www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Journey to Mt. Athos

I think I would be up to it, climbed Mt Sinai with no problem.
Then I wasnt in shape now Ive been back to the gym.
Stephanos I

WOW, thanks Marko. I had a chance to drink that cup of tea and read the long article about the Professor's time at Mt. Athos.

I read with interest the difference between the approach of different elders of different monasteries. I have not met Father Ephraim, though I have heard he is 'enlightened' and a possible saint, but I have visited one of his monasteries. The Professor calls his monasteries 'spiritual boot camps'. (That was a cute way to describe them!)

I have not met Elder Aemelianos (another 'enlightened' elder and future saint), but I know a couple of his spiritual children--a nun and an elder. In the article, the Professor notes that his emphasis is on 'joy' and a more relaxed spiritual atmosphere, and indeed, the monastics which sprung from under one of his spiritual children do indeed seem a bit more joyful.

It is almost as if each individual monastery has its own personality...ofcourse that makes sense, but I never thought of that.

Anyway, this was very interesting reading, and the photos he took are lovely and not the usual type.

What a blessing your trip must have been. Please share a little if you can and when you can.

Did you meet any 'enlightened' elders? Did you hear words that spoke to your soul in a profound way? You needn't divulge names or personal information--just a little bit of information for us would be so nice...especially for us women who long to hear about it.

In Christ,
Alice

I wonder how one would become an Athonite monk?

Dear Markos,

Could you please tell us how one goes about arranging such a trip with monastery stays?

This can be a daunting prospect for some men who would like to go.

Thank you.

Alice

Alice,

Easy question first. Basically, you have to call the monasteries in advance (6 months is best) and secure a permit (again, 6 months is best). This has been detailed elsewhere; the Friends of Mount Athos website has a good summary of the procedures. I'd also read the one in Lonely planet as a supplement.

Summer is a time to avoid going - the Greek schools are out, there are lots of Greek men with their sons on the mountain on vacation, and it's really hot.

For women, or more casual trippers, once you get to Ouranoupoli (the nearby town) there are lots of boat tours and the like in tourist season that bring you by the monasteries. One boat tour a friend of mine took had a priest come on board from one of the monasteries who said Vespers and brought along a relic of the hand of St. John the Forerunner for veneration. Again, be advised that the place is small and is reportedly a madhouse during the summer.

Dewimelkite,

Generally, one visits the monastery in question for an extended stay and then tells the abbot that he wants to be a novice there. I'd imagine speaking Greek (or Russian, Bulgarian, Romanian or Serbian for the non-Greek houses) is good/necessary, though I've heard of non-east european language speakers going to the mountain. The Canadian, American and Austrailian monks I met were Greek-Canadia/American/Australian and could speak excellent Greek.

Markos

Dear Alice,

Now on to your harder question.

My pilgrimage to the monasteries of Iviron, Vatopedi, Stavronikita and Simonopetra was an awesome experience, and I hope to go again next year to stay longer and visit some of the smaller sketes. It was great to go see these places, see some ancient churches, hear Byzantine music done well, see the "silence" and "watchfulness" of the monks, and moreover see all this integrated outstandingly within a community. I didn't get to Philotheou or the other strain of monasticism that Elder Ephraim comes from, but I hope to go to either St. Anthony's or St. Nektarios' this year.

That said, there is in wider Greek Orthodoxy today (and I don't mean you specifically at all) an over-admiration for things Athonite. Athos is not a monolith; you could find many different opinions on many issues related to Orthodoxy in different monasteries or among different monks in a monastery. For instance, attitudes to my Catholicism range from "why?" to complete indifference. The remarks of (who I believe to be) Metropolitan Jonah and Father Robert Taft after Sister Vassa Larin's lecture at St. Vladimir's a few months ago are very pertinent (go to around the last 25 minutes or so of the MP3)*. Father Taft in particular hit it on the head when he said that the uncritical canonization of Athonite monasiticism and whatever it says and does is not healthy for Orthodoxy. Greek author Christos Yannaras puts it another way in his book, "Orthodoxy and the West" (available in English from Holy Cross Press) on Greek Orthodoxy since 1453:


I don't say this because I want to say that any one monk or any one person is wrong; but I think it's an important caution.

