Friends of Mount Athos Annual Report

1993

FRIENDS OF MOUNT ATHOS President The Hon. Sir Steven Runciman, C.H., F.B.A. Patrons Mr Costa Carras The Very Revd. Professor Sir Henry Chadwick. K.B.E., F.B.A. Sir John Lawrence, Bt., O.B.E. Mr James Lees-Milne Mr Patrick Leigh Fermor, D.S .O., O.B.E. Professor Donald M. Nicol. F.B.A. Sir Dimitri Obolensky, F.B.A. Dr Philip Sherrard Executive Committee The Rt. Revd. Dr Kallistos Ware, Bishop of Diokleia (Chairman) Dr Derek Hill Dr Graham Speake (Hon. Secretary)

All correspondence should be addressed to the Hon. Secretary, Dr Graham Speake. Ironstone Farmhouse. Milton. Banbury aXIS 4HH, from whom details of membership may be obtained. This report is private and not for publication. The contributions remain the copyright of the authors and may not be reproduced without their permission.

THE SOCIETY'S YEAR 'Hope for the future is thankfully dawning over the Holy Mountain of Athos and from there over our storm-tossed nation and over the Orthodox Church throughout the world.' These are the words of Archimandrite Ephraim, Abbot of the Holy, Sacred, and Great Monastery of Vatopedi, who used them to introduce his monastery's appeal brochure which is about to be published. They encapsulate not only the spirit of renewal that has swept through the Holy Mountain in recent years but also the restoration of Athos to its former role as the spiritual heart of the Orthodox world. We are proud to quote them at the start of this Report and to associate them with the activities of our society. The Friends met twice during 1993. The AGM was held in Oxford on 4 May, as usual at the House of St Gregory and St Macrina (1 Canterbury Road). About thirty-five members and guests were welcomed with traditional hospitality and our esteemed President presided over the proceedings which the Chairman chaired with his familiar combination of dexterity and dignity. A copy of the minutes has been circulated to members which relieves me of any need to describe the formal business again here. But those who set store by numbers and worldly goods may like to know that since then the membership has risen from 126 to 191 and the balance of the account from £1889.82 to £2628.13. It is pleasing to note that we continue to 'trade profitably' and that once again we have seen no reason to raise the minimum subscription rates. Mer the completion of the formal agenda the President introduced our speaker, Mr James Knox, the biographer of Robert Byron, who gave a most entertaining talk on 'Robert Byron's First Visit to Athos', a text of which is printed below. Later in the year, on 29 November, the Friends met again, this time in London, at College Hall in Malet Street, a venue kindly arranged by Dr John Nandris. We were delighted to welcome Mr Martin Palmer, Director of ICOREC but perhaps better known as the Duke of Edinburgh's 'religious guru', who gave an illustrated talk to an enthralled audience of about fifty on the subject of 'The Theology and Ecology of Athos'. Martin had the honour of arranging and accompanying Prince Philip's visit to the Mountain in October 1992 and has since visited every monastery to assess its environmental concerns on behalf of WWF International. His talk inspired a lively discussion ranging from the flora and fauna of Athos to the findings of WWF and its recommendations for the future of the Mountain. In reply to a final question, put by the

2 3

Chairman, as to what he had valued most in his visits to Athos, Martin had no hesitation in citing the pleasure of walking on the Mountain. May it ever be so. Below we print an abridged version of his talk, alas without the benefit of his splendid colour slides. As we grow in numbers, so we are able to expand our programme of meetings, and members will already know about the Vassilopita party planned for 10 January 1994 in Knightsbridge. An informal meeting is to be held during the 28th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, which is to take place from 26 to 29 March 1994 in the University of Birmingham on the theme 'Mount Athos and Byzantine Monasticism'. We shall meet at 9.30 pm on Saturday 26 March in University House Library. Since most of the conference will be concerned with the past history of Athos, our intention is to present a number of short informal talks about Athos today. All are welcome, whether or not they are attending the Symposium. The AGM for 1994 will be held on Wednesday 18 May at 4 pm, once again at 1 Canterbury Road, Oxford. Among new members joining in 1993 we were especially pleased to welcome HRH the Duke of Edinburgh. Last year's Annual Report carried an account of the visit that His Royal Highness made to the Mountain in October 1992 from which it was clear that he had developed a deep affection for the communities that he visited as well as a lasting concern for their ecological habitat. At the time we expressed the hope that our respective organizations might be able to work together on some of the initiatives in which we share an interest. It is pleasing to note this year that our aspirations have begun to bear fruit. In May of this year I was privileged to spend some time at the monastery of Vatopedi. In the course of discussions with the Abbot, Fr Ephraim, his deputy, Fr Arsenios, and several others of the Fathers it became clear that there were a number of ways in which we might be able to assist them. The community there is young and energetic and they have ambitious plans for the future, details of which are given in their appeal brochure. Fr Arsenios, who is in charge of the restoration, realized that in order to reach the greatest number of potential benefactors he would have to print this document in English as well as Greek. He asked if we might be able to provide a translation, and it is a pleasure to record that with the help of several of our members we have now done this. A more specific concern of the monastery is its title to Lake Vistonis in Thrace. The lake is a Ramsar wetland of international importance, particularly renowned for its eels and its waterfowl. but it is seriously threatened by agricultural and industrial pollution. The monastery is 4

anxious to clean it, but only on condition that the Greek government recognizes its right as the landowner to receive income from it. Without it the monastery will have no choice but to exploit yet further its ancient forests on the Holy Mountain. This in turn will require the construction of more roads and a new wharf and will detract seriously from the natural environment of that corner of the peninsula. The monastery has besought us to do all we can to publicize the seriousness of the situation and to exert pressure on potentially influential bodies. The Duke of Edinburgh has kindly agreed to take the matter up with WWF International and Mr Ilya Haritakis has done the same with the Greek Animal Welfare Fund. Meanwhile WWF Greece has been in close contact with the monastery and has adopted the project as one of its top priorities. I am told that there is now a good chance of a satisfactory outcome, but we shall not relax our efforts until the matter is resolved. While on the subject of Vatopedi, I should like to take this opportunity to express my special thanks to the Guest Master, Fr Isidore, and to the Librarian, Fr Palamas, for the generous hospitality and unstinting assistance that they showed me throughout my visit. They have asked me to make it known that all members of the Friends are assured of a very warm welcome at Vatopedi. I might add that the cuisine is of an unusually high standard. When I was in Karyes, I had a meeting with Fr Iustinos of Simonopetra to discuss the deteriorating state of the frescoes in the Protaton. This is a matter of serious concern to all Byzantinists and art historians since the frescoes include some of the finest examples of the work of the early 14th-century artist Manuel Panselinos. Our President is deeply concerned about the problem and is actively investigating ways of solving it. These are the sort of areas in which we are trying to make a contribution to the well-being of the Holy Mountain. A few others are suggested in this year's 'Report from the Mountain', which once again has been compiled for us by Geoffrey Cox from material supplied by a monk in one of the ruling monasteries and gives us a first-hand account of Athonite affairs over the past twelve months. As always, we invite our members when they are visiting the Mountain to keep an eye open for any problems encountered by the monks and to propose ways in which the society might be able to alleviate them. Once again we are circulating a directory of our members and their addresses on the assumption that they will find it useful and will not abuse it. Several monasteries requested copies of it last year, though quite what they use it for I am not sure. It is perhaps interesting to note

5

that 17 per cent of our members live overseas: the largest group (10) are in the United States. followed (not surprisingly) by 5 in Greece. 3 (interestingly) in Sweden, 2 each in France and Ireland. and one each in Australia. Canada, Denmark. Mexico. New Zealand. and South Mrica. We are encouraged by the enthusiasm with which they keep in touch with us, even though few of them are able to attend meetings. I cannot close my report without mentioning the ninetieth birthday of our President which occurred in July of this year. He celebrated it in London with a reception of imperial splendour attended by royalty, academics. churchmen, politicians. and a good many members of the Friends. The centrepiece of the evening was an enormous cake fashioned in the shape of Hagia Sophia. It was a magnificent symbol of the unparalleled contribution that Sir Steven has made to civilization in general and to Byzantine studies in particular. We salute him. We are honoured by his active support for the society. And we wish him chronia polla.

