[immoceefe]

Historically, there have been many cases of tension between the hierarchy and monastics. In a sense, there is a natural, ingrained tension between the two. On occasion, the monastics have been instrumental in countering heresies propounded by hierarchs. St. Maximos the Confessor comes to mind. In other cases, monastics have been the source of heresy. But there is also tension on the level of simple ecclesiastical authority. Who is in charge of monastics. Traditionally, the abbot is given a certain weight and authority that is tantamount to a bishop, and they typically don't like bishops meddling with their business. We've seen this in recent years at Athos in particular that has even spilled over into physical confrontation.

There is a great passage in the writings of Evagrius wherein he travels deep into the Egyptian desert to find the true ascetics. They torment with sarcasm, addressing him as "Bishop Evagrius!" They didn't have much use for either Greeks (too intellectually pretentious) or bishops.

It's interesting that in the present case, which seems in large part to be a conflict among bishops, there is a pro-monastic and an anti-monastic faction, which I think reveals a lot.