Friends of Mount Athos

Annual Report 2012

FRIENDS OF MOUNT ATHOS ROYAL PATRON HRH The Prince of Wales PRESIDENT Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia PATRONS Mr Costa Carras The Rt Hon and Rt Revd Richard Chartres, DD, FSA, Bishop of London Archbishop Elisey of Sourozh Professor Rene Goth6ni Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira and Great Britain Dr Vladeta Jankovic Professor Elizabeth Jeffreys, FAHA Metropolitan Jonah (Orthodox Church in America) Sir Michael Llewellyn-Smith, KCVO, CMG The Revd Professor Andrew Louth, FBA, FSA EXECUTIVE COMMITIEE Mr John Arnell Professor David Cadman, FRICS Dr Dimitri Conomos Mr Alasdair Cross Mr Simon Jennings, FCA (Hon. Treasurer) Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia (Chairman) Mr Peter Lea Mr Michael Naldrett Dr Graham Speake, FSA (Hon. Secretary) MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY FOR THE AMERICAS Professor Robert W. Allison HONORARY MEMBER HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh All correspondence should be addressed to the Hon. Secretary, Dr Graham Speake, Ironstone Farmhouse, Milton, Banbury OX15 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 This report is private and not for publication.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. They represent the opinions of their authors which are not necessarily shared by the society. Printed in Great Britain by The Mullet Press, Milton, Banbury, Oxfordshire

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CONTENTS A Message from our Royal Patron

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The Society's Year: 2012 By Graham Speake

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Report from the Mountain: 2012 By W.]. Lillie

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Building American Orthodox Monasticism in the Twenty-First Centwy By Metropolitan Jonah

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Theophanes the Cretan and the Iconography of the Annunciation By Fr Maximos

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Man's Personal Relationship with Other People in the Light of his Relationship with God By Archimandrite Zacharias

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Internat ional Conference on St Gregory Palamas By Canon Philip Lambert

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The Loch Lectures: Spirituality and the Life Cycle By Graham Speake

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The 2012 Path-Clearing Pilgrimage By Andrew Buchanan

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The 2012 Pilgrimage to Serbia, Kosovo, and Montenegro By Terry Hemming

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SYND ESM OS and Mount Athos: The Nineteenth Spiritual Ecology

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Camp By Dimitri Conomos BOOK REVIEWS Brock Bingaman and Bradley Nassif (eds): The Philokalia: A Classic Text of Orthodox Spirituality. By Douglas Dales

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Hieromonk Isaac: Elder Paisios of Mount Athos. By Graham Speake

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Euthymios N . Tsigaridas (ed.): Icons of the Holy Monastery of Karakallou. ~~an~

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Aidan Hart: Techniques of Icon and Wall Painting: Egg Tempera, Fresco, Secco. By Elena Ene D-Vasilescu

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Mark Guscin: All the Diamonds in the World: A N ovel. By David Holloway

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CLARENCE HOUSE

Mount Athos, the spiritual heart of the Orthodox Church, represents something so utterly vital in the life of this world - and the next - that I believe we must do all in our power to maintain its life and traditions. Athos offers its gifts to everyone who takes the trouble to listen - young and old, men and women, Orthodox and non-Orthodox. By means of its many activities, the Friends of Mount Athos encourages people to come within the Mountain's spiritual ambit and to make the most of its timeless message. Through its conferences and meetings, and its publications, the Society makes available to everyone the spiritual wisdom that the fathers have offered to the world for more than a thousand years. Through its practical projects on the Mountain, whether it be path-clearing or building-restoration, or whatever, it links that work with an awareness of the inner path of the holy life and creates an outward-rippling effect that impacts on the lives of all who come in contact with it. For many of those who visit the Holy Mountain a new dimension is opened in their hearts. It seems to me-·that what we have managed to do in the West is to educate out this heart-centredness in our lives and to destroy that awareness of our intuition which is so vital if we are going to lead a balanced existence. Through the perennial wisdom of the Athonite fathers it is possible to start to retrieve that lost balance. These are sqme of the reasons why I am so glad to support the work of the Friends of Mount Athos.

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THE SOCIE1Y'S YEAR: 2012 My dear Friends, The news that His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales had accepted our invitation to be Royal Patron of the society came just in time to be mentioned in last year's Annual Report. It is a privilege to be able to begin this one with a message from him in which he lists some of the reasons why he is pleased to take on this role. His Royal Highness's message. reminds us how uniquely blessed we are to have a Royal Patron, and mdeed a future monarch, who cares about 'awareness of the inner path of the holy life' and ways in which 'the perennial wisdom of the Athonite fathers' can help us to retrieve a balanced existence. His active support does ~eat honour to our modest undertakings and we are deeply grateful that m a busy year he has found time to offer us his patronage. He has also recently renewed his patronage of the Hilandar Appeal for a further five-year term.

***** Our Annual Report is a journal of record, and so it behoves me as its editor to keep you informed about the society's well-being. We are now twenty-two years old and we currently number 895 members, of whom 170 are life members. Eleven years ago we numbered just over 600, so our rate of growth has slowed, but like the Athonites we continue to grow at a nonetheless healthy rate. Presumably it will not be long before we welcome our thousandth member. Perhaps more significant is the growth in the society's turnover. In 2001 our income over the year was £14,355; in 2011 it was around £110,000. The difference is of course that in 2001 we were not raising funds for a stricken monastery on Mount ~thos, we ~ere not organizing a residential conference for sixty delegates m Cambndge, and we were not running a ten-day pilgrimage to Eastern Europe. These are the areas in which growth is most conspicuous and the areas in which we aim to deliver on our objects, both to the Athonites themselves and to our members. The expansion of our programme in line with our charitable objects places an ever-increasing burden of responsibility on th~ shoulders of our Executive Committee (which has grown from seven to nme over the same period) and the goodwill of our many supporters. In partic~ar we are extremely grateful to Rawlinson & Hunter for the generous assistance that we receive from the Treasurer's staff who have willingly taken over

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substantial chunks of the day-to-day administration of the society. It was with great reluctance that we agreed in the course of 2012 that the subscription would have to be raised. It was last raised in 1999, which I think shows that we have not been extravagant with income from members. The readiness with which members have agreed to receive the society's mailings by e-mail has helped a great deal to keep costs down, but the Annual Report is still (and is likely to remain) a print-only publication which means that it must be sent out by post, and the 30 per cent increase in postage costs that was imposed in 2012 alone means that we could not continue any longer on the old rate. No one spoke against the proposed increase at the AGM and it is our impression that no one has resigned in protest either. It remains our ambition to keep the rates as low as possible, so that no one is unable to afford to be a member, but so that those who can give more will sometimes do so. As always, we are sincerely grateful to members for their willingness to accept the increase.

