It seems to me that the reporter is a busybody who ought to mind his own business. The tradition of monastic life, while curious and to me baffling, is something that those of that particular faith take seriously. The Orthodox faith community is a couple of millenia old. The EU? A few decades. The author's juxtaposing the two makes me skeptical of his agenda and intent in presenting this article.
Put another way, the bias screams off of the page.