Comments on: Mount Athos, The Holy Mountain

Mount Athos, The Holy Mountain

soundofsuburbia — Wed, 20 Nov 2002 10:29:24 -0800

is the center of Eastern Orthodox Monasticism. It's located in the northeast of Greece and is an amazing place. If you're a man and planning a pilgrimage, make sure to read this first. And if you're a woman planning a pilgrimage, make sure to read this first. [more inside]

By: soundofsuburbia

soundofsuburbia — Wed, 20 Nov 2002 10:30:13 -0800

By: Red58

Red58 — Wed, 20 Nov 2002 10:43:28 -0800

Athos seems similar in many ways to countries where woman are covered. These poor men just can't seem to control themselves when women are around or visible.

By: Songdog

Songdog — Wed, 20 Nov 2002 11:10:06 -0800

I initially mistook this for a Dumas post (?), but it's interesting in an entirely different way. Images of women are banned?

By: SealWyf

SealWyf — Wed, 20 Nov 2002 11:12:51 -0800

I experience an odd sense of mental collision with such things. On one hand, I respect other people's spiritual traditions. On the other, I would hope that greater equality would come with greater enlightenment. When I visited Bali last year, I was astonished to find that menstruating women were forbidden from entering Hindu temples. "How would they know?" I wondered. (At least one member of our group was seriously conflicted over this. I was grateful I didn't have to be.) More recently, I was at a Smithsonian staff discussion on issues of online access to collections information. The new Museum of the American Indian owns images of objects and events which tribal law forbids females to see. These, of course, cannot go online. I can only assume that if you show up at the reading room to see them in person, your gender will be checked. Since SI is a federally-funded institution (well, at least in part), this will open a whole new can of legal worm

By: GaelFC

GaelFC — Wed, 20 Nov 2002 11:28:54 -0800

I love this: "Exception to the no-females rule: the local cats, which even the most determined defenders of the faith have learned to leave alone." Heh. Cats conquer all.

By: fotzepolitic

fotzepolitic — Wed, 20 Nov 2002 11:30:50 -0800

I had a boyfriend in college who had spent a year studying in Greece and Turkey, and had visited Mt. Athos. He said the monks were psychic -- that they'd spent so much time meditating and being spiritual that they'd achieved this higher plane. He said they told him all kinds of things about his life (he always refused to say what), and he was convinced that a life like that would be conducive to greater understanding of the universe. I also remember him saying that some Russian(?) women had swum to the island in an attempt at a takeover a few decades ago, but that the monks ignored them and they finally got bored and left. I can't find anything about that on google, though.

By: condour75

condour75 — Wed, 20 Nov 2002 11:56:02 -0800

I think I saw this place in an episode of the Little Rascals. Is it up in a tree?

By: costas

costas — Wed, 20 Nov 2002 12:02:06 -0800

I live a couple of hours away from Mt Athos (in Thessaloniki), but I haven't actually visited. The Halkidiki peninsula with its three smaller peninsulas is a lovely place, esp. Sithonia (the middle one). Mt Athos is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous from a nature perspective with some of the greatest beaches in the Mediterrenean. This is not surprising if you consider that the Church here has inherited either from sheer influence or or grants some of the prettiest spots in Greece. The exclusionary policy of Mt Athos bothers a lot of Greeks, not least because it hurts tourism and keeps a major attraction locked out to a lot of people (incl. couples, not just women tourists). However, the church's reasoning is completely spiritual: Mt Athos is dedicated to a woman (Virgin Mary) and no other women can be allowed in (Virgin Mary is very, very important in the Orthodox dogma, almost as much as in the Catholic one). From a practical standpoint, however, I suspect the rule is there to keep the monks from temptation (at least the heterosexual kind) and, most importantly, from priests settling in the region with their families and parcelling out the land (Orthodox priests not on a bishop career track can marry and have kids). It's not a coincidence that Mt Athos has existed as a semi-autonomous region for centuries, practically undisturbed. The Byzantine Museum in Thessaloniki, as well as the one in Athens often does host exhibitions for Mt. Athos artifacts and icons, BTW. And I cannot not plug my city, which is a very lively, vibrant place, quite unlike the mega-urban mess that is Athens. Thessaloniki is the gateway for Halkidiki and Mt Athos, as well as the Northern Aegean Islands. City History, Thessaloniki Film Festival.

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Wed, 20 Nov 2002 12:16:27 -0800

When you say Orthodox you mean GREEK Orthodox, right? I'm just asking, none of the sites seem to specify except the St. Catherine site and that appears to be in Egypt, no? I mean are there Russian, Armenian, Coptic AND Greek monks in Athos or just Greek?

By: taz

taz — Wed, 20 Nov 2002 12:21:23 -0800

I'm in Thessaloniki, too, Costas; I didn't know there were other mefites here! Unfortunately, I don't have the proper plumbing to visit Mt. Athos, though I have seen Athos exhibits...

By: four panels

four panels — Wed, 20 Nov 2002 12:23:43 -0800

What a lively picture. Hail Djävulen.

By: soundofsuburbia

soundofsuburbia — Wed, 20 Nov 2002 12:43:05 -0800

[off topic] four panels: Yeah, well, and then he got himself arrested by San Francisco's finest. [/off topic]

By: deanc

deanc — Wed, 20 Nov 2002 12:55:38 -0800

I mean are there Russian, Armenian, Coptic AND Greek monks in Athos or just Greek? There are Eastern Orthodox monks of all various ethnic backgrounds on Mount Athos. Some of the monasteries on Athos are primarily Russian or Serbian. The Armenian and Coptic Orthodox (the "Oriental Orthodox"), while quite close to Orthodox Christianity, are not officially "in Communion" with the Eastern Orthodox (Greeks, Russians, Serbians, Romanians, Orthodox Christian Arabs, et. al.) for various theological reasons dating back to the 5th century, so they have no presence on Mt. Athos.

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Wed, 20 Nov 2002 12:58:37 -0800

Thanks for clearing that up, wasn't sure what they meant exactly and who was invited to the party.

By: costas

costas — Wed, 20 Nov 2002 16:53:14 -0800

taz: wow, another thessalonian on MeFi? I am impressed :-)