GRAHAM SPEAKE Hon. Secretary

REPORT FROM THE MOUNTAIN: 1993 This year has been lacking in the dramatic and controversial events which were a feature of the 1992 Report, which should mean that it has been for the Fathers a year in which there has been greater tranquillity for the pursuit of the monastic life. The Holy Mountain has even been spared the natural disasters which have afflicted it in recent years: the sum total has been five small fires in summer caused by lightning in wooded areas. all of which were rapidly extinguished. Concern, however, on the part of the monks of Mount Athos of whatever nationality over the Macedonia Question has continued to threaten that tranquillity, perhaps increasingly this year as attitudes in the West have hardened and become more overtly cynical. The Holy Mountain of Athos is of course in Macedonia and forms an integral part of its history and culture; and so any issue of the forging or usurpation of that history and culture for reasons of political expediency is in no way a matter for the 'outside world'. The Fathers are also aware that the question of the nomenclature of the Republic of Skopje is only the tip of the iceberg of policies in the Balkans which irresponsibly encourage forces that pose a potential threat not only to Greece. of which the monastic republic is a part. but to the peace and well-being of the Orthodox populations of the Balkans at this extremely critical point in their history. The 'Appeal of the Double Holy Synaxis of the Holy Mountain on the Macedonian Issue' has been recognized as a text which sets out with clarity and persuasiveness the arguments against the kind of propaganda and sophistry over this issue which has appeared repeatedly in large sections of the Western Press (with Britain's leading paper of record. The Independent, in the vanguard of the campaign). The quality of this 'Appeal' was highly praised in the authoritative Thessaloniki newspaper Makedonia, which thought that it deserved to be included in secondary school textbooks.

****** One item which might also serve as a slight corrective to the often one-sided accounts of events in former Yugoslavia given by the media in the West is that Archimandrite Pai"sios of Chilandari (who resigned as Abbot in 1992 and has been replaced by Archimandrite Moysis, for many years the monastery's representative with the Holy Community) 6

7

this year paid a visit to his native village near Strebenitsa. The melancholy purpose of this visit was to care for the orphans of his forty-eight relatives, including his brother, who had been killed by the Muslims of Bosnia. They also burnt down his village.

Some five thousand pilgrims, including a significant percentage of young people, joined the monks of the Holy Mountain this year in the observance of Holy Week and Easter.

******

******

It was reported at the beginning of the year that the Extraordinary Double Holy Synaxis had initiated a review of the whole range of the relations between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Holy Mountain, relations which were, it will be recalled, somewhat troubled during 1992. Also on their agenda were the new arrangements for visitors to the Mountain. These came into force on 1 May and are as follows:

The case of the monks expelled from the Skete of the Prophet Elijah (see the Annual Report for 1992, p.21) has now reached the Greek courts. International interest has been shown in this case, involving as it does basic human rights.

1. Those wishing to visit the Holy Mountain must first telephone or visit the Bureau for Visitors to the Holy Mountain, 21 Kanari Street, Thessaloniki (tel. 031-333-181) to have their names added to the list of visitors for the specific date. 2. The maximum number of visitors has been set at 130 a day. Orthodox clergy are excepted from this limit. An additional ten places are reserved for non-Orthodox foreigners. 3. The visitor's full name, father's name, and number of identity card or passport are to be stated at the Bureau. 4. Diamoniteria are issued at Ouranopolis and Ierissos, one hour before the departure of the ferry. 5. Groups of more than five cannot be accepted without prior arrangement with the monasteries.

A centre of modern art is to be opened in Ouranopolis in which works by Greek and foreign artists inspired by the Holy Mountain and those of Athonite icon-painters will be exhibited.

******

******

These arrangements, which obviate the need for visitors to go to Karyes on arrival to obtain a diamoniterion, are also a prerequisite for non-Greeks. The requirements of a letter of recommendation from the foreign visitor's embassy and a permit from the Greek Foreign Ministry, obtained after arrangements have been made with the Thessaloniki Bureau, remain in force. A few months after it came into effect, the new system was reported to be working satisfactorily, except in the case of some foreigners, particularly Orthodox Slavs, where there is a continuing dispute between the Athonites, the Foreign Ministry, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate as to who in the last resort should control entry to Mount Athos.

A symposium was held in Thessaloniki from 29 October to 1 November under the auspices of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Society for Macedonian Studies. The Holy Community was officially represented and a number of abbots attended and read papers. Inter alia, a proposal was made by Professor Angelopoulos of Thessaloniki University that the canonical status of Mount Athos be 'regularized' and brought more fully under the control of the Patriarch. The Governor of Mount Athos, appointed in May 1993 by the New Democracy government, Mr Papadimitriou of Volos, resigned along with other officials after the elections. No new civil governor has been appointed, although the new government has proposed several worthy candidates. It seems that none of these is acceptable to the Patriarchate, which sees the role of the governor rather in terms of what Professor Angelopoulos proposed at the symposium. Relations with the Patriarchate are, as a result, at the time of writing (early 1994) a little tense. An exarchate is expected shortly to discuss the problem of foreigners and, more significantly, the relationship of Mount Athos with the Patriarchate. The ancient self-governing status of Mount Athos is clearly under fire.

******

******

8 9

The proposals for the so-called Second Delors Package include the sum of 1,200 million drachmas for Mount Athos for the conselVation of the wall-paintings in various monasteries and 500 million for the Church of the Protaton. However the decision of the Athonite Fathers, as expressed by the ?verwhelming majority of the monasteries' representatives at a meeting m September, has been to reject aid from the European Community in all the varying forms in which it has so far been proposed. The fear is that any kind of aid from that source will inevitably create obligations and dependence, and that turning Mount Athos into a 'European cultural monument' would be a potential threat both to its way of life and to its traditional self-government and independence. It was pointed out that the attitude of the EC on matters of vital interest to Greece and 'the responsibilities of certain member states for the sufferings of the Orthodox Serbian people' have done nothing for the credibility of the Community in the eyes of the Fathers.

****** The opening up of roads and the increase in motor vehicles on the Mountain have already led to the destruction of many of the kalderimia - the cobbled mule-paths, some of which date back to the time of the foundation of the monasteries - and concern has been expressed in many quarters that their complete disappearance should be prevented.

****** In September Vatopedi was visited by a large group of NATO generals taking a break from a conference on matters of great concern to Greece. ' Another summer visitor to the Mountain was ex-King Constantine with his sons Nikolaos and Pavlos who came as pilgrims to the monasteries ofVatopedi, Koutloumousiou, Iveron, and Megiste Lavra.

****** In July a committee from the Holy Community met with the then :'1ternate Mi?ister of Foreign Mfairs of Greece, Ms Virginia Tsouderou, m order to dISCUSS matters of concern to the Athonite Fathers. A major issue in the discussions was the Holy Community's complaint that the then G?vernment was deliberately obstructing visits to the Holy Mountam by foreign Orthodox, including clergy, by invoking an old 10

proVisIon of 1976, applied by the authorities after a request of the Athonites to limit visits of non-Orthodox foreigners to ten a day. The tension between the Holy Mountain and the Government had reached the point of the former threatening to take the latter to the international courts. It cannot be said that any very ftrm commitment was obtained from the minister. Since then there has of course been a change of government. Also discussed at the meeting was the problem of the continuing damage to the Byzantine wall-paintings of Panselinos in the Protaton in Karyes, damage caused by damp rising from the foundations. Since November the Ministry of Culture has been involved in restoring frescoes and icons in the Protaton.

****** The miraculous Panaghia Tricherousa icon from Chilandari was exhibited for two weeks in Thessaloniki at the time of the feast of St Demetrius. Serbian bishops and faithful flocked to venerate it. The money collected was sent to Serbia.

****** A recent book by Professor Christos Yannaras of Athens, accusing St Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain (1749-1809) of being responsible for importing Western legalism into Orthodoxy, has been deplored by the Holy Community.

****** In response to a request from four bishops of the Moscow Patriarchate visiting Mount Athos for the feast of St Panteleimon in July, an open letter was sent by the Holy Community to the Russian people encouraging them to remain staunchly with their Orthodox faith and to go forward courageously in their struggle.

******

11

Those concerned for the environment will be happy to hear that all types of hunting have been strictly forbidden on the Holy Mountain. No answer has yet been found to the problem of the disease which has spread to the chestnut forest from other parts of Europe, although the injection method has been applied.

****** The Holy Community was dismayed to receive news of the so-called 'agreement' between Orthodox and Roman Catholic representatives concluded at Balamand. Lebanon, in June 1993, under the patronage of the Patriarch of Antioch. On the Orthodox side there had been no proper prior consultation with local churches, six of whom - those of Jerusalem. Greece, Serbia. Bulgaria, Georgia, and Czechoslovakia were missing from the conference. It is strongly felt that such premature and arbitrary declarations 'fudge' essential issues and skate over deep theological differences, such as mutual recognition of sacraments, and promote indirect intercommunion.

****** The monastery of Xeropotamou, together with devout Christian friends throughout Greece, has been much concerned to give practical help to the Patriarch of Georgia in his efforts to rebuild the ancient Georgian Church, to alleviate suffering, and to help the starving, especially in the cities. Thirty-fIve tons of food, clothing, and medical supplies have been airlifted to Tiflis, and the Abbot of Xeropotamou has twice visited Georgia to co-ordinate the efforts. The situation there is critical and it is hoped that the Friends will make efforts to help, either individually or collectively, in any way appropriate. A 'Xeropotamou-Georgia' account (No. 474-28687702) has been opened with the Ionian and Popular Bank of Greece. into which contributions may be made.

