The relationship between the current occupant monks of Esphigmenou monastery and the Ecumenical Patriarchate has greatly deteriorated since 2002, when Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople declared them as being in schism from the Orthodox Church (using a rule that many believe was created to keep Roman Catholics out of the Holy Mountain). Since the Constitution of Greece prohibits schismatics (or Roman Catholics) from dwelling in Athos, the occupants of Esphigmenou were ordered by a Thessaloniki court to leave the monastery, however they refused to comply. The case was taken to the Greek Supreme Court.