Rhodes: Priest arrested for ‘insulting sexual dignity’ of tourist
Police on Rhodes have arrested a 49-year-old parish priest on suspicion of insulting the sexual dignity of a 30-ear-old Estonian tourist, who said the cleric had “anointed” his genitals with holy oil.
As reported by the local Dimokratiki newspaper, the tourist said he had visited a monastery with a female companion in the southern part of the island on Wednesday evening, where he met the priest.
The tourist said he bought a cross but forgot it when he left. The priest then texted him to say he had found it.
When the tourist returned to the monastery the next morning to pick up the cross, the priest asked him to accompany him to a room, which he uses to receive visitors, in order to give him a special gift.
There the priest asked him to pull down his pants and to remove his underwear and shirt so he could anoint him with oil.
The tourist then said that the priest began to rub the oil on his genitals for a few seconds. As he believed it was a normal procedure, the tourist did not ask him to stop.
Later, however, he filed a lawsuit with police, who arrested the cleric.
In his defense, the cleric told police that he applied the oil because the tourist had a rash.
Police will forward the file to the island’s criminal prosecutor.