ROBERT BYRON'S FIRST VISIT TO ATHOS

*

Robert Byron visited Mount Athos twice. Today I am going to talk about his fIrst visit, made in the summer of 1926, which can best be described as a reconnaissance. The fruits of this visit are to be traced in his two books on the Holy Mountain: The Birth of Western Painting, published in 1930, and The Station, published in 1928. Robert Byron became interested in Byzantine art on a visit to Ravenna in the spring of 1923, travelling with Lord Beauchamp and two of his sons, Viscount Elmley and Hugh Lygon. He first visited Greece in the summer of 1925 with two Oxford friends, Gavin Henderson and Alfred Duggan. after a motor tour across Europe in Henderson's open-topped Sunbeam. They stayed two weeks in Athens where Robert struck up a close friendship with Leonard Bower, an honorary attache at the legation, and John Stuart Hay, part scholar, part wheeler-dealer, who lived in Athens as a professional meddler in other people's affairs. Robert pursued his interest in Byzantine art and visited the monastery at Daphne on this visit and also became acquainted with the art of icon painting by going shopping in the antiques quarter with Bower. Bower's post at the legation was unpaid and he supplemented a small private income by dealing in antiques. On leaving Oxford in November 1925, Robert became a cub reported with the Daily Mail. Increasingly fretful at the trivial stories he was assigned and a position doomed to failure, Robert was sacked in February after only six weeks with the paper on his twenty-fIrst birthday. Bower was in London at the time and they spent the day planning Robert's return to Greece. Roy Harrod, a young don at Christ Church. also facilitated Robert's return. He had given Robert an introduction to the publisher Frederick Warburg at Routledge who had bought Robert's first book. describing his motor tour of the previous summer. He also signed him up to write a history of modem Greece from the Byzantine empire to the sack of Smyrna in 1922. Robert. who was extremely poor, now almost had enough money to return to Athens. He raised the last few pounds on account by getting a commission for two articles on Mount Athos from Miss Todd, the high-brow editor of Vogue magazine. It would be hard to think of a more unsuitable topic for her readers. Soon after Robert set * A talk given at the second Annual General Meeting of the Friends at Oxford on 4 May 1993

12

13

off for Greece Mr Conde Nast lost patience with Miss Todd and she was sacked from Vogue. Robert arrived in Athens at the end of April and he spent the next two months visiting Byzantine sites and monuments, taking in Constantinople. Mistra. and the monastery of Osios Loukas near Delphi. He also planned his visit to Mount Athos in more detail, writing to his Oxford friend and loyal deputy editor of Cberwell, Bryan Guinness, to ask if he would join him on the expedition. Guinness arrived in Athens on 31 July and was met by Robert at Piraeus in his best tweed suit. There was a last-minute excitement before they set off. Francis Rodd, son of Rennell Rodd. had written to the legation warning them that a party of dealers was about to descend on Athos to buy up its treasures for British museums. Robert and Bower raised the alarm, and the Greek government sent off a letter warning the Holy Community of this impending danger. Robert then discovered that the party of dealers was none other than John Stuart Hay. whom Robert and Bryan had planned to meet up with on the Holy Mountain. Robert Byron and Bryan Guinness arrived at Daphne from Thessaloniki on Saturday 6 August 1926. Robert wrote ecstatically to his mother giving his first impressions: It is too wonderful for words - this long narrow peninsula - and a single wooded range of mountains stretching out into the sea - and ending suddenly in a terrific peak six thousand feet high - with clouds wreathing round it - all around the fresh green of the gardens of the monasteries, the woods of planes and Spanish chestnuts - and the sea, an ethereal silvery blue, like the wing of a butterfly, always visible.

They were met by Fr Boniface, a friend of John Stuart Hay. formerly Archimandrite of Jerusalem, who gave them breakfast of watermelon, liqueur, and tea. Robert hired three mules and loaded their copious luggage and supplies, which included a Gladstone bag containing insect spray, tins of sardines, pate de foie gras. 'marching' chocolate, and cooking stoves, on to their backs and set off on the three-hour journey to Karyes. Robert was to spend the next twelve days visiting the monasteries. He began by making a loop towards the west taking in Vatopedi, Konstamonitou. Docheiariou, Xenophontos, and the Russico. Returning to Daphne, he travelled eastwards down the coast to Simonopetra, Gregoriou, Dionysiou, St Paul's, and the skete of St Anne. He lodged one night at the Panaghia before scaling Mount Athos itself and then continued his journey to the Lavra. He returned by boat in a rough sea when most of the other passengers were sick to lviron, and spent his last night at Daphne. 14

Robert was too preoccupied to keep a detailed travel diary, which had been his custom when travelling abroad. Instead he filled a notebook with jottings and rapid notes recording conversations with monks and descriptions of buildings and frescoes. Bryan Guinness did keep a diary which he published privately in 1975 in his quaintly named memoirs. Diary not Kept. Robert and Bryan Guinness met up with John Stuart Hay at Karyes, and from then on they travelled together, with Hay acting as interpreter. Robert had taught himself basic Greek grammar, but he could not conduct long conversations. He was, however. welcomed everywhere at the mention of the name Byron. At Gregoriou the Abbot, Fr Stephen, laid on a feast. Robert described his host in note form as 'amusing and well-educated. Tall white-bearded with a roll in his walk'. He continued with details of the meal: 'Driven to celebrate [our] arrival and that of a neighbouring Abbot. Several octopi. Raki called for in middle of grace.' And he ended with a precis of a conversation with the Abbot. which has become one of the most famous in The Station: 'Sharks? They abound. They once ate a deacon 250 years ago; they caught the shark and found him inside.' Byron continued: 'Speech in my honour (after perpetual toasts all the way through dinner like a bump supper... ).' Bryan Guinness's version of the story ends: 'Afterwards we stayed round drinking and Father Stephen made a long peroration in rather frne-sounding Greek about ... Byron at Missolonghi ... during the course of which Robert went to sleep.' They travelled by mule and by boat. At each monastery they were shown the church and the treasury and library. They were fed the usual variety of Athonite food: octopus, chicken, and delicious jam. And they in tum provided food for the innumerable bed bugs inhabiting the dormitories. They did not spend much time in worship. At the Lavra, Bryan records, 'A service began and trapped us for a weary hour.. .' But respect for the religious aspect of the Holy Mountain was not universal even among the greatest of all scholars, Gabriel Millet. He had been staying at the Lavra for two months, just before Robert arrived, and according to the gossip of the monastery had 'left in a temper, when they asked him to tum out of the chief guest rooms for a fete'. At every monastery the monks welcomed them into the church, At Xeropotamou the priest was called out of a service to greet them, which he did wearing his sacramental veil, and he then conducted them behind the altar during the middle of the liturgy. The incense swinger even stopped his duties to explain the relics to them. Travelling with Robert was always an adventure in itself. Their climb 15

to the top of Mount Athos was typical. After a poor night at the Panaghia, shared with a goatherd, bugs, fleas, rats, and mice, Robert goaded their guide into action at 3 am to lead them to the summit where they spent two hours peering through thick cloud for a glimpse of the famous view. Andreas the guide built a small fire from some of the church furniture whilst, in Guinness's words, 'copulating goats did their best to entertain us'. They returned disconsolate and weary to the Panaghia where Hay, who claimed to have seen green spots before his eyes on the climb the day before, had remained. At Kerasia an argument broke out over the hiring of mules with much bad-tempered bargaining. Robert terminated the discussions by peremptorily clapping his hands. They endured an agonizing ride of three hours with stumbling mules and mutinous drivers to the Lavra. Robert's name worked miracles at the monastery except with one monk who insisted on seeing their letter of introduction. This was the last straw. Bryan Guinness records: 'Robert shouted at him that it was in the bag in a most embarrassing fury. However monks already convinced of our importance arrived and quashed the irritating and irritated monk.' They all found the Lavra the acme of comfort with bug-free beds and delicious food. Robert had come to Mount Athos a fervent, if inexperienced, Byzantinist, determined to study the frescoes of the Holy Mountain. He set to work immediately he arrived in Karyes by inspecting the frescoes of the Protaton, which at first glance failed to impress: 'Uninspiring: lost dignity and uniqueness of Byzance. Not essentially Byzantine like Mistra ... Probably Panselinos, native of Salonika with knowledge of Italian painting. Figures given new life without being alive .. .' Robert's reference to the murals at Mistra being purely Greek in influence was based on the views of the British Museum scholar O.M. Dalton whose book, Byzantine Art and Archaeology, he had taken with him to the ruined city. When Robert returned to the church of the Protaton ten days later, he revised his earlier opinion: 'This written before seeing any Athos frescoes', he wrote in his notebook, and went on to describe them as 'best Macedonian ... keeps technique of light on dark in light robes but dark on light in dark ones... Colours seem to keep the halftones of Cretan colouring without their brilliance.' Robert's study of murals on Mount Athos was guided by the fashionable theories of the day. These centred upon the division of work between the Cretan and the Macedonian schools of art. This concept had been developed in English in Dalton's latest book, East Christian Art, published in October 1925. On publication, Robert had hailed it as 16