***** It is time I turned to chronicle the events of the past year. The society first held a Vasilopitta party in 1994. That first one and nearly every one since then has been held at the Andipa Gallery in Knightsbridge and 2012 was no exception to this pattern. We are extremely grateful to Maria Andipa for hosting the party for so many years in her atmospheric emporium. We hope that the move to the more spacious apartments of the Society of Antiquaries in 2013 will enable more members to attend, as well as a larger group of musicians to provide entertainment, and that the switch to a learned environment will not deprive the event of its unique sense of ethnic fun. In February we were forced to cancel arrangements for a talk that was to have been given at Bridgewater House by Archimandrite Ephraim, Abbot of Vatopedi, because the speaker was still detained in an Athenian jail at the time. Happily he was subsequently released and is now safely back in his monastery, but there are still restrictions on his movements which mean that he is unable to travel abroad. We hope to rearrange the event as soon as the Abbot is free to come to London. The society holds its own residential conference in alternate years and 2012 was not one of those years. It was, however, active in cosponsoring or co-organizing no fewer than two conferences in Greece in

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the spring of this year. From 7 to 15 March a large international group of delegates, convened by our member Dr Constantinos Athanasopoulos, gathered in Thessaloniki under the auspices of the Educational and Cultural Foundation of St Gregory Palamas to discuss the 'Theological and Philosophical Significance' of the saint's work. From 25 to 26 May a much more select but nonetheless distinguished group descended on the Taverna Apostoli in Ouranoupolis to mark the thirtieth anniversary of Joice Loch's death and consider aspects of'Spirituality and the Life Cycle'. It may be remarked that our indefatigable President presented papers at both events, and both events provided opportunities for delegates to visit monasteries and convents in the neighbourhood. Brief notices of both conferences are printed below (pp. 53-6). May is the month for path-clearing on the Holy Mountain and this year a team of twenty volunteers, led by Andrew Buchanan, spent two weeks carrying out an ambitious programme of checking routes and clearing undergrowth (see the article below, pp. 57-8). As the network of cleared paths expands, so does the number of descriptions of routes (now in Greek as well as English; other languages are in preparation) that are posted on the website. We are much indebted to Bob Allison, our American Membership Secretary, who administers the website, for the time and trouble that he has taken to ensure that this information, which is so vital to pilgrims who are actually using the paths, is both accurate and accessible. Both the website (www.athosfriends.org) and the society's Facebook page (kindly administered for us by Thomas Small) are constantly undergoing revision and contain a wealth of information which members do well to browse at regular intervals. Further suggestions for improvements, corrections, and additions are always welcome. The society held its twenty-frrst AGM at St Anne's College, Oxford, on Saturday 16 June. Following established practice, the day began with a celebration of the Divine Liturgy in Canterbury Road, served by Metropolitan Kallistos. Official proceedings then began at 11.30am when Metropolitan Jonah (of the Orthodox Church in America), a patron of the society, gave a talk entitled 'Orthodox Monasticism in an American Context'. A version of this talk is printed below (pp. 26--39) together with some of the (very fruitful) discussion that followed it. In the afternoon Fr Maximos, monk of Simonopetra, gave a beautifully illustrated presentation entitled 'The Monk and the Maiden: Theophanes the Cretan and the Athonite Iconography of the Annunciation'. An abbreviated version of

this talk is also printed below (pp. 40-7), sadly with only a very few of its well-chosen illustrations. (It should be noted that one of Fr Maximos's illustrations was chosen to be the subject of the society's Christmas card for 2012.) Finally, the last presentation of the day, also fully illustrated despite some technical frustrations, was a reminiscence by Peter Lea of the society's recent pilgrimage to eastern Georgia, whimsically entitled 'Georgia on my Mind'. Between the frrst and second presentations, and following an excellent buffet lunch, the official business of the AGM itself was transacted. In my capacity as Secretary, I read aloud the names of recently joining and recently deceased members and I gave a brief account of the society's activities over the previous twelve months. In his capacity as Treasurer, Simon Jennings presented the society's accounts for the year ended 31 December 2011 which had been examined by Peter Stevenson and were adopted by the meeting. We are grateful to Peter Stevenson for agreeing to take over from Peter Lea in the role of independent examiner of our accounts. The Treasurer then put the case for raising the subscription, as mentioned above, and this was carried unanimously. Elections followed. Metropolitan Kallistos, John Amell, Dimitri Conomos, Simon Jennings, and Michael Naldrett, having reached the end of their term of office, were all standing for re-election and were all duly re-elected. Peter Lea also was elected to the Executive Committee. There being no other business, the Chairman closed the meeting at 2.55pm. On 7 July the society made its annual one-day pilgrimage to the monastery of StJohn the Baptist at Tolleshunt Knights where the group of some twenty pilgrims was welcomed and shown around by Sister Cassiani. In the course of the visit Archimandrite Zacharias presented a talk entitled 'Man's Personal Relationship with Other People in the Light of his Relationship with God', a version of which is printed below (pp. 48-52). From 18 to 29 August Metropolitan Kallistos led a party of some thirtytwo pilgrims on a tour of the monasteries and churches of Serbia, Kosovo, and Montenegro. This was truly a journey of wonders (beginning for me with a chance encounter in St Mark's church, Belgrade, with a pair of Serbs whom I had last seen on the Holy Mountain fifteen months before), embracing both the Transfiguration and the Dormition (both feasts celebrated by our President in equally wonderful but entirely contrasting contexts), and providing an overview of the very fmest examples of

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Serbian art and architecture (where the KFOR rifle replaced the more usual tourist camera as the only impediment to Orthodox nirvana). A personal reminiscence of this remarkable pilgrimage is provided below by Fr Terry Hemming (pp. 59-65). Once again, Dimitri Conomos is to be congratulated on a triumph of planning and organization. The last meeting of the year took place in London on 22 November when, following the usual format, vespers was served in the Romanian church of St Dunstan in the West and was followed by a reception and talk in the St Bride's Institute in Bride Lane. On this occasion the speaker was Paul Magdalino, Emeritus Professor of Byzantine History at the University of St Andrews, who addressed a gathering of about fifty members and guests on the subject of 'The City a Desert? Constantinople and the Monastic Life in the Byzantine Period'. The lecture reflected on the paradox that Constantinople, the last and most enduring urban foundation of classical antiquity, became a major centre of the monastic movement that had originated as a withdrawal from the world of the ancient polis. The ensuing tension between the ascetic life and city life persisted as monks and monasteries proliferated within the walls of the City and other Byzantine cities. Mount Athos is the living legacy of that tension.

over the past twenty years. He has responded to them all with unfailing patience, good humour, and constructive suggestions and we are deeply grateful for his meticulous attention to detail, not to mention his strict adherence to budget and schedule. We are extremely sorry to lose the benefit of his services and his experience and we wish him a long and rewarding retirement.

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This is the twenty-second issue of our Annual Report. All but the very first of the last twenty-one issues have been designed, typeset, and produced for us by my friend and former colleague Andrew Ivett. The demands that we have made on his time and his expertise have grown exponentially

We have made a number of grants in the course of the past year. Little St Anne's is one of the most delightful but also one of the most inaccessible establishments on Mount Athos, located as it is in the far south of the peninsula in the area known as the Athonite desert. Torrential rain (this particular 'desert' is barren without being dry!) in the early part of the year had completely washed away the only terrestrial route to this remote skete (happily there are still no motor roads in that part of the Mountain, but it is a long haul up from the arsanas of Karoulia), so the fathers turned to us for assistance. We gladly agreed to allot them €2,000 towards the cost of repairing the damage. In a subsequent appeal the same brotherhood asked again for help, this time with the installation of a new kitchen, and for this we were pleased to give them £2,500. We also received appeals from two ruling monasteries. Vatopedi asked us to help them purchase a Dialogue Noise Suppressor (which is apparently essential for the professional archiving and sharing of historic recordings, of which the monastery has a great store): we gave them £3,000 towards the projected cost of £5,820. And Zographou asked for help with a range of expenses associated with the creation of a library for printed books, to which we donated £2,500 (for ceramic tiles). We gave £2,000 to the Ouranoupolis conference (mentioned above) for speakers' travelling expenses; we gave our usual grant of £1,000 to SYNDESMOS for its spiritual ecology camp; we gave a fmal scholarship of £1,000 to Thalia Conomos in support of her further studies in the workshop at Ormylia where icons from the Holy Mountain are examined and restored; and we continued to support Fr Romito of Hilandar in his research towards a doctorate in theology at Oxford. Finally, the pilgrimage to Serbia made a net surplus of £2,212 which, following our usual practice, was distributed among the monasteries that had been visited. We are of course indebted to the generosity of our members for our

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***** I regret to report that four of our members passed away in the course of the year: John Clarke, Fr Anthony King, Patricia Owen, and Michael Woolley. They have been joined on another shore by no fewer than two Orthodox patriarchs: Their Beatitudes Maxim of Bulgaria and Ignatius of Antioch both reposed, aged ninety-eight and ninety-two respectively, in the closing months of the year. Both had lived through times of great stress and personal danger and had shown immense courage in adversity. May their memory be eternal!