Finally, from the original article, I don't think that saying Athos is a remnant from medieval times is accurate. Most people got around by van on the mountain; you only saw mules at more isolated sketes. All the guesthouses I went to had running water and most had electric lighting. Cell phones and (apparently) wireless internet was everywhere - including a monk who lived in an isolated skete who wanted to talk about (believe it or not) military assault rifles and who obviously got all his information online. One of the monks recommended I get a cell phone, and I was one of a very small number of pilgrims** who used the foot trails instead of going by car.

Anyhoo, to your question.......

I didn't go there really seeking "spiritual advice" or anything like that, even though people say that that's one of the great things about the monasteries. Rather, I would let God give me the experiences that He wanted me to have. That said, I think I did meet someone who had the best integrated understanding of monastic, pastoral and academic areas of theology of anyone I've ever met and it was good to talk to him (he even spoke decent English).

As far as experiences, the only thing truly extraordinary was that I had a sprain or something like that in my leg from walking. However, once they brought the relics out at Vatopedi (the girdle of the Theotokos, the skull of St. Gregory the Theologian, and the skull and incorrupt ear of St. John Chrysostom), per my prayer (and I presume the prayer of those saints) God alleviated the sprain.

I'd again recommend some of the books or CDs that I mention in one of my previous posts to get a sense of the place. Abbot Vasillios' books are excellent and easy to get. Abbot Aimilianos' book is also very good, but the only place I've seen it in stock is at Indiktos [indiktos.gr]. His story "of a certain monk" and how the light of Christ fills the world and the prayer life of the Church is outstanding reading. The Simonopetra Paraklesis CD conveys the sense of worship at Simonopetra very well. The Vatopedi Holy Week CDs are so good that they put me right back into the Katholikon there.

Markos

[BTW, mods, maybe this thread would be better moved to another forum?]

*the link was posted on the thread a few weeks ago on Father Schmemann and monasticism; it's on ancient faith radio. If someone would like the link reposted I can do so.

**the others I saw on the trail were a group of three teenage Cypriots on leave from their military service. Because I had some pieces of surplus US military gear for my Athonite backpacking trip - including a Camelbak pack - they asked me jokingly if I was a commando.

Thanks Markos. My husband has been hoping to go there.

I am kind of saddened by the use of automobiles, cell phones and computers. I think that can be very distracting and dangerous.

Lord have mercy!

I think that the 'desert' experience of a monastery should be one with as little outside destractions as possible. They don't have televisions and radios, so why such widespread internet accessibility? I hope that there is only one computer per monastery that is accessed with permission and great limitations.

The problem with modern communications is that you can live without them if you never had them, but once you have them, you think that you cannot live without them again...

For seven years my husband and I have been visiting St. Nektarios Monastery, and it was always so peaceful because we could not use our cell phones.. .athere was no service there for atleast an hour drive away from New York city...now there is, and it just does not feel the same. Without service, we were forced to remove ourselves from the cares of the world which were just a phone call away.

In Christ,
Alice

It's as easy as pushing a button or leaving them home!
Stephanos I

Dear Alice,

You remind us - quite correctly - that one of the almost unnoticed spiritual problems of our time is the amazing ease with which one can go "out" without leaving one's own home. It is at least theoretically possible to visualize a monastic cell with such accessories as the latest MAC computer, the latest I-phone, and so forth. One can "virtually" go around the world in a matter of minutes - I'm not being hypothetical; just yesterday a friend of mine in Siberia sent me an e-mail requesting the e-mail address of a mutual friend in New York; in less than an hour I accomplished this simple task, but was then bemused at the thought of the whole thing whizzing around the globe through cyberspace.

I wonder if the Dalai Lama makes use of these contraptions!

Fr. Serge

Oh, I agree dear Father. But it is not us who need to have them on or to speak on them, it is the others!

I even lamented this to one of the fathers, and he said that he also hated them because he now needed to answer calls from the other monks. Being that it is a vast property, I suppose they come in handy--like walkie talkies?

I told him that the monastery should have a sign reminding people to turn them off like they do at certain churches. In the course of our conversation about cell phones, he mentioned that he had heard that some folk, somewhere, had been seen to speak on cell phones/take calls on the communion line!

Lord have mercy!

Respectfully,
Alice

Dear Father Serge,

Now, even Siberia, the traditional land of exile has cell phone service?!?! HEHEHE!

It is all very strange, isn't it, how quickly we can communicate across the world these days.

Respectfully,
Alice