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From Great Lavra I crossed the
'desert' of the Holy Mountain. It isn't really a
desert, it's just called that because it is very hot and dry. In the
picture you can see where the side of a mountain collapsed. Many
monks were buried when it happened centuries ago. It is still a
dangerous place, in his book Wounded by Love, my priest's
spiritual father Elder Porphyrios said he was almost killed here. He
also told my priest that he could smell myrrh from the holy people buried
beneath. |
| A hermitage way, way up on a mountain
cliff. I am not sure how the monks would get there. There must
be a stairway from the other side. You can see a pipe of some
kind running up the mountain on the lower left of the picture. |
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The monastic community of
Kefsokalivia. This is where Elder Porphyrios lived when he first
came to Mt. Athos, and where he reposed. Kefsokalivia is like a
village of individual hermitages with one church near the top. They
had a service very late and it just kept going and going. After
falling asleep standing I finally went to bed about midnight. The
next day I heard someone say there was an all night vigil, though I'm not
sure what the festival was. |
| Another very remote hermitage. There
didn't seem to be any way down so the monks must only come and go by
ferry. |
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This little fellow crossed my path while I was
crossing the desert. |
| After leaving Kefsokalivia I walked to Skete
Agia Anna. |
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I was outside just as the sun was going
down. |
| Hay loft. In the desert there were a lot
of mules. My priest said they are like the cars of the Holy
Mountain. This little kitty had a nice view point of the boats coming
and going in the harbor. |
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Next I went to Moni Dionysiou. I had originally
planned to go here first and stay for a few days but they were celebrating
the feast of their patron saint, St. John the Baptist, and I had
to change my plans. I still wanted to stay for a while, but the guest
master didn't speak English so I moved on the next day. |
| I took the ferry back to Daphni and then
walked to Moni St. Pantelemonos. While in Daphni I snapped this
picture of a monk I thought must be a hermit. In his right hand is a
prayer rope. Monks, as well as lay people, use this in a ascetic
practice called hysechia. |
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Some hermits have some craft so they can buy
whatever they can't grow. |
| The most beautiful monastery I stayed in was
St. Pantelemonos, the Russian monastery. It was also one of the
biggest. Unlike all the others I stayed in the services were in
Church Slavonic, a liturgical language used by Slavic nations. |
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When I first saw the clock tower from the
ferry I thought it was beautiful, but it was too bad the time was wrong
and it must be broken. Later I realized that the monasteries keep
Byzantine time. |
| The main blue building was the residence of
the monks. There was also a large church inside that was used while
the one in the middle of the monastery was being renovated. |
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Wide view of the
monastery. |
