Mount Athos -The Garden of the Virgin
Book Details
Author(s)Rolf W. F. Gross
ISBN / ASINB004U2AOHS
ISBN-13978B004U2AOH6
MarketplaceFrance 🇫🇷
Description
The Mount Athos peninsula is the eastern-most spine of the Halkidiki in Northern Greece, extending 60 km into the Aegean Sea. It is home to an autonomous republic of 20 monasteries and 12 skite with a population of 1600 Eastern Orthodox monks. Athos is governed by a democratic constitution granted to the monks in 972 AD by the Byzantine Emperor Ioannis Tsitsimitses. To this day four men are elected from among the abbots of the monasteries, who act as the republic's government. A civilian governor represents the interests of Athens. Each Orthodox nationality has its own monastery, their largest number is naturally Greek.
After several setbacks in the 10th century caused by Byzantine affairs in Constantinople, Athos had its up and downs. Its first trial came between 1204 and 1262, when after the Fourth Crusade Byzantium came under Latin rule. Many monasteries were destroyed, their monks killed. A period still constituting a vivid memory in the minds of the monks. By contrast the Turkish Ottomans respected and reaffirmed the Athonite constitution after 1453 and left the monks alone. Several monasteries were built or restored by the Christian wives of the Ottoman Sultans. At the beginning of the 20th century imperial Russia tried to usurp the Athonite Republic and to establish a Mediterranean naval base at Panteleimon. This came to naught, when in 1913 the 2000 monks of Panteleimon were ideologically split by a charismatic starets. A Russian warship bombarded the monastery and deported the unruly half of its population to Siberia. After World War I the population of Athos diminished drastically. In 1972 it reached its lowest level of 1100 mostly elderly monks. American interests - the monks indict Walt Disney - proposed to buy the monasteries, restore them and covert them into museums, their monks as colorful care takers. The Greek government had no money, and the monks resented the interference. Finally UNESCO put the entire Mountain under their protection. Since the 1980s the Mountain has been revived by an influx of well-educated young men. It is in full flower again.
There exist no religious orders in Eastern Orthodoxy and no monastic rules like in Roman Catholicism. The communal life in the majority of monasteries emulates the exemplary lives of the early hermits, like St Anthony of Egypt and Basil of Caesarea. By western standards, they are loosely knit communities under an Elder. These monasteries are called cenovitic (koinovitic), from the Greek word koine, the common language of the New Testament. In the 15th century a movement swept Athos, which allowed individuals to establish private apartments in a monastery, where to they could retire in exchange for donating their wealth to the monastery. They are called idiorrhythmic. A limited number of these still exists on Athos today.
The Holy Mountain's greatest treasure are the rare medieval manuscripts in its libraries - which are only shown with special permission. The monasteries house a plethora of precious icons, revered by the faithful. Its medieval architecture has to be considered secondary to its 1100-year-old spiritual traditions - and those were the reason for my pilgrimage to the Mountain in 1979. The text was written in 1980,and the lino prints as well. The monks are adverse to being photographed, and I respected that. For this edition I added a number of pen-drawings, to show the luminous Greek landscape, the "Garden of the Virgin Mother of God," which contrasts so strongly with the black cloth of the monks and their nightly vigils.
After several setbacks in the 10th century caused by Byzantine affairs in Constantinople, Athos had its up and downs. Its first trial came between 1204 and 1262, when after the Fourth Crusade Byzantium came under Latin rule. Many monasteries were destroyed, their monks killed. A period still constituting a vivid memory in the minds of the monks. By contrast the Turkish Ottomans respected and reaffirmed the Athonite constitution after 1453 and left the monks alone. Several monasteries were built or restored by the Christian wives of the Ottoman Sultans. At the beginning of the 20th century imperial Russia tried to usurp the Athonite Republic and to establish a Mediterranean naval base at Panteleimon. This came to naught, when in 1913 the 2000 monks of Panteleimon were ideologically split by a charismatic starets. A Russian warship bombarded the monastery and deported the unruly half of its population to Siberia. After World War I the population of Athos diminished drastically. In 1972 it reached its lowest level of 1100 mostly elderly monks. American interests - the monks indict Walt Disney - proposed to buy the monasteries, restore them and covert them into museums, their monks as colorful care takers. The Greek government had no money, and the monks resented the interference. Finally UNESCO put the entire Mountain under their protection. Since the 1980s the Mountain has been revived by an influx of well-educated young men. It is in full flower again.
There exist no religious orders in Eastern Orthodoxy and no monastic rules like in Roman Catholicism. The communal life in the majority of monasteries emulates the exemplary lives of the early hermits, like St Anthony of Egypt and Basil of Caesarea. By western standards, they are loosely knit communities under an Elder. These monasteries are called cenovitic (koinovitic), from the Greek word koine, the common language of the New Testament. In the 15th century a movement swept Athos, which allowed individuals to establish private apartments in a monastery, where to they could retire in exchange for donating their wealth to the monastery. They are called idiorrhythmic. A limited number of these still exists on Athos today.
The Holy Mountain's greatest treasure are the rare medieval manuscripts in its libraries - which are only shown with special permission. The monasteries house a plethora of precious icons, revered by the faithful. Its medieval architecture has to be considered secondary to its 1100-year-old spiritual traditions - and those were the reason for my pilgrimage to the Mountain in 1979. The text was written in 1980,and the lino prints as well. The monks are adverse to being photographed, and I respected that. For this edition I added a number of pen-drawings, to show the luminous Greek landscape, the "Garden of the Virgin Mother of God," which contrasts so strongly with the black cloth of the monks and their nightly vigils.