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ability to make all these donations. It is not our normal practice to be specific about members' donations to the Friends, but one in particular in this last year perhaps calls for special mention. We were deeply touched to receive a donation of $1,000, to be used for any purpose, from an American member in appreciation of 'the spiritual inspiration that Metropolitan Kallistos provides for all people'.

***** It occurs to me that, since we are contributing towards the costs of maintaining Fr Romilo as a research student at Oxford, members of the society might be interested to know how his work is progressing. I therefore print below verbatim and with his permission the report that he himself sent us for the academic year 2011-12: During my second year I have completed the chapter 'Freedom according to St Maximus the Confessor', which in other words means that I have written about 32,000 words (the chapter needs shortening for the final version of the thesis). This chapter proved to be the most complex part of my thesis so far and in a way represents a thesis inside the thesis. It required reading the original works of the Confessor, a number of monographs both on Maximus and on Gregory of Nyssa, but also numerous books and articles about general patristic issues and especially about trinitarian theology. The work was even more complex because the chapter also contains a special section in which I discuss the way some modem authors read patristic texts. I have argued against a literalistic approach to the Church Fathers and advocated a more creative interpretation and critical distance. Throughout this year I have presented parts of this chapter on four occasions: firstly, at the Sorbonne IV in Paris, secondly, at the Mediaeval Seminar at the Humanities Faculty in Oslo, thirdly, at Professor George Pattison's Modem Theology Seminar, and fourthly, at the Graduate Theology Students' Conference at StJohn's College in Oxford. I have worked with my supervisor, Professor Pattison, to consider the theme of freedom in Maximus and, following his suggestion, have also met with Dr Johannes Zachhuber to talk about patristic anthropology in greater detail. Among other activities, I have attended diverse lectures, specifically the Modem Theology seminar and two symposiums on Heidegger, and Literature seminars with Professor Paul Fiddes (the latter seminar includes works by a number of authors, such as Coleridge, G. M. Hopkins, David Jones, Jacques Derrida, and George Steiner, which I intend to use in my fmal chapter). I have also attended two workshops: 'How to write an Oxford DPhil thesis' and 'Demystifying the transfer and confirmation of status', as well as an Endnote Course provided by the University of Oxford.

The title of his thesis is 'Freedom according to John Zizioulas and Nikolai Berdyaev'. We wish him well with its completion.

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Our late President, Sir Steven Runciman, was a great admirer of the paintings of Edward Lear, ofwhich he himself possessed a not inconsiderable collection. How he would have enjoyed the show put on at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford this year entitled 'Happy Birthday Edward Lear: 200 Years of Nature and Nonsense' in honour of the two hundredth anniversary of the artist's birth! In his introduction to an edition of Lear's Journals of a Landscape Painter in Greece and Albania, published in 1988 to mark the centenary of the artist's death, Sir Steven wrote, 'probably more than t hose of any of his contemporaries, his works continue to delight people of all ages and are, indeed, more highly appreciated than ever in his lifetime'. Lear had been frustrated in his first attempt to visit Athos in 1848: when he reached Thessaloniki, he found the city isolated by an epidemic of cholera and the Mountain closed to travellers. 'For eight long years,' writes Veronica della Dora in her recent book (Imagining Mount Atbos, 2011, p. 158), 'Athos remained a mirage, a phantom, an obsession. The majestic cone Lear saw on the horizon from hills near Thessalonica never ceased to exercise its spell over him.' When he returned to Greece in 1856, he was at last successful in reaching the Mountain, where he tells us he 'persisted and persisted and finally got drawings of every one of the 20 big monasteries, so that such a valuable collection is hardly to be found'. Not a few of them were included in the Ashmolean's brilliant 2012 exhibition. Sadly, Lear was less favourably impressed by the monastic way of life, of which his description, contained in a letter to Chichester Fortescue dated 9 October 1856, is worth quoting for the benefit of any who do not already know it: I would not go again to the Agios [sic] Oros for any money, so gloomy, so shockingly unnatural, so lonely, so lying, so untenably odious seems to me all the atmosphere of such monkery ... More pleasing in the sight of the Almighty I really believe, & more like what Jesus Christ intended man to become, is an honest Turk with 6 wives, or a Jew working hard to feed his little old clo'babbies, than these muttering, miserable, mutton-hating, man-avoiding, misogynic, morose & merriment-marring, monotoning, many-mule-making, mocking, mournful, minced-fish & marmalade masticating Monx. Poor old pigs! Yet one or two were kind enough in their way, dirty as they were: but it is not them, it is their system I rail at.

One likes to think that, if Lear were to visit the Mountain today, he would come away with rather different feelings; but we are fortunate still to be able to enjoy his captivating pictorial impressions of Athos.

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A near contemporary of Edward Lear's was St Ignatius Brianchaninov (1807-67), whose manual of guidelines for spiritual and monastic life, known in English as The Arena, has just been republished by Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, together with the Foreword to the original Englishlanguage edition by Archimandrite (now Metropolitan) Kallistos, which is dated Holy Saturday, 1966. Ignatius composed his book at a time when the Russian Orthodox Church was enjoying a remarkable revival, thanks partly to the existence of a number of charismatic spiritual figures such as St Seraphim of Sarov, the elders Leonid, Macarius, and Ambrose of Optina, and Bishop Theophan the Recluse, many of whom were known to him personally. Despite this, Ignatius bewailed the steady decline of both Christianity and monasticism, and in particular the extreme rarity of hermits and the almost complete absence of genuine startsy with true spiritual insight during his own time. One shudders to think what he would say about our modem world, which many commentators have labelled 'post-Christian'. And yet, one also likes to think that, if Ignatius were to visit the Holy Mountain today (which as far as I know he never did), he would come away feeling that there is still hope. GRAHAM SPEAKE Hon. Secretary

REPORT FROM THE MOUNTAIN: 2012 On hearing of the death of Talleyrand, Mettemich is reputed to have said: 'Now what did he mean by that?' It is certainly possible that one's absorption with events becomes so engrossing that potential ramifications are sought, even in otherwise innocuous occurrences such as Talleyrand's death or Lorentz's butterfly beating its wings. 1 There are occasions, however, when the coincidence is simply too egregious to ignore. On 11 January there were recycled reports of a protest letter written a couple of weeks previously by the Holy Community regarding the preventative detention of Abbot Ephraim ofVatopedi. There are three points of interest in the letter, which condemns the attitude of the state towards the monastery, Athos, and monasticism in general. The first is the spelling of the monastery's name. The monastery itself has always favoured Vatopaidi, but in the letter it is referred to as Vatopedi. The first spelling is because of a legend. It is claimed that Arcadius, the son of Emperor Theodosius the Great, was lost overboard in a storm off the coast of Athos as a child and fetched up in a stand of bushes, with the assistance of the Mother of God. He was then rescued and out of gratitude his father built the monastery, which was called Vato- (bush) paidi (child). The other interpretation is that the name simply means a plateau (pedi) with bushes (vato), rather in the same way that the suburb of Thessaloniki where I live was called Arsakli under the Turks. This may appear to be of purely academic interest, but if the first version is correct, then the monastery was founded in the late fourth century, which would have major implications for our understanding of the history of monasticism and also reverse the order of seniority on the Mountain itself with Vatopai( e )di taking precedence over the Great Lavra. The second point is that, having heaped praise on the present brotherhood, it goes on to say: 'Faithful to the monastic institutions, the council of the elders, the internal rule of the monastery, and the constitution of the Holy Mountain, it [the monastery] will emerge from the present crisis stronger and more mature.' There is genuine support for the monastery on the Mountain, but, as the text makes clear, there is also a certain irritation in some quarters that its actions were not more 1

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My favourite misquotation of chaos theory is: The canonical example is the possibility of a butterfly's sneeze affecting the weather enough to cause a hurricane weeks later'.

