Hill Country Monk Asking For New Trial

A former Central Texas monk convicted of molestation is asking a judge in Blanco County for a new trial.

The cleric from The Christ of the Hills Monastery says prejudice and ineffective counsel damaged his case.

It was a very different Jonathan Hitt also known as Father Jeremiah in court in Johnson City. In 1999, he wore a long beard — a symbol of monastic life. Now, he’s four years into a 10-year sentence for molesting a young boy at the Blanco monastery. He believes he couldn’t get a fair trial because of religious ignorance in Blanco County.

”It’s a type of religion that is not familiar to most of us. A lot of us are afraid of it and once again, for that reason, the jury pool needed to come from a more diverse base,” defense attorney Scott Sullivan said.

”Every now and then we run into prejudice and people who don’t understand. That’s understandable. There are things that we don’t understand,” Father Pangratios with the Christ of
the Hills Monastery said.

The monastery follows the tenets of the Russian Orthodox Church. So-called pilgrims go there to get a glimpse of a shrine called The Weeping Icon.

”The trial certainly was fair and I don’t think there was any animosity that I ever heard about the monastery,” district attorney Sam Oatman said.

Hitt’s attorney also accused a former defense attorney of switching sides. In the end, the judge turned down the request. Hitt is returning to prison and his followers return to a place changed forever by this case.

”Rules and regulations have changed, but the monastic life, monastism, has not changed. It has remain the same throughout the centuries,” Pangratios said.

This case may not be over. The defense attorney says he’s taking the request for a new trial to the federal level. In the meantime, the monastery does things a little differently. They’ve closed their school for children, and they no longer allow minors unless accompanied by an adult.