A Pilgrimage to the Holy Mountain: Mount
Athos, Greece
M
By David Koch
any Peace Corps volunteers in Macedonia cherish Greece
as a haven of a more European or “western” standard of
living, a place we can escape to relatively easily and quickly be
surrounded by familiar signifiers. Starbucks! Pizza Hut! The
Euro! Wal-mart-sized supermarkets! But this summer, Evan
Brengle and I traveled to northern Greece for an experience altogether removed from flashy modernity. We spent four days on
Mount Athos, a monastic community on the easternmost peninsula of the Chalcidice. Technically part of Greece, it rules itself
and closely controls who can visit. Each day, only 120 Orthodox
Christians and ten non-Orthodox visitors are allowed in. Not
only that, no women or young children have ever been admitted.
The monks believe that Athos is the Virgin Mary’s private garden, and thus she is the only woman
allowed. Athos has been independent
and isolated in this way since 972,
when the Byzantine Empire granted it
a special charter. Monasteries still use
Byzantine clocks and the Julian calendar, and fly the Byzantine flag.
I’d wanted to travel to Mount
Athos for several years, and living
in Macedonia provided the perfect
opportunity. In May, we called the
Mount Athos Pilgrims Bureau to reserve an entry permit for late August.
I expected a hassle, but the reservation
was rather easy, as the bureau simply
needed our names, nationality, and
whether we were Orthodox or nonOrthodox. The next step was to fax
or email copies of our passports to the
bureau.
We received entry permits that would allow us to spend
three nights on the peninsula—any extension would have to be
requested in the capital, Karyes. Mount Athos is home to twenty
monasteries and many smaller communities and hermitages.
Altogether, there are over 2,000 monks, most of them Greek.
Greek is the primary language of most of the monasteries, besides the monasteries maintained by the Russian, Serbian, and
Romanian Orthodox Churches. Visitors may stay at a monastery for a night, during which they will receive two meals and
a bed, but after that they are expected to move on. Most monasteries request that pilgrims reserve a bed beforehand, so after
calling around and some adjustment, I fixed our route around
the southern end of the peninsula. We were to take the ferry
from Ouranoupoli, a resort town just north of the Mount Athos
border, to the main port of Dafni. We would then hike down the
western coast to the Dionysiou monastery, the next day east to
Megistis Lavra, and after that up the eastern coast to Karakalou
monastery. The last day we would hike back to Dafni and return
to Ouranoupoli on the ferry.
Late August finally came, and the day before we were
to enter the peninsula, Evan and I took the bus from Thessaloniki
to Ouranoupoli, a charming and colorful little beach town, where
we stayed the night. The next morning, along with a steady
12 - pauza
stream of other pilgrims, we checked in at the pilgrims bureau
office and were each quickly handed our diamonitirion, or entry
permit. We boarded the ferry, and bid adieu to the outside world,
watching as the fancy vacation homes along the coast came to an
abrupt stop at the border with Mount Athos. It wasn’t long before we came to the first monastery on the way, Dochiariou. The
monastery, a tightly-packed yet monumental structure of stone
towers, walls, arches, traditional Macedonian houses perched
high above the cliffs below, all enclosing a three-dome church
in the middle, is a stunning first sight to see. Indeed, throughout
the trip we would see many more such stunning sights and similar architecture, but the spectacle of the monasteries never grew
monotonous.
Pointing the way to Dionysiou Monastery
After two hours, we reached Dafni, where the majority
of our fellow passengers on the ferry boarded buses heading to
Karyes. Evan and I turned to the opposite direction, going south
along the coastal road, towards Dionisiou monastery, a fifteen
kilometer trek. I had estimated the hike taking about four hours,
and we made good time along the gravel road. We passed the
Simonos Petras and Grigoriou monasteries, and monks in both
places were friendly and helpful in guiding us on our way.
Our steady progress quickly slowed when the road
turned into a narrow footpath after Grigoriou. Evan and I took
turns charging ahead energetically, only to fall back in increasing exhaustion. Evening was coming and we had to get to the
monastery before sundown, when the gates would be locked for
the night. We were more tired than worried, although the map
I was following, so detailed and accurate during the gravel portion, was now less informative. At last we reached Dionisiou’s
front gate a little after six.
We arrived just after the evening service had ended, and
groups of pilgrims and monks were moving about the monastery
attending to their own business. The head of the monastery appeared and welcomed us, had us taken to our rooms, and then arranged for us to have dinner. Since the main meal had finished,
we ate in the kitchen, and upon finishing were pretty much on