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carefully thought through, a fact that the monastery itself has admitted and apologized for in generous terms. The third point is: 'The silence of our leadership is again a cause for worry.' There can be little doubt that this was aimed at the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which, according to the feeling on the Mountain, has been less than supportive in this matter. Well, the very next day, Abbot Ephraim was cleared of the charges of obstructing justice. The Public Prosecutor of the Supreme Court declared that the verdict of the appeals court, 'had no legal justification, and in a good number of places displayed gaps in logic, contradictions, and omissions'. Makes you wonder what they could have achieved if they'd really been trying. On 19 January an ordinance was signed in Russia by the Mayor of Moscow allotting 3.5 million euros for the restoration and preservation of the cultural and spiritual heritage of the holy monastery of St Panteleimonos, the Russian monastery on the Holy Mountain. What a far cry from the mid-1970s when members of the Russian parish in Oxford sent whatever they could collect, a gesture that was warmly appreciated in the monastery! 2 On 18 February there was a seminar in Thessaloniki on identifying the organic colours in fabrics on the Holy Mountain. It appears that in the post-Byzantine period the vestments on the Holy Mountain were dyed deep red thanks to a scale insect, Dactylopius coccus, which lives on the Opuntia cactus in Mexico and produces a carminic acid with which, if you know what you're doing, you can dye your vestments red. As many of you will have suspected, this information was gleaned using the liquid chromatography method. No sooner had we recovered from the excitement of the above seminar than we returned to the slapstick world of the Greek justice system. This time a court in Thessaloniki on 8 March handed down to the ringleaders 2

Perhaps some of this largesse will be spent on accommodations. I remember, back in the 1970s, sharing a room with a chap who spoke no English, French, German, Greek, or anything even vaguely Slavonic, so conversation was somewhat restricted. He did, however, snore prodigiously, so it was something of a relief when we rose for Mattins. I bent over to tie a shoe-lace and, when I had regained my poise, he'd disappeared! My bunk was next to the door, so I knew he hadn't gone past me. My first thought was that the Rapture had occurred and I'd missed out, but then I realized that there probably wasn't much caD in Heaven for farmyard impersonators, angels for the entertainment of. What he'd done was walk into one of those large blue cupboards they used to have, in order to retrieve his shinguards or something, and was very soon restored to my midst.

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of the sit-in at the konaki of the monastery of Esphigmenou in Karyes a twenty-nine-month suspended sentence after convicting them of the unlawful possession and use of weapons, as well as grievous and nongrievous bodily harm inflicted upon the new brotherhood of the monastery. In fairness, such leniency was very much in the air in March. A couple of days later another court commuted the sentence of the arch-criminal and international fmancial mastermind Abbot Ephraim- who still has not been convicted of anything- from preventative detention to bail of 300,000 euros. The court also stated that he was forbidden to leave the country or the monastery. What it did not make clear was how he would leave the count ry if he couldn't leave the monastery in the fttst place. Perhaps the judges thought that Vatopedi, unlike Hogwarts, is a locus from which you can disapparate at will. In a fmal display of spiteful pettiness, they also required that he present himself regularly at the nearest police station - a measure usually reserved here in Greece for football hooligans. In what must have been a galling development for some, the bail was immediately paid by friends of the monastery. On 30 March the brotherhood, holding lighted candles, welcomed back their spiritual father with tears of joy. The Abbot was officially welcomed at the monastery gates, where Elder Germanos handed him his blessing cross and staff. Thereafter everyone went to the main church where a Doxology and Paraklisis were celebrated. Elder Ephraim was visibly moved and said, among other things: 'I love and forgive all of them.' He added, with tears in his eyes, that his release from prison was a miracle of the Mother of God. But just when everything seemed to be entering a period of calm, the Greek government decided to liven things up again. On 4 April it rejected a request from Vladimir Putin to visit the Holy Mountain during Holy Week. The Russian President expressed the wish to fmd two days, in what must be a rather punishing schedule, one would imagine, to visit Athos. The Greek government justified its refusal by claiming that, at that time, its operations would be hindered by the fact that staff would be on holiday. One wonders whether this extraordinary exhibition of rudeness towards an Orthodox head of state had anything to do with the fact that Mr Putin had expressed the hope that he might pass by Vatopedi and see Abbot Ephraim. Or is it to do with railways? Interest has been expressed from Russia in investing in the moribund Greek railway system (for a couple of years now there have been no trains to destinations outside Greece)

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and it may be that our paymasters in Western Europe requested a 'coded message'. Alas, the most likely explanation is a monumental bloomer again. Be that as it may, the Kremlin was reported to be extremely angry. On 18 April a wonderful service took place at Iviron commemorating the finding of the wonder-working icon of Our Lady the Gate-Keeper (Portaitissa), celebrated by the newly elected Metropolitan of Langada, Liti, and Rendini, His Eminence Ioannis. Also present was another Ioannis, His Grace the Bishop of Palmyra. Two days earlier Metropolitan Ioannis (of Langada, Liti, and Rendini) had celebrated festal Vespers in the main church of the holy monastery of Iviron, which was packed with the brotherhood and with pilgrims from all over the world. On the day of the feast, which was celebrated in the chapel of the Portaitissa, the Easter hymn was sung in Greek, Russian, Arabic, and Georgian, the last in honour of the monastery's Georgian (Iberian) founders. I remember seeing some years ago in this chapel, I think, ten portable icons of the Twelve Feasts (two were missing). They were works of outstanding beauty and artistic merit, the use of bold red areas in the composition very reminiscent of Ucello. There were rumblings towards the end of April about all the social and charitable work the monasteries do - and in the present economic crisis this has been particularly welcome - and it appears that these were preliminary salvos, for on 2 May relations between the Mountain and the government almost reached the state of an open rift over the taxation of Athonite properties outside the peninsula. At a Double Synaxis, that is the representatives of the monasteries and the abbots thereof, the intention was stated to declare the Holy Mountain to be under persecution and to freeze relations with the Greek state. This supreme governing body of the Athonite community appeared to be determined to seek moral and material assistance from other Orthodox countries, starting with those who have a monastic presence on the Mountain, i.e. Russia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania. The Double Synaxis accused the Greek state of ridicule and back-sliding and sent out an ultimatum expressing its intentions to freeze relations and declare the Mountain to be under persecution, unless a solution were found before 15 May, when a new government was due to be formed. (This actually happened on 20 June, after a new round of elections, the politicians having declared themselves miffed at the results of the first.) The Athonites want their flats, shops, and other properties outside the

