Source: Bigorski Monastery On January 4, 2019, His All Holiness, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew welcomed in his patriarchal residence the Reverend Hieromonk Luke of Xenophontos. Father Lucas, the most famous Athonite painter and calligrapher, gave His All Holiness the parchment with a calligraphy of the Tomos for the autocephalous Church in Ukraine, hand written by him, with the blessing of his Abbot, Archimandrite Alexios of the Xenophontos Monastery, Mount Athos. The representatives of the Ukrainian Church, headed by the Metropolitan of Kiev, Epiphanius, have already arrived at Phanar, where the next day they will attend the ceremonious act of the Tomos ratification by the Ecumenical Patriarch.…
Browsing: Mount Athos
by Aurelian Iftimiu The Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos on Monday approved a grant of €1.240.000 for 22 monastic settlements on the Holy Mount Athos following a request submitted by the Sacred Community, Protothema reports. Regarding the financial support, the first monastery is Simonos Petras with 144.088 Euros. The second grant in value is offered to Agiou Pavlou Monastery. Iviron Monastery will receive EUR 112,877.20, while Dionysiou Monastery will receive a grant of EUR 104,197.20. No. Monastic Settlement Percentage Sum granted (Euro) 1 Great Lavra 4,211 52.216,40 2 Vatopedi Monastery 4,307 53.406,80 3 Iviron Monastery 9,103 112.877,20 4 Helandariou Monastery 7,590…
Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos MOUNT ATHOS, GREECE – Elder Ephraim, Abbot of the Great Vatopaidi Monastery of Mt. Athos gave an extensive interview to The National Herald, which follows. TNH: Elder Ephraim, is this your first visit to America? What is the aim of this forthcoming visit? EE: This will be my second visit. I went to Arizona in 2011, to St. Anthony’s Monastery, to meet Elder Ephraim, now of Arizona, formerly of Filotheou, who is a spiritual brotherof my late Elder, Iosif. Both of them had the blessed Elder Iosif the Hesychast as their spiritual father. It…
Source: Orthodox Christianity Recently, there has appeared in the media as well as in social networks information that the Greek consulate in Moscow is refusing to issue visas to Russian priests or is offering not three-year visas, as they do to tourists, but visas for only one month or even only for a few days. The first to write about the visa problem on his Facebook page was the rector of the Moscow State University Church of St. Tatiana, Fr. Vladimir Vigilyansky. At the end of May, he received a Greek visa: His wife was given a three-year visa but…
Source: The National Herald By Antonis H. Diamataris The Panagia’s Garden, Mount Athos, is one of the unique places in the world. It is not surprising that Geoffrey Pyatt, the American Ambassador to Greece, visited, and like so many others before him – as certainly many others after him will be – was excited. Also not surprisingly, the ambassador tweeted: “Mt. Athos is a truly spiritual place, and I profoundly thank Abbot Ephraim for introducing me to the rich history of Vatopedi on my first stop here. I was also impressed by the Monastery’s innovative research and ideas on its organic…
Source: Olympus Press “On this amazing path we call life, we’re often compelled to change direction.” —John McKinney After writing thirty books about hiking, John McKinney, aka “The Trailmaster,” was compelled by extraordinary events to live through—then write about—an odyssey that took him to a remote monastery on Mt. Athos, Greece, where no woman has set foot for a thousand years. By turns reverent and irreverent, Hiking the Holy Mountain narrates John’s progress and setbacks on the trail and within himself, and a series of miraculous events that took place on—and off—the Holy Mountain. His friend Spiro joined him on…
Source: Pravoslavie.ru According to the Greek site vimaorthodoxias.gr, more than fifty Athonite monastic kalyves and cells have ceased commemoration of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, as reported by a monk of one of these cells. These small monastic dwellings have taken this step in response to the “ecumenical course” of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, especially following last June’s “Great and Holy Council” which gathered representatives of ten of the fifteen autocephalous Local Orthodox Churches, producing documents that several Synods, hierarchs, clergy, theologians, and monastics have taken issue with. As previously reported, prominent theologian Archpriest Theodore Zisis announced on the Sunday…
Source: Time An entire section of the visitors’ guide to the Holy Mountain of Athos is devoted to the subject of photography, and to summarize the gist of it – there are no pictures allowed. We learned about this a bit late in our trip. Yuri Kozyrev, TIME’s contract photographer, had already flown from Moscow to meet the rest of our trio in northern Greece. Otis, our Greek translator, had come from Athens. I had come from Berlin. And a few days later, Russian President Vladimir Putin was due to arrive on the Holy Mountain for a pilgrimage. Photographing his…
Source: Pravoslavie.ru by Athanasios Zoitakis Athonite monasticism has always stood on guard for the purity of Orthodoxy. Athonites have actively participated in the work of Church councils and came out against the unions of Lyons and Florence. Ecumenical contacts have repeatedly come under criticism from Athonites (letters to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, proclamations, reports of the Holy Kinot), however most Athonite monks throughout the whole history of the Holy Mountain have avoided zealous demonstrations and indiscriminate criticisms of the hierarchy. With filial respect and love and veneration Athonites have expressed their opinions, suggestions, and warnings, even ready, when danger hung over Orthodoxy,…
Source: BBC News Magazine If you want to visit Mount Athos the first step is to submit a copy of your passport to the Mount Athos Pilgrims’ Bureau. Each day, 100 Orthodox and 10 non-Orthodox male pilgrims are admitted for a three-night stay in one of the peninsula’s 20 monasteries. Women will not be granted a permit and must stay behind as their male friends board the ferry at one of the two closest ports. Mount Athos has barred women for more than 1,000 years – they are not allowed within 500m of the coast. According to Dr Graham Speake,…
Source: Pravmir Moscow, February 24, Interfax – Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia is expected to visit Mount Athos, in May 2016, on the occasion of festivities marking the 1000th anniversary of Russia’s presence on the Holy Mountain. “Mount Athos is expected to be in May. The dates have not yet been set,” chief of press service of patriarch Priest Alexander Volkov, said at a press conference in Moscow on Wednesday. His statement implied that the patriarch’s trips to Mount Athos and to Crete, the venue of a Pan-Orthodox Council meeting, will not coincide. It was reported earlier that…
Source: The National Herald BY CONSTANTINE S. SIRIGOS NEW YORK – Archimandrite Vasileios, former Abbot of the Iveron Monastery of Mouth Athos, was the keynote speaker at the annual celebration of Greek letters on the occasion of the Feast Day of the Three Hierarchs presented by the Archdiocese of America. Guests were welcomed to the nave of Holy Trinity by the Dean of the Cathedral, Fr. John Vlahos after a performance of the Archdiocesan Byzantine Choir. Archbishop Demetrios offered closing remarks. The feast day of the three fathers of the Orthodox Church, St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian…