here's what I mean:

Last month, a substitute teacher who worked in 13 Southern California school districts reportedly told police he molested between 100 and 200 girls. Here is a story in the paper's backyard, yet the Los Angeles Times reported the story (August 5, 2006) on page B3 with 723 words, less than one fifth of the word total of the story thousands of miles away and decades ago in Alaska. (And, yes, it was also fewer words than we had about Texas today.)

"Why Haven't Teachers Received Same Scrutiny As Catholic Priests?" I'm not the only one asking. Tom Hoopes at National Catholic Register and National Review Online is asking also. He's right on (bold mine):

Any institution that has allowed children to be harmed by predators deserves to be taken to task for it. No institution should get a pass. And no profession should get a pass. Not preachers, not priests ? not even teachers.

Especially not teachers. And yet ?

Consider the statistics: In accordance with a requirement of President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, in 2002 the Department of Education carried out a study of sexual abuse in the school system.

Hofstra University researcher Charol Shakeshaft looked into the problem, and the first thing that came to her mind when Education Week reported on the study were the daily headlines about the Catholic Church.

?[T]hink the Catholic Church has a problem?? she said. ?The physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests.?

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Sheriff says quiet monastery hid dark secrets
1999 assault inquiry never ended, Blanco lawman says
By Miguel Liscano


Thursday, July 27, 2006

BLANCO,TX ? Bill Elsbury sat in a pickup Wednesday afternoon outside the entrance to the Christ of the Hills monastery, where the television vans had gathered again.

Seven years ago, an investigation headed by Elsbury, the Blanco County sheriff, had brought camera crews to the hilltop monastery when its founder and another monk were accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy.

'They kept to themselves,' one Blanco resident said of the men who resided at the Christ of the Hills monastery outside town. 'I figured they were just being monks.'

MONKS ARRESTED WERE:
Samuel Alexander Green

Hugh Biran Fallon

William Edward Hughes

Walter Paul Christley

New sex allegations against Blanco monastery

Father Jeremiah went to prison. Father Benedict got 10 years of probation and returned to the monastery, where the monks carried on and the pilgrims continued to visit the weeping icon of the Virgin Mary.

Elsbury said Wednesday that he thought there were more victims but that he couldn't prove it in 1999. So he waited.

"As far as we're concerned, our investigation into their behavior and this type of criminal conduct . . . never ceased," Elsbury said.

This month, Father Benedict ? the founder and spiritual leader of the monastery whose real name is Samuel Greene Jr. ? told his probation officer in a taped interview that he had sexual contact with boys over a 30-year period starting in the 1970s, according to court documents.

Greene told his probation officer that the boys enjoyed the sexual activity and that he was "actually helping to guide and direct otherwise troubled youth," the documents said. Greene also said he'd been able to avoid criminal charges for years because "God was on his side," the documents said.

Then he implicated four of his fellow monks, saying they participated in sex acts with two teenage boys in the 1990s, the documents said. Investigators tracked down the two victims ? one was 16 at the time; the other was 15 or 16 ? who confirmed the abuse, the documents said.

On Tuesday, Elsbury and other authorities marched into the monastery, armed with a search warrant. They arrested Greene, 61; William Edward Hughes, 55, known as Father Vasilli; Walter Paul Christley, 44, known as Father Pangratios; and Hugh Brian Fallon, 40, known as Father Tihkon.

All four were charged with sexual assault of a child and organized criminal activity, both first-degree felonies punishable by up to life in prison. So was Father Jeremiah ? 45-year-old Jonathan Irving Hitt ? who is still serving a 10-year prison sentence for his 1999 conviction.

Greene was released on a personal recognizance bond Tuesday because of poor health, a sheriff's office official said. The other four were being held at the Blanco County Jail on Wednesday night with bail set at $250,000 each.

"This thing is still evolving as we speak," Elsbury said. "I mean, we're still actively pursuing additional" victims.