Mountain, which they have either bought or been given, to be exempt from taxation because they need the income for the upkeep of the monasteries and for the hospitality extended to pilgrims. The previous government included monastic property outside the Mountain in its plans for raising revenue, but Karyes claims that assurances were given that some legislative formula would be found to resolve the problem, though this never actually happened. Sources on the Mountain say that they were being 'played' for t hree years, despite representations and delegations to senior politicians who promised to intervene. Matters came to a head when rents from Athonite properties housing government offices were withheld, to offset unpaid 'taxes'. On 14 May another Double Synaxis was held. One abbot is quoted as having called, again, for assistance from other Orthodox countries and the dismissal of the civil governor. There was even a report in one newspaper that the Holy Community was thinking of declaring independence. Finally, the semi-official statement claimed that 'voices from other monasteries' were against taking extreme measures and that no effort should yet be made to request outside assistance. And it appears that they were rather cross about press reports regarding the freezing of relations with the Greek state. The official statement reads: 'It is necessary to declare to all quarters that the Holy Mountain is an integral part of the Greek state and that it is attempting to work constructively and fruitfully with its representatives towards the solutions of its problems.' Now the abbots and representatives of the holy monasteries are quite bright enough to formulate an unambiguous text if they want to, so it seems that the last 'its' in that statement is deliberately ambiguous. 'Lips that touch liquor shall never touch mine', sort of thing. The affair highlights certain problems regarding the Mountain which refuse to go away. The obvious one is its relationship with the state. As we mentioned in a previous Report, the monasteries did not own their lands in perpetuity, even in Byzantium. One of the first things a new emperor did was to invite the monasteries to contribute to his coffers in return for a chrysobull conftrming their holdings. There were even occasions when emperors would do so at some other point in their reign, if they were in dire fmancial straits. This system was continued after the Turkish conquest and, by and large, the monasteries did not complain. What they found iniquitous was the baraf, or poll-tax, whereby they were taxed on the number of monks they had at the time of the conquest, irrespective of

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the actual population of the monastery, and, of course, the tax levied at the election of a new abbot. It should be said that the tax revenues from today's properties would be a drop in the ocean in terms of government fmances, though one might, of course, argue that in the frightful economic crisis we are undergoing in Greece no one should be exempt from contributing to the common weal. But then, you see, we have the case of the last finance minister but one, who is under investigation because the French authorities sent him a list of tax avoiders and, before he took any action, he expunged the names of four members of his family. The very valid points the monasteries are making are that the Greek constitution offers them specific safeguards as regards taxation; that they gave up enormous tracts of land to accommodate refugees after the exchange of populations in the 1920s; and that they spend a great deal of money on charitable work, all of which should affect their tax status. On 21 November the Double Synaxis expelled the civil governor from the session it was holding in protest against the continuing deadlock on the tax issue. Other reports say that they didn't expel him; they simply didn't inform him of the meeting. In the same vein, the Holy Community ignored protocol and refused to meet the Under-Secretary for Culture who was on the Mountain for the weekend. He was met only by the Protos, who handed him a letter for the Prime Minister, requesting that receipts for expenses should be tax-deductible because the monasteries are unable to pay their way as things stand. In an interesting comment to the newspaper Etbnos, a representative of one of the monasteries is quoted as saying: 'If it had been the Foreign Minister, we wouldn't have let him land.' This is not because the Athonite authorities have any particular complaint about the man himself, but because, as Foreign Minister, he is the member of the government who is responsible for relations with the Mountain, since it is autonomous. 3 What, then, are the real relations between Athos and the Greek state, apart from what is officially embodied in the Greek constitution? At the liberation of the Holy Mountain in 1912, the secretary of the Holy 3

There was, in fact, a meeting on 11 December at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs between representatives of Athos and the 'Committee for the Study and Promotion of the Protection of the Holy Mountain and Other Matters concerning the Athonite State'. The resultant communique was two short paragraphs, in each of which the name of the committee appeared, leaving little room for anything else. It began by saying that the talks were held in a good climate and ended by saying that the climate of co-operation between the two sides was excellent. We're not big on climate change in Greece.

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Community remarked that Athos 'has always been fighting for the Greek ideal of Hellenism' and that it is 'a most powerful bulwark of Hellenism'. In his book Atbos, the Mountain of Silence, Philip Sherrard calls this 'a vulgar piece of blasphemy' and it is surely no coincidence that the picture on the facing page (p. 23) is of the courtyard of the Serbian monastery of Hilandar (the Protos in 1912 was, in fact, a Hilandarinos). The question is to what extent the modem state of Greece is or wants to be the descendant of ancient Greece and/or New Rome (Byzantium) and, therefore, how closely the Mountain can identify with it. If, for example, at some future date, the state of Greece is obliged, as part of its commitment to the European Union, to accept the principles of women priests and homosexual marriage, this would impact far more heavily on the Holy Mountain than the present issue of taxation. But Sherrard goes on immediately to say that 'at one point it seemed likely that the Mountain would fall entirely under Russian control. The immediate prospect of this in fact happening was removed by the Russian revolution in 1917.' Much water has flowed since then and, a hundred years later, Russia is once again a major player in the affairs of the Mountain and it may be that the cosiness that the Greeks have enjoyed for the last century is no longer guaranteed. These considerations, as well as relations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, are truly 'foreign policy' concerns. In the ordinary, day-today life of Athos monks mix freely and comfortably among themselves and I can see no sign of the old nationalist divisions. Monasteries are now best described as 'predominantly' Greek, Russian, or whatever, because almost all have at least some brothers from other nationalities. A good example of this mutual esteem was a festal vigil held in Zographou, the Bulgarian monastery, in October to commemorate the twenty-six blessed martyrs who were brothers in the monastery. The chief celebrant was Ephraim of Vatopedi, assisted by Abbot Amvrosij of Zographou. The right-hand choir was made up of members of the Vatopedi brotherhood and on the left there was a choir from Bulgaria, augmented by members of the Zographou brotherhood which now numbers about twenty-three. The vigil was attended by large numbers of pilgrims from Bulgaria and also from various towns in Greece. According to the narrative, the saints being commemorated were shut in the tower of the monastery and from there castigated the 'heretics' of the 'papist ' emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos and the equally 'papist' Patriarch of Constantinople. 'Papist' in these descriptions simply means

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that they were in favour of reunion between the Eastern and Western Churches, the rift still being fairly recent. Alas, events such as the Fourth Crusade and the sack of Constantinople ( 1204) had intervened, so efforts at reconciliation as early as the Second Council of Lyon (1274), supported by t he Pope and Michael Palaiologos, were doomed. The odd thing is that Michael was very generous towards Athos and particularly Zographou. He provided the monastery with substantial fmancial assistance in 1266, 1267, and in 1276, the year of the atrocity. Indeed, in 1276 he issued a decree in which the monastery is referred to for the first time as 'Bulgarian'. Whatever the truth of the matter, the story is that on 10 October, at the behest of the emperor, the monastery was consigned to flames and the martyrs burnt alive. Would that the fraternal spirit between Vatopedi and Zographou also flourished as regards Esphigmenou. On 20 September a court in Thessaloniki sentenced seven members of the old brotherhood to imprisonment for attempting to take over the konaki (representative's house) of the monastery in Karyes. Apart from the wrangling and the unseemly behaviour, there are two important points to consider. In an article on Orthodox participation in ecumenical events, Archbishop Anastasios of Albania makes the point that the synods of all the autocephalous churches have approved such participation. Who, then, he asks, speaks for Orthodoxy? Of course, the opponents of the ecumenical movement see themselves as last-ditch defenders of the faith, but His Beatitude calls them 'Presbyterian Orthodox'. The case of Esphigmenou is somewhat similar. The Holy Community of Mount Athos, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and the civil government of Athos have all made quite explicit statements supporting the new brotherhood and calling for their installation in the monastery. This would not entail the removal of the old brotherhood, provided they returned to their obedience. It seems, however, that they are intransigent. They issued a statement claiming that their numbers have risen to 107 (!)and added: 'Our brotherhood has lived within these particular walls and has honoured the name of Esphigmenite for sixteen centuries now. We shall not allow our monastery to fall into the hands of expediency and interests.' 4 4