a masterpiece in his diary column in Cberwell, no doubt to the bafflement of Oxford undergraduates. Dalton defines Macedonian art as having 'a free and bold manner well suited to wall decoration, but with a rather restricted range of colours; the artists have an appreciation of the picturesque and a sense of pathos .. , [it] derived in its maturity certain characteristics from the primitive art of Siena: grace and tenderness, movement, an ampler and richer composition .. .' By contrast the Cretan school is described as more akin to illumination and icon painting. Less bold, less frequently adapted to large murals, more faithful to earlier Byzantine tradition. Standing before each fresco, Robert first established the 'school' of painter, before going on to give his own opinions on the merit of the work. At the church of the Lavra he wrote: 'the Cretan school has here lost its brilliance - more temperate and perhaps verging on the dull.' The frescoes at Stavronikita came in for more praise: 'Both [Lavra and Stavronikita] have very dark blew sky (blotting paper ink). Here more red. Good clear colour.' Any criticism was usually sparked off by detecting signs of 'Hellenic' influence in the work. This was another concept introduced first in English by Professor Dalton, who traced the origins of Byzantine painting to 'Hellenic' (i.e. Greek and Roman) influences and to Semitic influences, which were more to do with iconography (glorification of the divine). Byron, who naturally loathed the realism of ancient Greek art as a matter of principle, gave it short shrift when he found it lingering in Byzantine frescoes. In the church at the Lavra he wrote: 'necks and knees weak and bent. Hellenic revival comes out in the decorative figures .. .' Bryan Guinness dutifully noted down Robert's trenchant views. About the same frescoes he wrote: 'We saw the frescoes which were good in the groups but bad and sloppy and Hellenic in the single decorative figures... In general however', he plaintively continued, 'the frescoes did not strike me as Cretan as they are supposed to be, but Macedonian. ' Robert had also brought with him the latest work of the French Byzantinist Charles Diehl, Manuel d'art byzantin, volume 2, published in 1926, which also dealt with the Cretan and Macedonian schools. Diehl had been influenced in his views by Gabriel Millet. Looking at Diehl reminds one what few books there were on Byzantine art and culture, and certainly no informed guidebooks as you would have today. In the chapel of St George at St Paul's he copied down Diehl's description of the clothes in the frescoes, but disagreed with him on the date of the

17

frescoes. As his professors at Oxford had soon discovered, Robert was never in awe of his teachers, however distinguished. Robert also took with him Athos and its Monasteries by F.W. Hasluck. which had been published in 1924. It is a dry book. and Robert refers to it only once. at Koutloumousiou, giving Hasluck's description of the ~jority of mon~ being recruited from the Ionian islands. Robert opens his. notes on thiS monastery with the remark: 'Abbot idiotic.' Bryan Gumness elaborates: 'The abbot spent an hour sitting in silence while we ate - and could barely be induced to utter. His resemblance to our friend Romney in his manner of looking and blinking took one's breath away.' Romney Summers was one of the most famous aesthetes of their generation at Oxford, and the giver of legendary parties. Robert was equally interested in the present-day conditions on Mount ~thos. ?n h~ return to Karyes towards the end of their trip he held a long discussion With the members of the Holy Community. The seeds of the long period of decline. which the monasteries of Athos were to suffer over the next fifty years, were already sown by the time of Robert's first visit. His conversation with the Holy Community highlighted the problems all too clearly. although their seriousness was not fully understood by the ruling monasteries. On the face of it Mount Athos was still doing rather well. The monasteries were attracting between 100 and 150 novices a year as well as forty or fifty Russian novices. Their forestry operations were well run and the Holy Mountain enjoyed a buoyant trade in timber. hazelnuts. and charcoal. Their forests were immensely fertile and trees grew so quickly that the monasteries harvested them every fifteen years. Unfortunately the income from forestry amounted to only a quarter of what was required to run a monastery and some monasteries had no woodland at all. At the same time the Greek government had confiscated all the monastic estates in Thrace and Macedonia, which was to have a catastrop~ic effect on their income. It is no wonder that the Holy Commumty told Robert that they had ignored Rodd's warning about the expedition of rapacious collectors; nor that the man sent to do the job, ~ohn Stuart Hay, who throughout this conversation was acting as mterpreter, had succeeded in buying a manuscript. Later he sold it to the American collector Chester Beatty for £500. The Holy Community complained at length about the government wanting to remove the major treasures to the Byzantine Museum in Athens. As Robert remarked in his notebook, 'Stupid policy as they will immediately be hidden or sold.' Before leaving Karyes. Robert even interviewed the extremely bored local police officer about smuggling on the Holy Mountain. 18

On their last night Fr Boniface, who had welcomed them with breakfast twelve days earlier, put Robert and his party up in his house in Daphne. When they arrived, Hay said: 'There's no church here, you can't say the office here.' Fr Boniface replied: 'It doesn't matter - God gets drunk with too many people shouting at him.' Robert was to use this in The Station. Their conversation that evening put the dangers facing Mount Athos into even sharper focus. Fr Boniface gave an unsparing account of the abuses of the idiorrhythmic system which was epitomized by the monastery of Stavronikita. Its monks were on the point of closing down their monastery, even though they had plenty of money and had installed fifteen kitchens throughout the building to cater for their individual needs. Fr Boniface went on to explain how at Xeropotamou a young monk would get 600 drachmas (£1 lOs.) a week, out of which he had to buy clothes, shoes, etc., and was given only some bread and the occasional vegetable. Meanwhile the old monks had all they required. Result, according to Robert: young monks become thieves. But according to Fr Boniface the cenobitic rule also had its drawbacks. He explained how the most illiterate and stupid men were chosen as abbots ('e.g. the Abbot of Koutloumousis', remarked Robert pointedly); and that a clique of four or five monks would run each monastery. Robert relished this feast of gossip and complaint and did not retire to bed until 1.30 am. Despite this he was up at 5.30 the next morning, going through the new Athos constitution with a translator. The new constitutional charter had only been drawn up in 1924 and ratified in 1926, and Robert was to continue this particular line of inquiry tater in the Greek Foreign Office in Athens with a Mr Pipinellis, nicknamed by Robert 'the fat man', whom he grilled for more details. Robert and Bryan Guinness left Athos on Wednesday 18 August after an exhausting twelve days. Still Robert did not let up. On board was Germanicus, Bishop of Thyateira. 'He was very interesting', writes Bryan Guinness, 'and gave a lecture on early church history. Robert tried in vain to make him drunk.'

JAMES KNOX London

19

THE THEOLOGY AND ECOLOGY OF MOUNTATHOS*

,, , J

The monastery of Cbilandari, sketcb for a painting by Derek Hill, 1985

For the past three years a small team, of which I have the pleasure of being a member, has been involved in a most unusual exploration of Mount Athos. In 1986 HRH Prince Philip asked my group, the International Consultancy on Religion, Education and Culture (ICOREC), to help bring the world's major faiths into active work on the environment. Prince Philip's belief is that facts alone will not help us work our way out of the ecological mess we are in. For this to happen, we need a change of heart or a reawakening of older values and traditions which carty with them an inherent respect for nature - for God's creation. It was for this reason that I found myself in 1990 at the monastery of Ormylia, in Halkidiki, working side by side with some of the most eminent theologians and monks of the Orthodox Church. In that beautiful place we drew up the document entitled Orthodoxy and the Ecological Crisis, which swiftly became one of the most important statements on the natural world produced by any faith. while at the same time we studied how to help the nuns of Ormylia tum their farming away from dependence upon chemicals to organic farming. 'The two groups who had come together were the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International, of which Prince Philip is President. At that meeting some of the monks from Athos talked about the growing threats to the natural environment of Mount Athos. I was shocked. Perhaps in a rather romantic way I had assumed that on the Holy Mountain the inroads - and I mean that quite literally - of the modem consumerist culture would not have happened. But according to the monks, who asked us to come and see for ourselves. the natural environment of Athos was under siege. Thus it was that in early - and coldl - 1991 I and two other colleagues set off for Athos. In all. I have now made five visits to the Holy Mountain. each usually of a week's duration. We have visited virtually all the monasteries and have discussed with them what they are

. J

* A shortened version of a talk given at a meeting of the Friends on 29 November 1993 in London. The document. Orthodoxy and the Ecological Crisis (1990). is available from ICOREC. Didsbwy Site. Manchester Metropolitan University. Manchester M20 2RR. price £1.50 including p&p.

