The court case of two Avakoum monastery monks, Nektarios and Porfyrios, has been postponed yet again till May 6, as the former did not appear before the court on Wednesday.

Nektarios’ lawyer said his client was absent for health reasons and submitted a medical certificate to prove it.

The prosecution demanded that an arrest warrant be issued, which would not be fulfilled till the next trial on May 6, to make sure Nektarios showed up.

The two monks are facing charges of money laundering and defrauding.

Defence lawyer Efstathios Efstathiou requested further time, as the prosecution had not delivered the remaining evidence.

On May 6 at 9am the two suspects will answer the charges.

The Holy Synod had already ruled in favour of upholding the disgraced monks’ defrocking, but they are also facing criminal charges.

Charges brought to the religious court and listed in its latest ruling, include lewdness, “sodomy, impurity, and cohabitation”, posting and distributing indecent photos, “acts of solicitation”, fraud and misleading believers with false miracles.

According to the verdict, Nektarios, the apparent ringleader of the whole ignominious affair, went so far as to pretend that Saint Avakoum had taken over his body, faking his voice, and also faked fainting after “exorcisms” – all to extort money from believers.