Greene ran a home for troubled boys called Galilee Ranch in the countryside east of San Antonio in the late 1960s and later became a familiar face on San Antonio television as S.A. "Sam" Greene, selling real estate throughout the Hill Country.

Greene founded Ecumenical Monks Inc. in 1972 for Christian clergy and laypeople seeking a monastic life. In 1981, the group created its hilltop sanctuary on 105 acres near Blanco and aligned with the Russian Orthodox Church, but the church broke its ties in 1999, after the investigation.

For nearly 20 years, the monks quietly tended to their gardens and held worship services. They also took in teenagers as novices, or candidate monks. Some came for religious instruction; others were brought by parents hoping the monks could solve behavioral problems.

And they welcomed visitors by the thousands, pilgrims drawn by stories of the Virgin Mary icon that wept tears of myrrh, a fragrant oil. The monks promoted the icon in mailings and on a Web site, claiming that the tears had cured people of cancer and other illnesses.

People around Blanco said they never really saw much of the monks except when they showed up at the post office or the grocery store in their distinctive black robes.

"When I would see them at the grocery store or something, they didn't really talk to anybody," said Sherri Stockman, who owns Real Foods Market & Cafe on the city's square. "They kept to themselves. I figured they were just being monks."

The monastery is a few miles from town, at the end of a dirt road that opens onto two temples, living quarters, a cemetery and a meeting hall. It was empty Wednesday, and the Virgin Mary was gone, seized by authorities as evidence.

Next to the lectern it had stood upon was a donation box with $7 in it and prayer candles that sold for $1. Elsbury said the monks would also sell cotton balls they said were stained with the Virgin's tears: $3 each.

Elsbury said the weeping icon could lead to additional charges for the monks.

"It's just a scam," Elsbury said. "And they bilked many people out of money under false pretenses, playing with peoples' emotions.

"I think we have evidence in our possession that will unequivocally prove that to be a fraud."
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First Seen On KXAN: Sordid Accusations Hit Hill County Monastery

July 26, 2006 08:50 AM CDT

There's more information Tuesday night on a criminal case against members of an Austin-area monastery.

The case involves child molestation and what detectives call "organized crime" at the Christ of the Hills Monastery, off County Road 103 in Blanco County. Sexual assault, child pornography, drugs and even mail fraud are alleged to have taken place there.

KXAN spoke with one of the monks facing child sex charges. He says he's getting his strength from God. Cops in Blanco County say that he's going to need it.

Sitting in a wheelchair, charged with sexual assault of a child, organized crime and sexual performance of a child, monk Samuel Greene seems resigned.

"I'm doing the best I can with God's help," Greene said.

Greene is charged, along with other monks at the Christ of the Hills Monastery -- William Hughes, Walter Christley and Hugh Fallon. All face charges of sexual assault of a child and organized crime.

The monastery has been the focus of Sheriff Bill Elsbury for years. He admits that it has always rubbed him the wrong way.

"Sure it does," Elsbury said. "If somebody's exploiting the children, the church, it's a betrayal of trust."

There was one monk left at the monastery Tuesday night, and he's not talking to KXAN. Police tell us they confiscated a lot of evidence from this location, including hard drives, computers and child pornography.

"I don't know whether any of these individuals is a legitimate clergyman or not," said District Attorney Sam Oatman. "We'll find out, but I don't believe they are."

Three of the monks are behind bars on $250,000 bond.

Greene, due to his failing health, will be monitored under intense house arrest. He said that he was surprised that he was arrested.

The fifth suspect, Jonathan Hitt, is already behind bars, serving a 10-year sentence for molestation. Charges stem from incidents reported in the early 90s.

Police believe this has been going on for a long time and say these kids were specifically groomed at the monastery so these kinds of crimes could be committed.

There's also a separate federal investigation underway at the monastery. Those investigators are also trying to gather evidence of wire and mail fraud.

It's connected to a "weeping Virgin Mary" at the compound that visitors have frequented over the years.