If their claim to sixteen centuries is true, then the Great Lavra has been 'bumped' again and drops down to third place. The generally accepted date for the foundation of Esphigmenou is late tenth/early eleventh century There is a reference in a document from Vatopedi, dated 998, to a house called Esphagmenou ('Slaughtered', indicating either that it was dedicated to the Saviour, or perhaps that a monk was kiUed there by pirates), which is believed to be an earlier form of the present name.

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Apart from the open disdain for their canonical superiors, there is also serious concern that the old brotherhood is being less than zealous in protecting the monastery's treasures. On the weekend of 2-3 June the monastery was visited by Mr Panos Kammenos, leader of the 'Independent Greeks', one of the (twenty-nine) parties which contested the June elections. The new brotherhood issued a statement claiming that Kammenos arrived on a private craft, without being cleared by the Holy Community, without the prior knowledge of the coast guard, and without a diamonitirion (permit to stay). The most worrying aspect, according to the statement, is that, on leaving, he was not subjected to the normal customs check. No one is suggesting, of course, that Kammenos was involved in the illegal removal of monastery property, but if the facts are as claimed, the old brotherhood appears to have a most pococurante attitude to their responsibilities. While on the subject oflaw-breaking, we had in June the odd case of a thirty-nine-year-old hierodeacon from a monastery on the Mountain being arrested in Pylea, Thessaloniki, where he had parked his car outside a shopping centre. In the car were found an airgun, a single-barrel hunting rifle, five loading devices for an airgun, three bottles of compressed gas, 125 lead shot, five hunting catridges, and a pair of handcuffs. Certainly, it is strange that a hierodeacon should be carting around such an armoury, but even more curious is the fact that the local gendarmes smelt a rat. It seems unlikely that he was overcome by a sudden urge to shop and negligently left his arsenal on the front seat for any passing bobby to light upon. Still, if a hierodeacon feels compelled to fit himself out as a brigand, there's no telling what he might do. On 29 July Fr Jovan Hilandarinos, the longest-living monk on the Mountain, fell asleep in the Lord at the age of 105. He had been at the monastery since the end of World War II, his obedience throughout being that of gardener. I had the good fortune to meet him when he was a mere stripling in his nineties, and a sweeter person would be hard to fmd. God willing, he is at rest with the saints. It is the custom in Thessaloniki, in October of each year, to bring to the city a wonder-working icon of the Mother of God for the duration of the Dimitria festival, in honour of the city's patron saint, Dimitrios. This year, because of the celebrations for the centenary of the liberation of Thessaloniki from the Turkish yoke (on St Dimitrios's day 1912), the icon

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was Axion Estin, from the Protaton in Karyes. Each year the icon selected is brought on a warship and is accorded the honours due to royalty or heads of state. Axion Estin, which was accompanied by a delegation from the Holy Community, including this year's Protos, Fr Maximos of Iviron, was met at the White Tower, on the sea front, by the Archbishop of Athens, 5 the Metropolitan of Thessaloniki, civil and military dignitaries, and a vast crowd of devout citizens. The icon was then mounted on a gun carriage and taken to the church of St Dimitrios, where it remained for two weeks and was venerated by large numbers of the faithful. It is only the Hfth time the icon has left the Mountain and the second time it has come to Thessaloniki for the Dimitria. Soon afterwards the centenary of the liberation of the Holy Mountain itself was celebrated, on 2 November, marked with a twenty-gun salute, as the event itself had been, one hundred years previously. The Holy Community gave the guest of honour, the Chief of the General Staff, a painting of the handover/takeover of Athos to which he replied with the inappropriate and insensitive gift of a sword from the time of the Balkan Wars. In concluding this year's report I give you fair warning that next year's will begin with yet another court case against the old Esphigmenou brotherhood. However, for those of you who can't wait that long, there is an excellent site on the internet, Pemptousia, which has a variety of articles in rather good English (at least my wife and I like to think so). The site is about to expand in January and so should be even more interesting. On a personal note, it was a great pleasure to see His Eminence Metropolitan Kallistos in Thessaloniki three times this year. The Hrst was at a conference on St Gregory Palamas in February. Then in April he came with the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Mountain, which was so underreported that the only information I have is what I learned over dinner. The party visited the monasteries ofXenophontos, Iviron, and Simonopetra and was given a warm reception. As His Eminence explained, it was a private visit, approved through the good offtces of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and deliberately kept on a 'low profde' basis, but appears to have gone well. The third time was after the symposium in Ouranoupolis. I must say I found it a very sound proposal: sitting by the sea at Ouranoupolis, 5

discussing 'Spirituality and the Life Cycle', repairing every now and then to the taverna at which the event was held for a refreshing glass of water. I thought I might attend, but my wife recalled the photograph of path clearers from the centre pages of the 2010 Report (I say no more) and I was confmed to barracks. I should have known she had my best interests at heart, because His Eminence regaled us with a story of a Greek tailor and a Greek customer with a pair of torn trousers. If you haven't heard it, and His Eminence offers to tell it, my advice would be to claim you already know it and go to confession. A week of this could have done untold damage. All in all, then, a year much like any other: full of intrusions. The attraction, both for us Friends and, even more so, for the monks who make their vows there, is the calm, the silence, the opportunity to discover more of ourselves, and to deepen our relationship with God, His Mother, and the saints with the help of experienced guides. We in the world are drawn back into it by our families and friends, our careers, and so on. But neither are the monks ever free of it. Decisions made elsewhere, nowadays very much elsewhere in terms of both distance and outlook, do have an effect on their everyday existence. But still they come; still they struggle; still they presetve. And for that we are grateful. W.J. LILLIE Thessaloniki

His full title is 'Archbishop of Athens and All Greece', but since large and rather important parts of Greece fall within the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, this smacks somewhat of braggadocio.

