Mount Athos: Renewal in Paradise 9780300236347

Citation preview

MouNT ATHas

--

-.----- .......... ...

-

.-

.:: -

-----

~r

.,

~

..

-

--,..

-

~

.,0\"f

a va."'

\_AII{O~

- - ~

--- --

~

--

-------==

-

-~

--

MouNT ATHos RENEWAL IN PARADISE by Graham Speake

Yale University Press New Haven and London

for Tony

Copyright© by Yale University Press

2002

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Designed by Beatrix Mcintyre Set in Ehrhardt Mt Printed in Singapore Cover illustration: The monastery of Simonopetra seen from the west © Graham Speake. Endpapers: (front) The monastery of Xenophontos; (back) The monastery of Koutloumousiou. Both were drawn by the Russian pilgrim Vasily Barsky in 1744 on his second visit to the Mountain. ISBN

o 300 093535

Library of Congress Control Number:

2002112133

CONTENTS

Preface vn Acknowledgements vm Introduction I I. Athos BC 9 2. The Garden of the Mother of God I7 3· Byzantine Athos 37 4· Palaiologan Athos 7I 5· Ottoman Athos I I3 6. Twentieth-Century Athos I 57 7· Athos Today: For the Monk I95 8. Athos Today: For the Pilgrim 233 Epilogue 265 Notes 268 Select Bibliography 279 Glossary 283 Index 285 Photographic Acknowledgements 295

The Mother of God as ephor ('overseer') of Athos, a modern icon hugel y popular on the Mountain today (Bourazeri).

PREFACE

F

or many years I resisted the temptation to write a book such as this, just as I resisted the temptation to become Orthodox. In the end I found myself compelled to do both. I became Orthodox largely as a consequence of the numerous visits that I had made to Mount Athos. My spiritual journey into Orthodoxy was initially facilitated by the fathers of the monastery of Vatopedi who are now my brothers. Since my reception it has been steered by my spiritual father, Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia. Bishop Kallistos is the closest approximation I know to an Athonite elder outside Athos and I feel deeply honoured to be numbered among his many spiritual children. My debt to him and to the Vatopedi fathers is incalculable. I wrote this book because it seemed to me that there was a need for it. It is in no sense, I hasten to add, a 'convert's confession': that will be a very different book, if indeed I ever write it. In writing this book, I have received generous assistance from the same quarters. Bishop Kallistos has read the whole text and provided me with numerous suggestions for its improvement. The fathers of Vatopedi, probably without realizing it, have contributed to it at every stage, and have provided the answers to many of my questions over the years. I am particularly grateful for their assistance with Chapter 7, which I should not have been able to write unaided. It goes without saying that any remaining imperfections are mine alone. I have written this book for my friend Anthony Hazledine, who has accompanied me on many memorable journeys to Athos. It is for him, and others like him, who may not necessarily be academic or religious, but who have spiritually inquiring minds and who share a desire to know something more about the mysterious mountain of the monks, both its past and its present. Athos remains one of the most fascinating places on earth. The renewal that is currently taking place there makes it also one of the most challenging and dynamic. If in this book I succeed in conveying something of that fascination and that challenge, then it will have been worth writing. Graham Speake Pentecost 200I

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

F

or permission to quote from E. Amand de Mendieta's Mount Athos: The Garden ofthe Panaghia I am grateful to Akademie Verlag GmbH, Berlin; for permission to quote from the works of the late Philip Sherrard I am grateful to his widow, Denise Harvey. For assistance of various kinds in procuring illustrations I am indebted to the Holy Community of Mount Athos, the Abbot and Fathers of Vatopedi, Fr Ioustinos of Simonopetra, Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia and Mr John Leatham of Athens.

Map by Andr s Bereznay: www. historyonmaps.com

N

j ~ uranopo l is ;

Chilandar St Panteleimonos

Zographou

;t ~ __ , '~~~o'nitou ''- - :f-:.0~ • ,: Vatopedi ---::Dochiariou Pantokrator •

.

.

....,,

Xeropotamou _\

lv,ron

_:------ r -_-

Daphne 1,

Simonopetra

;t _,,'

,

Philotheou_ , , -

'

,

·,,

• , ' ' ./ Karakal?u

Grigoriou ',

.

_,

, - - ,"""

I

"' Oionysiou \

t

_,

•

AEGEAN SEA

/ St Paul's

Great Lavra

Monastic landholdings on Mount Athos today. MOUNT ATHOS: RENEWAL IN PARADISE

IX

;>