"It's just a cover for pedophiles," Elsbury said. "And like I say, I believe we have evidence in hand that will prove that this weeping icon is in fact a fraud, and they have exploited money from people on the pretenses of faith healing."

In years past, the monastery's spiritual leaders, including Walter Christley, appeared devoted to their cause.

"Our life is one of humility, struggle and repentance," Christley said in 2003. "All the penalties that come our way in life come at the hand of a loving God."

For nearly a decade, the church has dealt with rumors and innuendos, and law enforcement was only able to make a couple of cases stick. But now they believe they've found enough evidence for more than one case.

In 1999, a young boy's accusation sent Hitt to prison. Greene received probation.

All the while, followers stood by their leaders.

Now, the monastery faces new accusations of molestation and fraud involving a "weeping icon."

"The property, the way they presented it to the public, and the way they brought children in there to try to teach them involving monastic life," Oatman said, "it was all a fraud as far as I'm concerned."

Once again, the courts could test the faith and validity of this unconventional group.

'I don't know whether it began as a genuine religion, but it has certainly turned into something different now," Oatman said.
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Groundskeeper At Monastery Tells Story Of Betrayal
CBS 42 / KEYE TV, USA
Aug. 2, 2006
Leslie Coons, Reporting
keyetv.com

(CBS 42) BLANCO COUNTY,TX ? There are new allegations swirling around an already troubled Hill Country monastery.

The man who's looking after the grounds at Christ of the Hills Monastery in Blanco County spoke exclusively with CBS 42. The focus of the conversation was how his faith and trust in the monks he once defended is now broken.

The incident has to do with the weeping icon?something the monastery has been known for since it first reportedly wept tears back in the mid 80's.

For more than a decade the monks have claimed the weeping icon was a miracle of God. Pilgrims would flock to see the statue and make donations to the monastery.

As the investigation into alleged criminal sexual activity escalated and the four monks who lived there were taken into custody, another investigation proceeded as well.

CBS 42?s Leslie Coons saw what happened when U.S. postal inspectors carried out their own warrants and reportedly seized the icon. The focus of that investigation is postal fraud.

People would send money through the mail, donations of sorts to the monks, so they could preserve the area where the miracle of God reportedly took place.

When asked to elaborate U.S. attorney's office and U.S. postal inspectors had no comment.

After several days of defending the monks, Father Flower confronted Samuel Greene about the authenticity of the icon.

?I said to him I?m concerned, I?m hearing more and more that the weeping icon may be a scam and I need to know is it true the icon is truly weeping or is it a phony and he told me and he said it's not true,? Father Flower said.

Over the past few days CBS 42 has made several attempts to contact Greene and his attorney. Calls have not been returned.

Father Flower says while he's angry and hurt Greene lied to him and others about the icon, he'll continue to support him in court.
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MONKS PLEAD NOT GUILTY TO SEX CHARGES

AP, via ABC News, USA
July 31, 2006
Elizabeth White
Posted: Wednesday August 2, JOHNSON CITY, Texas Jul 31, 2006 (AP)- Four monks pleaded not guilty to charges alleging a boy was sexually assaulted at a Texas monastery that draws thousands of visitors every year, officials said Monday.

Authorities raided the Christ of the Hills Monastery last week in search of ?instruments of child abuse,? Blanco County District Attorney Sam Oatman said.

The four monks, plus another serving a 10-year prison sentence for indecency with a minor, were charged after a young man claimed he had been assaulted at the monastery beginning in 1993, when he was a teenager. Oatman said another accuser has come forward, and others could follow.

Three of the monks appeared in court in shackles and orange prison jumpsuits Monday and entered not guilty pleas to charges of sexual assault of a child and organized criminal activity.

Monastery founder Samuel Greene, 61, who has health problems related to a car accident, was not in court but has pleaded not guilty to those charges as well as one count of sexual performance of a child, said his attorney, Michael W. White.