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Monastic life is the emulation of the life of Jesus and the Apostles, lived in obedience to His commands and His teaching, seeking to hear the will of God and do it. On one hand, this is vexy simple; on another, it has taken on very specillc cultural expressions in the many cultures and societies that have embraced Christianity. It is one thing to revive a monastexy which has existed for a thousand years, albeit the buildings are ruins; it is another to pull together a monastic community in a culture that sees it as alien. I have had the privilege to be part of both kinds of processes, in Russia at Valaam, and in building St John of San Francisco Monastexy in California. I have also closely watched the process in the founding of the monasteries of Elder Ephraim, a transplanting of Athonite and Greek monasticism to America. Now as bishop, I see how various models do or do not work, what their strengths and weaknesses are. I will give you a little background about myself, as an example of formation outside a traditional Orthodox culture. I grew up in the Anglican Church in the San Diego area, and converted to Orthodoxy in university. I graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, with a degree in anthropology and religious studies. While there, I had the beneftt of the tutelage of Bishop Basil Rodzianko, of blessed memoxy, who took a great interest in me and eventually blessed me to go to seminaxy; and Bishop Mark of the Moscow Patriarchate in San Francisco. Bishop Mark was the last monk of Old Valaam, who inspired me on the monastic path, and especially with an interest in Valaam. Then off to St Vladimir's Seminaxy for the M.Div. under Frs Alexander Schmemann and John Meyendorff; then an M.Th. in dogmatics, with Fr Thomas Hopko, with additional studies at Fordham University and Holy Cross Orthodox School of Theology in Boston. Then eventually, to Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, for the doctoral programme in church history. From my teenage years I was interested in monasticism, and was part of a small effort to create a community during one summer between my third and fourth years of university. That went nowhere, and I went to seminaxy, fmishing in 1988, and then graduate school, in 1991. None

of t he American monasteries really interested me. Being disgusted with academic politics, I went to Russia in 1993. There, working for a joint venture between an American Orthodox publishing company and the Publications Department of the Moscow Patriarchate, PyccKHH llaJIOMHHK, I had the chance to go to Valaam. I ftrst met the abbot, then Archimandrite, now Bishop Pankratiy, in St Petersburg; he became my spiritual father. Eventually I went to Valaam to become a novice. Fr Pankratiy took me to his Elder, Archimandrite Kyrill of the Trinity St Sergius Lavra, who in tum blessed me to be both a priest and a monk, fulfilling the sense of calling and preparation I had made to serve the Church. Mine was an odd novitiate, working with foreign donors and on the fmancial side of the monastexy's life. However, the abbot kept me close, and showed me what he thought I needed to know. As it appeared Russia was going to descend into civil war, it was decided I could do more for the monastexy from America than simply be there as a hieromonk with a funny accent, not quite able to identify fully with the culture. That decision indeed proved fruitful for the monastexy, so I returned. In 1994 in California I was ordained a deacon and priest, while continuing my relationship with Valaam, working as a missionaxy priest, and hoping to set up some kind of Valaam podvorye in America. That was not to be. In 1995 I was tonsured to the Small Schema at St Tikhon's Monastery in Pennsylvania. Fr Pankratiy, while visiting the Bay Area together with Elder Ephraim, gave me the obedience, and blessing, to start a monastery there. From this eventually was born the Monastexy of StJohn of San Franciso, ftrst at Point Reyes Station, California, in Marin County, just north of San Francisco. While I had no one to work directly with me in establishing this monastexy, I did receive constant guidance from both Fr Pankratiy and the fathers at Valaam, and also from Elder Kyrill. At this time Fr Pankratiy was developing his contacts with the fathers of the Holy Mountain, and remaking Valaam not only according to the founding traditions of that monastexy, but interpreted through the lens of the Holy Mountain, especially Fr Ephraim of Vatopedi. I also went to the Holy Mountain, visiting the fathers at Iviron and Vatopedi, and received much more influence and guidance from Elder Ephraim and some of his close disciples. My own experience of Athonite monasticism provided me with a vision and a model: the centrality of discipleship to the elder, the centrality of the abbot as the spiritual father of the monastexy, all the monks going to all

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BUILDING AMERICAN ORTHODOX MONASTIC ISM IN THE lWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

the services, the use of the Jesus Prayer as the core of the cell rule. These are central structural elements. All of these things were different from contemporary Russian practice, but found their place in our monastery. While Valaam derived directly from the Holy Mountain, we received our tradition from Valaam and thus, indirectly; however, it is like a grandson deriving from his grandfather through his father. My own experience of Athos contributed to building the vision and the guidance to work it out, albeit in an American context. It is amazing how God sends us people with particular issues that need to be dealt with, and gives us the grace to learn how to deal with them as a spiritual father. God gives a whole tutorial through pastoral work. I give thanks that for four years I was the chaplain to the women's Skete of Our Lady of Kazan, with several nuns, that helped to form me as a confessor. Another mainstay of my formation as a spiritual father was monastic literature: the writings of the Holy Fathers, Pachomius, Basil, Cassian, Benedict, the Philokalia, particularly Maximos, Gregory of Sinai, Gregory Palamas. Then there were the later Russian Fathers, Nil Sorsky, lgnatiy Brianchaninov, and Theophan the Recluse. Perhaps most important is the influence, which I will deal with later, of Fr Sophrony's writings, especially interpreted through a hermit at Valaam, Fr Isaakiy. Another major figure who supported much of my work was a Benedictine hermit, Fr Dunstan, who invited me to come weekly for a day of stillness and recollection at his hermitage. Fr Dunstan always had a word for me, always from the Fathers, especially St Isaac the Syrian, whom he studied for decades. Fr Dunstan guided me through the writings of St Isaac, and helped me build on the foundation of the Fathers in the practice of besycbia. There were certainly ups and downs in the life of the community, as we struggled to figure out what it meant to be monks in late twentieth-century California. With years of theological education, I was able to understand the writings of the Fathers, but the brothers who came needed to have them interpreted for them and administered in small doses. Here again, God sent people with different problems and issues for me to deal with, and to learn from. What this did was to force me to learn to interpret the patristic texts on monasticism, and the Russian and Greek practices of monastic life, into forms and words the brothers could receive, and which would allow them to undergo the same process of healing and growth to spiritual maturity. There were three major phases in the growth of our community: the

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initial foundations, where a handful of hippie kids came and began to live a life of obedience and discipline, with a substantial liturgical life; the second phase of that, also at Point Reyes, where the first group was forced to leave by the chancellor of the diocese, and a new community formed of far more mature people; and the third, where the community expanded from Point Reyes to Manton, in the mountains of northern California, 250 miles north. The second phase, about four or five years into the project, was where the most growth occurred, both in me through dealing with the issues of the brothers, and in what they brought up in me. Finally, when the community moved into larger, more adequate quarters, it doubled in size within a year, and then, two years later, they pulled me to be a bishop. It continues to grow and prosper under Fr Meletios Webber, the new abbot. Now I am in the process of establishing a new monastery in the Washington, DC, area, both to be the context for my own life as well as a community to develop those who wish to serve the Church. It was this life experience that led me to my own synthesis, which I present below. It stands on the basis of a complete commitment to Christ in the Orthodox Church, a commitment that becomes a foundation for young men who are seeking to pour their lives into something, to find a foundation and context for their lives that will not only heal their souls and bring them into spiritual maturity, but will give meaning to their lives and commitment through love and service to others. This thirst for Christ, for the Church, for a whole and integrated life, is what monasticism in the twenty-first century, as in all centuries before that, provides an answer to. It is why monasticism is one of the most critical institutions within the Church, and it must be fostered and nurtured, so that it can in tum nurture the life of the Church. Monasticism is at the heart of the Orthodox Church. It is the most radical expression of faith, in which a person leaves the world and 'normal life', in order to live in community, in poverty and self-denial, for the sake of Christ. It takes a certain maturity for a church, as Bishop Pankratiy of Valaam said, for it to produce monasticism. This is perhaps why it took 100 years of the existence of Orthodoxy in American culture to start to bring forth monasteries. Often people will focus on the cultural expressions of monasticism, the external forms that vary. Often these become more important than the real substance, and a kind of external formalism takes the place of spiritual process. 'If it looks right, it is right' unfortunately does not work. This is

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a great temptation for those who are 'traditionalists' and get caught up in the externals. While there is a place for obedience to form, what is most important is the inner work of monastic life, the life of repentance, being 'transformed in the renewal of mind' which may or may not be visible to any but the spiritual father of the monk. We should obsetve the one, while being also mindful of the other. Internal to monasticism is its unique monastic culture, distinct from the overall ecclesiastical culture shared by the Orthodox Churches but part of it, and yet independent of any particular ethnic cultural expressions. There are uniquely Athonite, Greek, Russian, Romanian, Serbian, and other particular expressions of this culture. For example, it is said that in Russian monasteries the liturgical life is very strict and corners are turned with military precision, but the inner life of the community, how the brothers relate to one another, is rather casual; whereas in the Greek monasteries liturgical life can be rather casual, but there is a very strict order to personal relationships among the brothers. This, of course, is from a Russian. But underlying all of them is the unique monastic culture of shared values and a shared way of life.

