{"id":848,"date":"2026-08-09T15:22:58","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T15:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/2026\/08\/09\/51-year-old-monk-accused-of-stabbing-2-people-after-refusing-to-leave-monastery\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T15:22:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T15:22:58","slug":"51-year-old-monk-accused-of-stabbing-2-people-after-refusing-to-leave-monastery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/2026\/08\/09\/51-year-old-monk-accused-of-stabbing-2-people-after-refusing-to-leave-monastery\/","title":{"rendered":"51-Year-Old Monk\u00a0Accused of Stabbing 2 People After Refusing\u00a0to Leave Monastery\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A 53-year-old monastery technician and a 27-year-old monk were hospitalized following the incident in Cyprus on Friday, Aug. 7<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/a3bl0TGAkCqIJntC-vfedybGU9E=\/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)\/neophytos-monastery-080926-44fbd5560b2e411990b0f04dc2d8fa73.jpg\" alt=\"Agios Neophytos Monastery in CyprusCredit: Getty\" title=\"Saint Neophytos Monastery in Cyprus.\" \/><figcaption><i>Agios Neophytos Monastery in Cyprus<br \/>Credit: Getty<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>NEED TO KNOW<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>A 51-year-old monk has been accused of stabbing two men at Agios Neophytos Monastery in Paphos, Cyprus, on Friday, Aug. 7<\/li>\n<li>The alleged attack occurred after the monk refused to leave the monastery when asked by priests<\/li>\n<li>Investigators believe the monk intended to target Abbot Leontios, who had suspended him from clerical duties<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A monk is under investigation for attempted murder after allegedly stabbing two men at a monastery in Cyprus.<\/p>\n<p>The incident occurred at Agios Neophytos Monastery in Paphos on Friday, Aug. 7, the Cyprus newspaper <a href=\"https:\/\/en.philenews.com\/local\/paphos-monk-attempted-murder-monastery-attack\/\" data-type=\"\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><em>Philenews<\/em><\/a> and the U.K.\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2026\/08\/08\/monk-arrested-stabbing-preacher-box-cutter-a-monastery-29330318\/\" data-type=\"\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-ordinal=\"2\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Metro<\/em><\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p>A 51-year-old Romanian monk staying at the monastery refused to leave when asked by a group of priests and subsequently attacked two members with a box cutter he grabbed from the desk in his room, according to the outlets.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/210vZw4YOwt4aIhdgHRo4pF2ebc=\/fit-in\/1280x960\/neophytos-monastery-080926-1-d8e592d9df804f6488dd7209e936d299.jpg\" alt=\"Saint Neophytos Monastery in CyprusCredit: Getty\" title=\"Saint Neophytos Monastery in Cyprus.\" \/><figcaption><i>Saint Neophytos Monastery in Cyprus<br \/>Credit: Getty<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/people-true-crime-newsletter-sign-up-8692775\">PEOPLE\u2019s free True Crime newsletter<\/a> for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage, details of intriguing unsolved cases.<\/p>\n<p>A 53-year-old monastery technician suffered injuries to his throat and hand. A second monk aged 27 who intervened was injured in the hand, per <em>Philenews<\/em>. The pair was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at a local hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Investigators believe the monk intended to attack Abbot Leontios, who ordered his removal from the monastery, per <em>Metro<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a class=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/en.philenews.com\/local\/paphos-monastery-attack-monk-police-investigation\/\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>Philenews<\/em><\/a>, the monk occupied two cells at the monastery for several years, one of which was previously occupied by his late father. His relationship with the monastery reportedly deteriorated in recent years as he refused to follow the abbot\u2019s instructions and the monastery\u2019s schedule.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The abbot eventually suspended the monk from his clerical duties a few months ago and the pair\u2019s relationship worsened, per the outlet.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/_FyHXPDRTY3WF4T6B7m7fI_-_vM=\/fit-in\/1280x960\/cyprus-police-080926-8dff376c63b647f8a3d3aca578daf764.jpg\" alt=\"Police car in Cyprus (stock image)Credit: Alamy\" title=\"Police car in Cyprus \" \/><figcaption><i>Police car in Cyprus (stock image)<br \/>Credit: Alamy<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The monk was arrested and placed under investigation for attempted murder, acts intended to cause grievous bodily harm, wounding, carrying a knife, and illegal possession and carrying of an offensive weapon following the stabbing incident, per <em>Metro<\/em> and <em>Philenews<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>A court has ordered a six-day detention of the monk following the attack as he remains in custody, according to the outlets.<\/p>\n<p>The Paphos Criminal Investigation Department (PCID) is reportedly investigating the incident.<\/p>\n<p>PEOPLE has reached out to the Agios Neophytos Monastery and PCID for comment.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A 53-year-old monastery technician and a 27-year-old monk were hospitalized following the incident in Cyprus on Friday, Aug. 7 Agios Neophytos Monastery in CyprusCredit: Getty NEED TO KNOW A 51-year-old monk has been accused of stabbing two men at Agios Neophytos Monastery in Paphos, Cyprus, on Friday, Aug. 7 The alleged attack occurred after the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-everything-else"],"wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","cvmm-medium":"","cvmm-medium-plus":"","cvmm-portrait":"","cvmm-medium-square":"","cvmm-large":"","cvmm-small":"","full":""},"categories_names":{"1":{"name":"Everything Else","link":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/category\/everything-else\/"}},"tags_names":[],"comments_number":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}