As soon as you enter the boat from the beautiful harbor of Ouranoupoli – in Greek it means a city up in the sky- you immediately sense a different aura all around you. The scenery becomes harsh, the images bleak and the eyes are searching in vain for the comforting female shape. Suddenly you realize that you are surrounded by men only, who all of them have the same destination. A trip to their inner-self, a step to another dimension laying between normative and metaphysical. Welcome to the Holly Mountain, the garden of Virgin Marry, one of the holiest places for Orthodox Christians and maybe the last place on earth where someone can have a taste of Medieval perplexities and Byzantine greatness blended with christian hymns and endless hours inside ancient churches lightened only by the delicate gleam of the candles.
As soon as you reach one of the monasteries you will immediately realize that monks are not just living a different life than the one you are used to. On the contrary, they are exercising 24/7 an utterly different paradigm of absolute dedication to anchoritism and to the holly Orthodox Church. If you think is easy to make one of them to be open and talk to you like a friendly local then you must think twice. The majority of them are preoccupied with the everyday running of the monastery, while some of them they just want to be left alone. However, if you are lucky you may find someone, most probably another visitor, who will share with you his past experiences from the Holly Mountain.
I left the Holy Mountain with share feelings. While watching the crystal blue waters of the Aegean Sea and the olive trees climbed up the hills I craved to taste again 21st century civilization. Nevertheless, as the boat entered Ouranoupoli’s harbor I realized that once you have tasted a trip to the Holy Mountain your steps will take you again there for various of reasons that are different to every and each traveler......
As soon as you reach one of the monasteries you will immediately realize that monks are not just living a different life than the one you are used to. On the contrary, they are exercising 24/7 an utterly different paradigm of absolute dedication to anchoritism and to the holly Orthodox Church. If you think is easy to make one of them to be open and talk to you like a friendly local then you must think twice. The majority of them are preoccupied with the everyday running of the monastery, while some of them they just want to be left alone. However, if you are lucky you may find someone, most probably another visitor, who will share with you his past experiences from the Holly Mountain.
I left the Holy Mountain with share feelings. While watching the crystal blue waters of the Aegean Sea and the olive trees climbed up the hills I craved to taste again 21st century civilization. Nevertheless, as the boat entered Ouranoupoli’s harbor I realized that once you have tasted a trip to the Holy Mountain your steps will take you again there for various of reasons that are different to every and each traveler......
Spyros Litsas
Associate Professor of International Relation at the University of Macedonia
Associate Professor of International Relation at the University of Macedonia
Ouranoupolis
.....Mount Athos the Holy Mountain....