?He's upset,? White said of his client. ?You can just imagine what it's like to be accused.?

The fifth indicted monk, Jonathan Hitt, 45, was convicted in 1999 of indecency with a 14-year-old novice monk at the Eastern Orthodox Christian monastery. Oatman said Hitt has not entered a plea on the new charges.

The others, Walter Christley, who turns 45 Tuesday; Hugh Fallon, 40; and William Hughes, 55, remained in custody and did not yet have lawyers.

Greene pleaded guilty six years ago to indecency with the same novice monk from the Hitt case and was sentenced to 10 years' probation.

Oatman said charges also are possible with regard to the monastery's main attraction: an image of the Virgin Mary that has been said to cry tears of myrrh, seen as a sign of divine intervention. The icon has brought in thousands of visitors and their donations to the monastery between Austin and San Antonio.

Father Thomas Flower, of the Blessed Martin de Porres Urban Mission in San Antonio, said he is taking care of the monastery for now. Flower said he used to travel with a monk who was once affiliated with the monastery.

?He would have told me if things like that were going on,? Flower said.

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STATE TRYING TO SEIZE CHRIST OF THE HILLS MONASTERY PROPERTY

San Antonio Express-News, USA
Aug. 11, 2006
Zeke MacGormack

BLANCO - The state is trying to seize Christ of the Hills Monastery, claiming in court filings that the religious enclave is ?contraband? because it was used in the commission of money laundering, theft, fraud and child molestation offenses.

A notice of seizure was filed Wednesday on the 105-acre parcel outside Blanco that's owned by Ecumenical Monks Inc.

The founder and spiritual leader of the monastery, Samuel A. Greene Jr., took issue Thursday with it being called contraband, saying, ?I don't believe it is.?

A nonprofit formed in 1972, Ecumenical Monks Inc. lists its president as William E. Hughes, also known as Father Vasili, and Greene as secretary-treasurer.

The monastery followed Eastern Orthodox traditions but has not been affiliated with any denomination since 1999, when an autonomous U.S.-based branch of the Russian Orthodox Church cut its ties with the monks there.

District Attorney Sam Oatman's bid to take the property follows the July 25 arrests of Greene, also known as Father Benedict, and four followers on charges of sexual assault of a minor and engaging in organized crime related to the alleged assaults.

All of the defendants remain behind bars except Greene, who also faces a charge of sexual performance of a child. He was released on a personal recognizance bond due to poor health and is not allowed back on the monastery property. He is living in hotels in Johnson City and Blanco.

Hughes, 55; Walter P. Christley, 44; and Hugh B. Fallon, 40, have pleaded not guilty and are being held on $250,000 bond each at the Blanco County Jail.

The fifth defendant indicted July 24, former monk Jonathan Hitt, is serving a 10-year term on a 1999 indecency rap.

As in the new case, that charge concerned a former novice's claim he was repeatedly molested by senior monks.

The previous complaint also saw Greene plead guilty to indecency in 2000 and receive 10 years' probation. The youth and his attorneys split just under $1 million in a lawsuit settlement reached in 2002.

The seizure initiative and sexual assault cases are among several new legal scrapes involving the monastery, which opened 5 miles southwest of town in 1982.

The hilltop sanctuary once housed about a dozen monks and drew thousands of pilgrims weekly, but now is largely deserted.

When the few visitors who still come hear of the recent uproar, ?they can't hardly believe it,? said Tom Flower, a friend of Greene who's been caretaker of the site since the recent arrests.

Its main drawing card, a painting of the Virgin Mary that was said to cry tears of oil starting in 1985, was seized when dozens of law officers with warrants swarmed the monastery before dawn July 25.

Getting his first look at the monastery that day, prosecutor Oatman expressed surprise at its state of disrepair and said, via cell phone from there, ?How anyone would bring their children up here to get involved with these people is beyond me.?

The raid arose from a probation officer's interview with Greene last year in which Greene reportedly admitted molesting children since the 1970s and said the weeping icon was fake, said Blanco County Sheriff Bill Elsbury.