20

21

doing with their forests. lands. and buildings. We have walked much of the peninsula and have seen for ourselves the changes being wrought upon this unique God-centred landscape. And all is not well on the Holy Mountain. From an environmental point of view. Athos is as unique as it is from an ecclesiastical point of view and the two are intimately interwoven. For centuries the life of asceticism and prayer has led to a care for the natural world which means that Athos still has some of the largest forests in Greece. But things are changing. The world's environment is changing and this affects Athos; but. more seriously, the attitudes of the monks are changing. When we fll'st started visiting the monasteries. we found very little awareness of the dangers facing the world's environment, let alone that of Athos. Yet in Orthodox theology there is probably the most important Christian teaching on our relationship with nature that any Church has. In the West we have assumed that humanity's supremacy means we can exploit or use nature as we wish. In Orthodoxy there is a sacramental view of our role. We are called to be priests of creation. to use our supremacy in the light of Christ who gave up his power and humbled himself to be a servant. As the document Orthodoxy and the Ecological Crisis (p.8) says: Just as the priest at the Eucharist offers the fullness of creation and receives it back as the blessing of Grace in the form of the consecrated bread and wine, to share with others. so we must be the channel through which God's grace and deliverance is shared with all creation. The human being is simply yet gloriously the means for the expression of creation in its fullness and the coming of God's deliverance for all creation.

The notion of being a blessing to creation is a vital one for our age and there are many who are turning to the Orthodox Church because of this theology. It is to be seen in much of traditional Athonite life; but there are other trends coming in. One is an apocalyptic trend which I find most disturbing. At one monastery. when they found out we were the 'environment' team. the welcoming monk took us at a brisk pace to the exonarthex of the church. Pointing to the traditional paintings of the Book of Revelation's account of the Final Days. he simply said. 'If you want to know what is happening to the environment. look at these picturesl' There is amongst some monks a sense that the destruction of nature is just part of the descent into Armageddon. This is a view I fmd unacceptable. for when the end of time comes and Our Lord returns. it will be at a time of his choosing. not at a time when we have so destroyed the world that we have enacted our own Apocalypse. But

perhaps what concerned us most was the gentle drift away from the sacramental outlook. And the reasons for this are clearly to be seen. Athos is experiencing a revival. This is cause for rejoicing. But unlike previous revivals, there is no Byzantine emperor. no czar. no king or despot who is funding this one. Instead. the revival is being funded quite literally at the expense of the natural environment of Athos. Commercial forestry on Athos in any serious sense dates only from the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. It has already changed the face of many of the wild areas of Athos because native trees have been cut down to make way for extensive chestnut planting. Some monasteries are working cycles of coppicing which are too quick, thus endangering the forests. the soil. and the variety of wildlife. Putting it quite simply. the commercial forestry of Athos is destroying environmental Athos. whilst it is being done in order to revive monastic Athos. Already there are signs of soil erosion and of considerable decline in wildlife, especially birds. The red deer's natural habitat has all but disappeared and they are no longer to be found on the Mountain. The last wolves died out some seven years ago and there is no longer a corridor of forests by which they could return naturally to Athos. Birds of prey have all but gone. And all this can be laid at the feet of badly managed forestry. The building of roads. especially the indiscriminate gouging of forestry roads. is also imperilling Athos. Most of the old paths have gone and to walk on Athos is at times to do nothing more than to dodge large lorries and jeeps. Many monks no longer walk the roads because of the noise. There is also the problem of the urban nature of most of the monks. The monastic revival is drawing highly qualified monks to Athos. They are predominantly from cities and towns and have no knowledge of the countryside. of farming. or of forestry. They do their best. but they are in an alien environment, and it shows. There is little knowledge of the medicinal plants, or of how to care for a natural environment. In the place of the older, peasant monks comes the modern lumberjack with his beers and 'IV and consumerist mentality. Many monks deplore this invasion, yet feel that there is no way of raising the funds necessary other than by selling Athos. But there are now encouraging signs. In our visits to the monasteries and in our detailed discussions with them about the ecology of Athos, we have seen a growing awareness of the environment. There are a number of projects undertaken jointly by WWF and certain monasteries. The limiting of Greek visitors to Athos. introduced this summer, is also

23 22

helpful. Many monasteries are now reassessing their use of the natural environment in the light of Orthodox theology. Forestry roads are being closed and allowed to revert in.some places. But at the heart of this crisis lies money. Unless and until we can find funds from sources other than forestry, the environment of Athos is under threat. This is why the Ecumenical Patriarchate and WWF are looking for ways in which funds can be made available which are related to changes in the use - in some cases I have to say abuse - of the natural environment. The revival on Athos is exciting, wonderful, and a source of joy. But in all honesty, while it continues to take place at the expense of the rest of God's creation on Athos, it is failing to live out the true depths and beauties of the Orthodox theology of creation - a theology and way of life that the world desperately needs to hear and see in action.

MARTIN PALMER Manchester

ATHOS: THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE On Athos there is stillness, but not silence. Yet visitors frequently talk or write about 'the silence of Athos', thus giving perhaps an incorrect impression to those as yet unacquainted with this monastic landscape. For Athos is not silent. Its soundscape has two main elements. First, there are the monastic sounds: the dull boom of the static semantron, the sharp clatter of the hand-held version; the clank of metal; the jangling of bells; the chant of the liturgy; the unmistakable soundscape of the refectory; the low murmur of voices; the subdued sounds of garden work; the occasional clang of pots and pans; the awful snore of the stranger in the next bed; the cry of 'ekklesia!' as one is roused from slumber. These sounds, of course, are mostly rhythmic, traditional. and expected. They sound out against the keynote of monastic life, which is quietness. Then there are the natural sounds: waves lapping or roaring below the guest room; the rustle of leaves underfoot; the clashing of oak branches in the wind; the susurrus of grain fields between Esphigmenou and Chilandari; the shrill scream of the swifts as, at high speed, they circle the katholikon at twilight. Athos is a garden of birdsong. On two occasions in June 1993 I walked for three hours between monasteries (Vatopedi-Esphigmenou; Chilandari-Zographou) without hearing a single human or mechanical sound. Yet the air was alive with birdsong (no harsh cries, only what appeared to be blackbirds and nightingales and others less identifiable). And in the gorge below Zographou I was startled by the sudden, Aristophanic 'brekekekex ko-ax ko-ax' of the frogs in the remaining pools. What visitors mean by 'the silence of Athos', I believe. is the peninsula's absence of noise. The occasional chainsaw and logging truck apart, the soundscape away from Daphne and Karyes is one where noise. defined as 'unwanted sound', is absent. Most visitors hail from cities, with their constant low roar of motor traffic punctuated by the scream of sirens, the drone of aeroplanes, the clatter of helicopters, the rumble of trucks, the whirr of bicycles, the hum of crowds. Cities have a very low-fidelity soundscape. It is difficult to recognize individual sounds, usually impossible to trace their sources. and often useless to assign meaning to them. Soundscape studies find that the decibel level of cities is constantly rising. and that pleasant and informative sounds are gradually being engulfed by a sea of traffic and machine noise. Despite the logging, Athos still lacks traffic. It has a high-fidelity

25 24

soundscape. Sounds are heard individually and can be identified, sourced, and assigned meaning. When the hearer can specify who makes a sound, and why, such a sound is far less likely to be labelled as 'noise'. The monastic sounds, and even many natural sounds, have a regular rhythmic pattern. And while in the landscape all the sounds are natural, even in the monasteries the natural sounds, particularly of birds, provide a pleasing background to the man-made soundscape. With its general absence of machine sounds, Athos is increasingly a rarity among European soundscapes. The apparently random natural sonic background and the rhythmic ritual of human sound-making provide a counterpoint against which it is possible to 'open up' to non-mundane experience. Natural soundscapes, as well as rhythmic human ones, are of great value as facilitators, or even triggers, of epiphany. J. DOUGLAS PORTEOUS Victoria, RC.