Investigators from the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Postal Service were called in because the icon was advertised in mailings and on the monastery Web page, which helped raise up to $750,000 in annual donations from the faithful.

Flower, an Anglican priest who's long supported Greene and vouched for the icon's legitimacy, is still reeling from Greene's admission that the icon is fake.

?I confronted him. I said I want to know the truth, were the tears real or phony? And he said they were phony,? a dejected Flower said. ?I believed it all these years. I really did. I believed it firmly in my heart. I can't tell you how upset I am.?

Flower said he didn't ask Greene about the molestation allegations. Greene declined to comment on the icon or the current charges.

Another former novice monk this week filed a lawsuit, claiming he was molested in the late 1990s by Greene, Hughes and Christley, also known as Father Pangratios.

James B. Wright Jr., 25, said in his suit that his parents sent him in 1996 to the monastery ?for spiritual enlightenment and maturity.?

Instead, the suit states, the defendants supplied Wright with marijuana and alcohol and used him to gratify their sexual desires until he left in 1999.

The monks were negligent and breached their duty to safeguard him, the suit states, and perpetrated a fraud by claiming to provide him a religious-based education.

Also named as defendants are Ecumenical Monks Inc., which denied the allegations in court filings, and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

A lawyer for the New York-based religious group said her clients were duped by Greene and his followers into admitting them as clergy in 1991, but severed ties with the monastery in 1999 when it learned of problems.

?We firmly believe there was a concerted effort to deceive the church,? said attorney Lin Hughes.

?It just never occurred to (church leaders) that these people who appeared to be living a religious life would lie under oath, much less break their religious vows,? she said.

Just this month, Hughes said, her clients reached a confidential financial settlement with another man who claimed he was molested while living at the Blanco monastery in the 1990s.

While maintaining the church was not liable, she said, ?If it's cheaper to settle than it is to defend, you settle.?

Wright's attorney said his client, who is not the novice whose claims led to the recent arrests, did not object to being publicly identified.

The attorney, Mark Long, said he hopes the arrests lead to the monastery's demise.

?The icon's a fraud and several young boys have been molested there, so what was the purpose of the monastery to begin with?? Long said. ?It sounds like a place set up to scam people and for some of the monks to recruit young people to molest. It's horrible.?

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SAD OR SINISTER? TROUBLE NOT NEW FOR MONASTERY
Self-styled monks face new charges after child-sex cases in '99

Dallas Morning News/September 7, 2006
By David McLemore

Blanco, Texas ? Christ of the Hills Monastery is empty now. The hum of insects and an insistent wind are the only sound.

The black-robed monks with their long beards and heavy Byzantine crosses vanished almost overnight, leaving unwashed dishes on the table and their sandals lined up neatly inside the onion-domed chapel. Gone too are the busloads of tourists and spiritual seekers who trekked to this isolated hilltop for a glimpse of the "miraculous" weeping icon of the Virgin Mary.

"It's just really sad what's happened here," said Tom Flower, a longtime friend of the monks who volunteered to watch the place. "It's really shook me up."

It shook up a lot of people in Blanco County on July 26 when local and state law officers swooped in by car and helicopter to raid the 25-year-old monastery, taking computers, photos and boxes of monastery records.

Authorities arrested founder Samuel A. Greene, also known as Father Benedict, and three other self-styled Russian Orthodox monks on charges they conspired to have sex with young boys at the monastery from 1993 to 1999. A fifth former monk charged in the indictment is in state prison on a child-sex conviction.

The indictment also alleges that Mr. Greene and the monks engaged in organized criminal activity by using the religious nature of the monastery to defraud the public. All have pleaded not guilty.

William E. Hughes, 55, also known as Father Vasili, and Walter P. Christley, 45, known as Father Pangratios, were released on $250,000 bond. A third man, Hugh B. Fallon, 40, also known as Father Tihkon, remains in the Blanco County Jail.