* For more on soundscapes, see the author's article, 'Soundscape', Journal Architectural and Planning Research. 2 (1985). 169-86; and his book. Landscapes the Mind (Toronto; University of Toronto Press. 1990).

of of

ARCHIMANDRITE SOPHRONY * (1896-1993) Archimandrite Sophrony, founder and for many years Hegumen of the monastery of St John the Baptist in the village of Tolleshunt Knights, Essex, died in the early morning of Sunday 11 July. He was 96. His brethren in the large community of monks and nuns, along with many guests, were celebrating the Divine Liturgy of the Resurrection. Fr Tikhon, a monk of Simonopetra, had been visiting the monastery. Realizing that Fr Sophrony's repose was imminent, he postponed his own return to Greece and stayed at the bedside through the night reading psalms. It was appropriate that the Holy Mountain should have been able to support and inspire Fr Sophrony at the end, as at the beginning, of his monastic life. His death, indeed, was the moment which gave meaning to his whole life; it was the event which in his youth he had come to face, and which helped him to focus on the emptiness of a life lived without God. 'A vision of the abyss'. he wrote. 'was always there, only occasionally allowing me a moment's peace. My ever-increasing consciousness of death attained such force that the world, this whole world of ours, seemed like a mirage liable at any moment to vanish into an everlasting void.' His whole life then became a preparation for this event. When it came, it was embraced with joy and serenity by one who had learned to repent and to pray. who had taught countless others to do likewise, and whom many believed to be a living saint in the great tradition of Orthodox gerontes. Sergei Sakharovwas born on 22 September 1896 in Moscow. He was baptized as an infant and brought up within an Orthodox family. He was a clever and thoughtful child. He grew up into adolescence as the Great War broke out and Russia was in pre-revolutionary turmoil. He was deeply troubled by the meaning of these events - the killing, the draft, the senseless destruction of young lives. What, he asked himself, was the point of life that was valued so cheaply and ended so lightly and so early? Far from feeling that a new era was dawning, as many did, he experienced an inner cataclysm. As 'a gigantic plough crossed and recrossed the vast expanses of my country, tearing up the roots of the

* This tribute is reprinted with permission from Orthodox Outlook, vol. VII. no. 3 (1993), issue 49, pp. 12-13.

27 26

past', so his own spirit was devastated. If he should die. then all his friends, the whole creation, even the Creator Himself, would die with him. 'In short, all life would be engulfed in the darkness of oblivion.' To resolve his spiritual turmoil, Sakharov turned to oriental mysticism. He had become an artist, and travelled Europe. But the struggle between his outward success as a painter and his inner life resolved itself in prayer, and he turned back to 'the God of my childhood' and the Orthodox faith. He prayed 'to the still Unknown - or rather to Him whom I had forgotten. Ardent prayer snatched me to its bosom, and for many years never left me, waking or sleeping,' He abandoned his career as a painter. He spent some time in the Institut de Saint Serge in Paris before becoming a monk in the monastery of St Panteleimon, the Russian cenobium on the Holy Mountain. At that time, St Panteleimonos was large and successful; there he came under the influence of the Staretz Silouan, a simple Russian monk who was endowed by God with extraordinary insight and holiness. The young disciple took the name of Sophrony. For eight years he remained at St Panteleimonos, but after the death of Staretz Silouan in 1938, Fr Sophrony begged a blessing to withdraw to live as a hermit in a remote cave on the Mountain. Then the Second War erupted across Europe. He prayed deeply for humanity tom apart by this devastating conflict, spending nights prostrate on the floor of his cave. He was called upon more and more to be a confessor and spiritual father to the monks and hermits of Athos, particularly in the monastery of St Paul, who pleaded with him to move into another cave on their land. Here there was a tiny chapel, cut out of the rock face. In winter the rain would drench his cave and his bed, and his health began to deteriorate. Partly for this reason, and partly because he felt he should write about Staretz Silouan, he came back to the West in 1945, settling in Paris. Here he began to write about his own spiritual father and to share his teachings with the world which was in such need of the Divine Light. Fr Silouan, like Fr Sophrony, was a saint steeped in the spiritual sorrow of the twentieth century, when men rejected their Creator and turned to violence and inner despair. Through Fr Sophrony's writings, Fr Silouan was glorified as a saint by the Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios in 1988. Fr Sophrony's writing about St Silouan, which had appeared previously in several smaller books, was published as one volume, Saint Silouan tbe Atbonite, in 1991. Two other books by Fr Sophrony are His Life is Mine with an excellent introduction by Rosemary Edmonds, his friend and

translator, and his spiritual autobiography, We Sball See Him as He is (1988). In 1959 Fr Sophrony came to Tolleshunt Knights and established a monastery. Slowly it began, and grew over the next quarter of a century to the large, well-known centre of spiritual energy that it has now become. It is common in northern Greece for an English Orthodox to be asked, 'You come from England: have you been to Essex?' - by which of course is meant not the county but the monastery of St John the Baptist! Many have been drawn to fmd in a uniquely pan-Orthodox, pan-ethnic way the distilled wisdom and holiness and peace of the Holy Spirit. It is in many ways very Athonite in spirit - yet it is different. Much of what they do there is unusual- monks and nuns living in close proximity, the liturgical use of the Jesus prayer, the extraordinary stillness and beauty of the Liturgy - alternating between Slavonic, Greek, and English. But at the heart the monastery offers what all the truly authentic Orthodox monasteries give - an ascetic way of life rooted in a deep communion with Christ, the fullness and purity of Orthodox teaching, and an outgoing pastoral care for thirsty souls who come to drink. We are profoundly blessed in England - more than many of us realize - that this great and holy teacher should have settled in our land, bringing with him such wealth of spiritual insight. Fr Sophrony's funeral on Wednesday 14 July was an unforgettable occasion and it was a privilege to be present. Every morning since his repose the Liturgy had been celebrated. Crowds arrived to pray for him, to thank God for his holiness, to ask for his prayers, and to venerate his body, his face covered with a veil, but his hand exposed. Throughout the day of the burial, the Psalms or the Gospels were read, as the faithful brought their crosses, icons, and kombuskinis to touch his body. By Fr Sophrony's wish the present Hegumen served (Fr Kyril had taken over from Fr Sophrony some years ago), assisted by the clergy of the monastery. No bishops took an active part, although Bishop Anatoly and Bishop Chrysostom were present. There must have been at least six hundred people present, of whom no more than half were able to fmd room in the church. The service itself took two hours. Then the lid was put on the coffin: an icon of the Resurrection, the Gospels, and Fr Sophrony's megascbema were placed on the lid. It took a further hour for all those present to file past, to venerate the holy objects on the coffin, and to greet the Hegumen. The burial itself was private; only the monks and nuns of the monastery were present as Fr Sophrony's body was fmally laid to rest. 29

28

May God grant him that light eternal for which he strove, and the fullness of that peace which he reflected here and helped so many to attain. May he go on helping us all, now that he is near to the Throne of Christ. to approach there too. May God abundantly bless the community which he founded, that they may go on radiating that light, joy, and love which God showered so fully on Fr Sophrony. MEMORY ETERNAL!

BOOK REVIEWS The Orthodox Church. By Timothy Ware [Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia]. 2nd edition. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1993. 359 pages. Price plb £7.99. ISBN 0-14-014656-3. Ever since its ftrst publication in 1963 Timothy Ware's The Orthodox Church has been a standard introduction in English to Orthodoxy, particularly for western Christians wishing to discover something of what Khomiakov described as 'a new and unknown world', an embodiment of Christianity which is so different from both Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. It has provided an account of those historical circumstances and events which have helped to shape Orthodoxy from the beginning to the present day, describing the development of the Church within the Byzantine empire, the conversion of the Slavs, the story of the Church under Islam. and ftnally the witness of Orthodoxy both under communism and in diaspora in the West. It has given a concise account of Orthodox beliefs and doctrines, of its public liturgical worship, and of private devotion, and of Orthodoxy in the ecumenical movement. There have been important developments in Orthodoxy's ecumenical relations since 1963, and revolutionary changes in its political situation since 1989. In this new edition Bishop Kallistos takes full account of both, and it is in the historical and ecumenical sections that most of the new material has been added, to bring the story right up to 1992. The chapter on 'Orthodoxy and the Militant Atheists' now traces the events which have given the churches in the former communist countries of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe a freedom they have not enjoyed for many years. It indicates the positive and negative elements in their present situation, which offers many new opportunities. But the churches are ill-equipped to take advantage of them, and the moral authority of their leadership is weakened by their perceived compromise with communist regimes. The chapter on 'Greeks and Arabs' is able to record the remarkable revival of monastic life on Mount Athos, and the growth of the influence of the Holy Mountain in Orthodoxy at large. It takes note of the weakening of links between church and state in Greece and the decline there in church attendance, while recording the renewal of theology and theological teaching. The continuing decline of the Greek Orthodox population in Istanbul is noted. The book was published just too soon to be able to record the admission of its first Arab member to the 31

30

Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre in the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The first beginnings of Arab participation in the leadership of that important Arab church in the Holy Land, hitherto led exclusively by Greeks, is a significant development in Middle Eastern Orthodoxy. But it does describe the remarkable renewal of the Arab Patriarchate of Antioch and its influential role within world Orthodoxy. Since 1963 the Orthodox Church has entered fully into the ecumenical movement, and has begun official international theological dialogues with the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, as well as with Lutheran and Reformed Churches. The new edition gives a concise account of the progress made in the first two, and of the difficulties and frustrations that have emerged in recent years. They include the tensions which have arisen between Orthodox and Roman Catholics as a consequence of the re-emergence of the Uniate Churches in the Ukraine and Transylvania, and the problem caused for the Orthodox by the ordination of women to the priesthood in the Anglican Communion. The most significant ecumenical development for the Orthodox has been the doctrinal agreement reached between Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian Orthodox on Chrlstology during unofficial conversations in 1964-71 and reaffirmed officially in 1989-90. There is now a f1I1ll basis for the restoration of communion between these two families of churches of eastern tradition. Two further additions deserve notice. The section on 'God in Trinity' has been expanded to include a discussion of the different Orthodox assessments of the significance of the Filioque: that of the 'hawks'. such as Vladimir Lossky, who see it as a heresy which has distorted not only theology but ecclesiology, and that of the 'doves', who believe that this divergence between east and west is less fundamental and capable of resolution through dialogue. In the section on 'Holy Orders' there is a discussion of the question of the ordination of women. Elsewhere the author notes that the present Patriarch of Alexandria is in favour of it; here, while the chief arguments against it are summarized. the existence is noted of a small but growing minority within Orthodoxy who feel that the whole question has still to receive the thorough theological examination it deserves. These judicious discussions of contentious issues further add to the value of this revised edition, while the greatly enlarged section on Further Reading guides the student of Orthodoxy through the abundant material that has been published in the past thirty years. Fr HUGH WYBREW Oxford 32

Contemporary Ascetics of Mount Athos. By Archimandrite Cherubim [Karambelas]. Volume 2. Platina. CA: St Herman of Alaska Brotherhood Press. 1992. Pp. 365-721. Price plb $15.00; £9.95. ISBN 0-93863556-5. Both volumes available in the UK from the St George Orthodox Information Service, 64 Prebend Gardens, London W6 OXU.

Volume Two of Contemporary Ascetics of Mount Athos contains the lives of five Athonite monks, three written by Archimandrite Cherubim and two further lives, in the same spirit, added by the publishers of the volume in Greece. The general style and the information given are much like those of the first volume (reviewed by me in the Annual Report for 1992, pp.38-9), but here perhaps the most striking stories tell of how certain confessors were able to help the struggling monks who came to them to find repentance. We learn about the kinds of penance used. about certain artifices subtly employed to ease the process of rebirth. about clairvoyant insight into past sins, and we see the joy and freedom that confession can bring. Hard physical labour is much in evidence here. as when one elder who was asked to prescribe spiritual medicine for a despondent monk replied: 'Marry him offl ... Marry him off to work! Throw him into work. Do you understand? A monk must have work for a wife, in order to escape despondency and many other temptations: Obedience is essential, and we hear of one monk who was told by his elder to face a wild boar that would come down from the mountain and ravage their garden. 'You will keep watch at night. When you see the wild boar come to the garden, lead him to me bound with your belt.' The disciple understood what was being asked of him and. confident in the prayers of his elder, overcame his fear and successfully did as he was told. The story ends with the elder blessing the boar with the sign of the cross and commanding it to go away and not return. The lives described in this volume are more contemporary than those of the last, and the story is brought down to the present day. We learn that Archimandrite Sophrony. who died last year at the monastery of 5t John the Baptist in Essex. had a 'strong spiritual bond' with Elder Gerasim Menagias (1881-1957), whose life is the last in the present collection. The golden chain of tradition continues unbroken down to our own time. and seems set to continue into the future. BISHOP BASIL OF SERGIEVO Oxford 33

Ormylia: The Holy Coenobium of the Annunciation. Edited by S.A. Papadopoulos. Athens: Interamerican (Public Relations Department), 1992. 212 pages, 72 colour and 53 black and white plates. ISBN 960-85-107-2-4. Both Greek and English editions may be ordered from the Monastery of the Annunciation, Ormylia, Halkidiki, Greece 63071. The English edition may also be obtained from Dr D . Oikonomou, 26 Bradstock Road, Kings Norton, Birmingham B30 3RZ. Currently £47.00 (but price varies according to exchange rates and postal charges).

Scarcely has one year elapsed since the publication of Simonopetra: MountAthos (reviewed in the Annual Report for 1992, pp.35-7) than an equally lavish volume on that celebrated monastery's daughter dependency, the Convent of the Annunciation at Ormylia, has followed. The book, published by the Interamerican Group (Greece), whose companies have offered to donate the lion's share of the sale proceeds to the metochion. bears dynamic witness through text and photographs to many characteristic moments in the highly varied life and quickly shifting history of the 120-strong community. Coming, as it does, hard on the heels of Simonopetra, this work inevitably calls for a comparison with that volume. Indeed the two books bear many common features: both contain penetrating studies by specialists into the prehistory, geography, topography, architecture, and hagiography of the region; both are handsomely illustrated by exceptional flrst-class photography that unveils the two communities during their most formal and solemn occasions as well as their informal moments; both expose to the reader, on every page, the phronema (spiritual discernment) and charismatic vision of their common Elder, Archimandrite Aimilianos. It is precisely here, however, that the resemblances cease. For while Simonopetra stands in the forefront of continuity and revival of the historically defmable spiritual legacy of Mount Athos, Ormylia represents the very beginning of what is destined to become a glorious independent tradition of female monasticism in Greece. The Elder Aimilianos and his spiritual sons and daughters are well aware that, no matter how much a community may imitate Athonite traditions of spirituality, singing, or service, it may well remain only an imitation, insensitive to the environmental factors (both natural and sociological) that ought to form, share in, and contribute to its life. For so much of what is Athos today has surely been shaped by and continues to depend upon the unique character of that remote peninsula's physical and human landscape.

The nuns at Ormylia, under the watchful eye of the Abbess Nikodeme, know the importance of topos (location). Accordingly, the metochion plays a vital and formative role in the life of the people in the adjacent villages, neighbouring towns, and even far-off cities. For example, its organic farming methods serve as a model for the agriculturalists of the Ormylia region, and the nuns are able to offer valuable advice and technical knowledge to farmers of the rich but ineffIciently run rural lands of north-eastern Greece. Its Community Centre, founded in 1982 and named 'Our Lady of Charity', is purpose-built for practical and responsible service to humanity, attending to needs both physical and spiritual. The Centre houses a microbiology laboratory, an orthodontics clinic (hitherto unknown in Greece), a neurlogical and psychiatric surgery, a social worker's offIce, a hostel, conference hall, and chapel. The specialists are the nuns themselves, working in impeccable surroundings and with state-ofthe-art equipment. Located only one kilometre from the central monastic complex, the Centre is used for programmes of preventive medicine for the local population, in particular the early diagnosis of cancer in women. It also runs information campaigns on important health and social concerns such as smoking, nutrition, herbal pharmaceutics, narcotics, AIDS, and child care (especially in thalassaemia and developmental problems) in addition to sponsoring medical, dental, and ecological conferences and ecclesiastical synods. The treatment by M. and E. Trembela of these facets of the convent's life, set within the context of an architectural chronicle of the metochion's vast buildings programme, is beautifully accompanied by poignant and impromptu photography. Friends of the convent, whose numbers have increased dramatically in recent years, know that Sunday is very much an 'open day'. Visitors pour in from far afIeld and enjoy the hospitality (with the traditional Turkish coffee and loukoumi) , the sheer beauty of the site, and the company of the sisters with whom they may chat under a shady pine tree. Children either romp and play in the grassy courtyard or take a walk to the dairy farm to help the sisters collect eggs and feed the animals, or to sample some freshly prepared yoghurt. The vicissitudes of life in the world seem very remote indeed. If the Elder happens to be in residence, he is rarely visible but sits in an upper room where he hears confessions or gives spiritual counsel. The day ends with Vespers and, at the flrst crack of the talanto, people begin to assemble with the sisters in church to pray for 'the peace that is from above' and for 'a Christian end to our lives'. Movement and activity 35

34

change to inner reflection and communal devotion. More than in any other sphere. it is in the liturgical life that Ormylia shares the spirit of Simonopetra and the tradition of the Holy Mountain with the faithful, many of whom may never be able to visit the ancient monasteries themselves. The book's photographs admirably capture the spirit of Sunday at Ormylia, in particular the Sunday of Easter. with its radiant joy and solemn dignity. But for the nuns the day does not end with Vespers, it begins. In his article, 'A Choir like unto the Angels', the Abbot speaks of the nuns' vigilance in prayer: the watchers of the night ... who have envied the life of the angels and continue their communion through worship with God in their cells, where. through withdrawal from cares. by tranquillity. study and unceasing doxology and purification, they shall be. as much as in them lies. 'an antiphon to the angels· ... looking constantly to and delighting in the face of God.