Mr. Greene was released on personal recognizance because he's recovering from extensive injuries from an auto accident. He's been confined to a Johnson City motel and could not be reached for comment. But San Antonio attorney Michael White said his client "is devastated by the allegations. ... His whole world has collapsed."

During the July raid, authorities also seized the icon, which allegedly wept tears of myrrh, as evidence of the monks' alleged scheme to defraud the faithful.

Blanco County District Attorney Sam Oatman filed a forfeiture claim on the 105-acre compound because it was believed to be used for money laundering, theft, fraud and child molestation.

An affidavit for the search warrant included comments Mr. Greene made to his probation officer saying that he had engaged in sex with young boys numerous times in the last 30 years.

"We always knew there was more going on than we could prove the last time," said Blanco County Sheriff Bill Elsbury. "So we kept our eyes open."

Previous troubles
For the second time in about seven years, the specter of child sexual abuse marred the monastery's picturesque Hill Country setting.

Mr. Greene, 61, and another monk, Jonathan Hitt, 45, also known as Father Jeremiah, were charged in 1999 with indecency with a child in incidents involving another teenage boy. Mr. Greene pleaded guilty and received probation. Mr. Hitt was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The monks of Christ of the Hills had ceased being a topic of conversation, drifting into the background in this quiet ranching town of 1,500. For some, the monks were simply good neighbors.

"If our animals got out, they'd help bring them in," said Anna Jones, whose ranch is near the monastery. "When someone was sick, they'd drop by to visit and help out. I was shocked when they were arrested."

But long robes, religious icons and a distinctly non-Western form of evangelism still strike a jarring note in Central Texas.

"The general feeling in town is that something was a little weird out there but we're not going to rush to judgment," said Ann Grimm, who works at Real Food Market, a health food store on the old town square.

Mr. Greene has played a role of part huckster, part saint for much of his life. A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., he grew up Catholic, claiming at times ? without merit ? to have taken vows as a Benedictine monk. In the 1970s in San Antonio, he ran a home for troubled teens while hawking Hill Country real estate in cheesy TV ads. He formed a corporation, Ecumenical Monks Inc., and built the monastery about eight miles southwest of Blanco in 1981.

Four years later, the monks at Christ of the Hills acquired an Orthodox-style image of the Virgin Mary that they said wept tears of myrrh and had healing powers.

Blanco County authorities say in the indictment that the icon was simply part of an elaborate hoax.

"They claimed the tears from the icon could cure cancer and blindness," Sheriff Elsbury said. "And they'd place eyedroppers of oil on cotton balls and offer them to visitors ? for a donation."

Sheriff's investigators say they learned from former workers that leadership of the monastery ordered requests ? and donations ? for the icon's tears be processed and prayer requests be discarded.

More charges may emerge as authorities talk with families whose children studied at the monastery, Sheriff Elsbury said.

Prior association
In 1991, the monastery became part of the New-York based Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, an ecclesiastical authority that broke from Russia following the 1917 revolution.

That association ended eight years later following the allegations of child sexual abuse, as did the monastery's practice of accepting novitiates under age 18 ? and as young as 12. The cadre of full-time monks dropped to about seven.

"That year, we received evidence from a mother of a child at the monastery that sexual misconduct had been occurring there," said Nicolas Ohotin, spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. "Within 24 hours, the church suspended the clerics and dissolved our relationship."

Previously, the church had sent priests to Texas to investigate concerns raised about activities at Christ of the Hills, but they never found sufficient evidence of wrongdoing, Mr. Ohotin said.

The current criminal charges against Mr. Greene and the other monks stemmed from a complaint by James B. Wright of repeated sexual abuse by Mr. Greene and the other monks when he was a 16-year-old novitiate at the monastery.

Austin attorney Mark Long, who represents Mr. Wright in a lawsuit against the monastery, the monks and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, said, "James was the perfect victim ... a troubled teenager ... put under control of spirit