At the helm is the Abbess who, 'as mother and womb. gives birth to her children with pains, vigils and night-long services'. Worship, work, and vigilance are seen as three reflections of a single endeavour: 'to seek Jesus, the Son of God, the pillar of light'. that is, to become sharers (metocboi) in glory and grace. Sotiris Kissas surveys the workshops of the convent - iconography, embroidery, weaving, mosaics, wall painting, gold and silver smithing, wood carving, and handicrafts. Rooted in, but developing, the best Byzantine traditions, they express Orthodoxy's vision of life in a way that helps these ancient artistic modes speak to contemporary society. One is constantly amazed at the degree of perfection and scrupulous attention to detail that permeates all aspects of Ormylia's life - from cooking to chanting, wood turning to calligraphy. Experience of Ormylia reveals that this high standard is nothing more than an unselfconscious corollary to the rigorous life of prayer and worship. In this new publication, the first of its kind on a Greek Orthodox convent, we are taken inside a vibrant, prayerful, artistic community. For anyone interested in contemporary church life, spirituality, monasticism, or Orthodoxy, Onnylia offers a unique insight. It is a book that opens doors and shows us the divine in life - exactly what the Holy Convent of the Annunciation does every day. DIMITRI CONOMOS Binningbam

Pbotograpby on Mount Atbos (Hagioreitike Pbotograpbia), 1 and 2. Thessaloniki: National Bank of Greece, 1993. 80 and 64 pages, about 50 plates in each. Introductions in Greek and English. Price 2500 drachmas each vol. ISBN 960-85171-1-7 and 960-85171-2-5. Both volumes available from Mr Dimitris Kokkinos, proprietor of Akritas, Ephesou 24, 17121 Nea Smymi, Greece.

St Gregory of Nazianzos complained that you could not get a decent bath in Constantinople in 381 because the attendants were too busy disputing which of the Trinity came first. It works the other way round. The visitor to Athos seeking a hands-on guide to the theology of Light may well return instead with some useful tips on how to beat the municipal transport system of Chicago. The accumulated secular expertise of the Holy Mountain should never surprise. In 1848 no one was surprised when Constantine Simonides announced that daguerrotype photography had in fact been invented by Hierotheos, monk of Athos and pupil of Panselinos, five centuries before. It is all described in a manuscript of 1458, which somehow remains unpublished. Perhaps more surprising is that it was also as early as 1848 that a genuine daguerrotype photograph was taken on Athos. It is not published in this otherwise stunning collection of photographs. Like all old photographs, these carry the illusion of immediacy. Will the huntsman's cigarette never go out? What are the novices going to serve King George II next for lunch in 1937? His Majesty seems to be out of step: he has got as far as coffee, but members of the Holy Epistasia are still contemplating bowls of cherries, perhaps wondering about how to dispose of the stones (vol.1, p.73). It is an illusion, of course, because most scenes are necessarily posed. The operatic backdrop (Dido and Aeneas?) to the burly Ottoman customs officer (vol.1, p.62) reappears (vo1.2, p.14) behind a Russian monk of the Great Habit, his scbema covered in reading matter, just too far out of focus to read. I suspect it too is a prop. One must be wary of taking these icons as self-images. Even, maybe especially, on Athos the patron and pilgrim gets the picture he pays for. Yet there are unexpected points where photography, like hagiography, cannot lie. The monkish habit is unchanging, but monks are somehow datable just as surely as the connoisseur can distinguish a Second Empire from an Edwardian naughty photograph, through some test of callipygy. Here, the older the photograph, the younger seem the gerontes of Athos. But there is a big difference between the studio scene of a young monk (well, he is garbed as a monk), soulfully eyeing an oleo graph Hodegetria (vol.1. p.35). 37

36

perhaps the most glutinous photo of all. and the splendid array of reaper monks who have exchanged their skoufas for straw hats, each haloed with a scythe (vol.2. p.45). Yet both scenes hold their own authenticity. Although these albums are equipped with Introductions. Prefaces. Forewords, and the like. they are as enigmatic as some of the photographs. The story seems to be this. The Mount Athos Photographic Archive consists of about 600 glass plate negatives. gathered in Karyes. where it is equipped with a laboratory, under the aegis of the lively monastery of Simonopetra. There is mention of the difficulties of preserving such material, which the University of Birmingham found when the original negatives David Talbot Rice made on Athos for his and Robert Byron's Birth of Western Painting (1930) were condemned as a health and fire hazard. These two albums include about 100 photographs. chosen by Andreas Smaragdis. Like any good family album, the photos are a jumble: unnumbered, largely undated, unprovenanced. and unidentified. An exhibition of items from the first was sponsored by the National Bank of Greece in Thessaloniki in 1993. On internal evidence. the photographs reproduced here were taken between 1868 and 1937. A third album is promised (vol.2. p.8), including photographs by Athelstan Riley from which the illustrations were made for his book Athos or the Mountain of the Monks (1887). This makes one wonder about the provenance of the present photographs. Hagioreites may not have invented the daguerrotype, but they include notable photographers. One of the most striking photographs of a monk in vol.1 (p.58) is captioned 'Preparation of incense: Weighing the essence .. .' In vo1.2 (p.8) he is identified as Fr Prokopios (d.1932) actually sorting out his dark room chemicals. Most photographs are evidently not by monks, but one must guess taken in commerical studios in Karyes. which from the 1860s seem to have dealt not just with pilgrims requiring pious studies, but with the normal business of Macedonian life. They range from set scenes of cafe society, smoking, wedding. hunting, and beer parties, to the realia of mining in Halkidiki and barefoot girls near the Strymon. The overlap between the sacred and the secular appears to come when worldly brothers call on their monkish relatives and commemorate the vj.sit in a studio in Karyes (e.g. vol.1, p.54 - or is that just a pose too?). The photographer points his camera where he wills. and Athos must be the most photographed peninsula in the world (the Cyprus Airways Larnaka-Birmingham plane gives you a particularly good wide-angle shot of its spine every Thursday). But the importance of these photographs is that they place Athos in what was until recently its own Macedonian

secular context. They could well illustrate R.M. Dawkins's The Monks of Athos (1936). Unlike most English visitors. Dawkins understood the backdrop of these photographs: the high etiquette of monastic speech. an aspiration for the aspidistras and columns of Carthage. along with common Greek folk custom. These albums are so enticing that one wants to know more about the Archive. An exhibition from it, with commentaries, will be held by kind permission of the hegoumenos Aimilianos of Simonopetra at the 28th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies in the University of Birmingham on 26-29 March 1994. ANTHONY BRYER Birmingham

NOTICES In case anyone has failed to notice, the 28th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies will be devoted to 'Mount Athos and Byzantine Monasticism'. Held by the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies in association with the Friends of Mount Athos. it will take place in the University of Birmingham from 26 to 29 March 1994. Details may be obtained from the Symposiarch. Professor Anthony Bryer, Director of the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman, and Modem Greek Studies, University of Birmingham. Birmingham B 15 2TI.

****** From 23 July to 7 August 1994 there is to be an Ecological Work Camp on Mount Athos organized by SYNDESMOS, the World Fellowship of Orthodox Youth. for a group of young people from Eastern Europe. This is described as 'an attempt to combine a spiritual retreat in Simonopetra monastery with a practical project to improve an aspect of the environment near the monastery'. It is hoped that the project will encourage other similar initiatives on a local level. SYNDESMOS is seeking funding for the project, especially to assist with participants' 39

38

travelling expenses. Donations and/or suggestions of possible sources of financial support should be sent to the Secretary-General, M. Alexander Belopopsky, SYNDESMOS , B.P. 44, 92333 Sceaux, France.

****** Two kellia (cells) on the Mountain are currently appealing for funds to support the renovation of their buildings. The cell of Mylopotamos. a dependency of the Great Lavra, was founded in the tenth century as a place of rest and prayer. Its most famous resident in recent times was Patriarch Ioakim III who spent twelve years there from 1889 to 1901. Since then its condition has deteriorated, but restoration was put in hand in 1992 with the blessing of Patriarch Bartholomew. In order to carry out the work. 150 million drachmas are required and an account (no. 11/9349/9) has been opened at Ergobank. Vas. Olgas. Thessaloniki. Greece. where donations may be deposited in favour of Friar Epiphanios. Mylopotamos. B.P. 86. 630 86 Karyai. Agion Oros. Similar work is already in progress at the kellion of Ravdouchou below Karyes. UNESCO experts identified it as Europe's oldest existing dwelling as long ago as 1966 and it contains frescoes dating from the period of iconoclasm. Fr Ioannikios. the present incumbent. has despaired of formal channels for assistance ('The house has been caught in controversy between engineers and archaeologists'. he says), and has himself launched an appeal for 70 million drachmas. Donations should be sent to Fr Ioannikios, Kellion Ravdouchou. 630 86 Karyai. Agion Oros.

40