In the late nineteenth century St Ignatiy Brianchaninov wrote that all monastic life must be absolutely based in Scriptures, and any that is not is going astray. What we need to consider is what that means. Monastic culture is nothing other than life according to the Gospel, both for each monk and for the communities. Its goal is the purification, enlightenment, and deification of the monks through a life of repentance, and the building of communities that incarnate the Gospel. There is always a corporate side of things, as well as an individual one. This is because monastic life has as a goal to bring out and foster authentic personhood in each of its members, which can only be done in community. The gifts of each one need to be discerned, and applied to the life of the community, so that each person reaches his potential and thus is fulfilled, and so that the community receives the gifts intended by God for its upbuilding, given to each. Essential to this is the role of the spiritual father, the elder, to whom the monks are in a relationship as disciples, as spiritual sons. Not only does this emulate the relationship of Christ and the Apostles; it is the way the Lord has given H is followers to live.

In establishing monasticism in America, I believe what is most important is to look at the essential principles of monastic life, rather than try to duplicate culturally specific forms. It is these principles and shared understandings of how monastic life is to be lived that are the core of monastic culture, whatever the particular cultural expression. Over the past twenty plus years, I have tried to understand and incarnate monastic life, taking the principles I learned as a novice in Russia, and particularly at Valaam, through the various books on monastic life from the ancient Fathers as well as contemporary Russian and Greek elders. These principles are as follows. First, monasticism is a life of repentance, the transformation of the mind and heart. This involves not only a turning away from sin, but also a renewal of the spiritual faculty within a person. It involves grief for sin, and purification of the soul from the effects of sin; but more than that, it is about an opening up and maturing of the spiritual consciousness in illumination. Repentance is thus the process of deification, the gradual ascent of the person to union with God. However, it is also the process of renunciation and detachment, a gradual ascent to freedom from attachment to sins, then to things and relationships, then to one's own ego, and even one's conceptual images of God. Repentance is at once turning away from and renouncing all things that hold us back from following Christ, a reordering of one's entire life and system of values, and ultimately, of one's consciousness itself. Yet, it is also the work of detachment, letting go of these things by which one has defined oneself and one's life, and refocusing solely on God. Monasticism is about inner work. While all Orthodox Christians are called to a life of prayer and fasting, according to the rules of the Church, the purpose of fasting is to bring oneself under control. Thus fasting is not only the abstention from various foods. It is, on a much broader level, the fasting from all things which lead us into temptations and passionate behaviour. At the heart of such fasting is inner watchfulness and vigilance, so that passionate thoughts do not gain control of our awareness, and lead us into sinful thoughts, obsessions, and actions. At the core of this is the battle with thoughts, afflictive emotions, which lead us into sin. In other words, the battle with thoughts (logismoi) is at the core of the inner work, rooting out their causes through detachment and renunciation, as well as the constant self-denial that comes through vigilance, in dismissing passionate thoughts and stopping the process which leads to sinful actions.

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The true monk is not only outwardly a monk, but rather, inwardly

Prayer and fasting, t he discipline of keeping one's awareness (nous) focused on God, and the practice of self-denial, support this inner work. The first stages of the inner work are the process of purification, in which we confront all the behaviours, habits, and ingrained ways of acting and thinking that have constituted our life and our identity. When we begin a serious spiritual discipline, especially one involving silence, one of the most important processes that happens is the emptying out of the conscience: memories, resentments, anger, guilt, and all other kinds of repressed emotions and memories come to the surface. This is why it is so important that the novice should have access to his elder, so that he can confess his thoughts, and thus deal with the result of years of living in the world. The thoughts, images, emotions, feelings, memories, and resentments that come to awareness, all should be taken to confession and dealt with. Thus also is the practice of life confessions, first when one becomes a novice, then later when one is tonsured. That process of purification begins in earnest during the first years of monastic life as a novice. It continues, but in a different way, as one becomes more mature and has dealt with the results of one's past life. Hand in hand with this is the practice of silent prayer, besycbia, using the Jesus Prayer, together with the context of the liturgical and sacramental cycles of the prayers of the Church. The liturgical prayers give shape and words to our prayer, and are one main context for the experience of communion with God. The most powerful aspect, though, is the practice of the Jesus Prayer, the prayer of stillness. The goal of prayer is to enter into Christ's own prayer to the Father; thus the practice of the Jesus Prayer is transformed and becomes the prayer of Jesus, by the Holy Spirit. It is an ascent to communion, to participation in Christ's own relationship with the Father by the Spirit. On another level, the prayer of silence is the means of stilling the mind, and the context of vigilance against intrusive thoughts, so that we can keep our attention/consciousness/awareness ftxed on the Presence. This in tum allows us to enter more and more deeply into the living experience of communion, without distraction. There is a correspondence between the liturgical prayer and the prayer of stillness: the deeper one's experience of silent prayer, the deeper also will be the liturgical prayer. Also, it is very easy to loose one's moorings, as it were, in non-conceptual silent prayer. Liturgical prayer provides a conceptual framework to keep one from going off into mystical darkness too far, at least on the initial levels of practice.

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Crucial to this whole process is the relationship with a spiritual father, who can guide, hear thoughts, and be present to the monk undertaking this process of inner transformation. Monasticism is about spiritual discipleship, the sacrament of obedience. The relationship of discipleship is about obedience: for the disciple to listen to the master, and enter into synergy with him. The whole monastery is about building a community t hat lives in synergy with one another, and with the will of God. It is a community that seeks to live in obedience to the will of God, by living out obedience to their elder and to one another. It is a community united in love of one another, expressed as obedience and co-operation. The very core is the relationship between the elder and the disciple: the disciple knows that he is unconditionally loved, and can expose the deepest pain and shame in his heart, so that it can be healed. This healing comes from learning to be in synergy with God, through obedience to the elder. The point is always obedience to God, to the Gospel, to the commands of Christ. The focus must always be Christ. It is not the elder, it is not the community, or the buildings that are the goal of monastic life, but rather life lived in communion with Christ, Who is the criterion of all things. The disciplines are not ends in themselves, nor the services, nor the asceticism. All is there to lead us more and more deeply into Christ. It is at once healing, and at the same time, growth to spiritual maturity. Let us apply this on another level. In the beginning of our spiritual journey, when we are spiritually immature, our entire religious outlook is ego-centred, emotional, and rational. The deeper level of awareness, the noetic consciousness, has not yet been fully opened. We do not know our true self, and we live in function of rules and external observance. Our prayer is words in the mind, and not yet descended to the heart. We love God from duty, and our neighbour from obedience. Yet it all remains self-centred, ego-centred. We want to be 'right', and we zealously defend our positions, whether doctrinal, ritual, or otherwise. In short, we are our egos, defmed by our passions. We are far from being authentic persons, caught up in our isolated individualism. As we grow, and gain more and more control over our passions, and our soul is purified, grace illumines our spiritual (noetic) consciousness. We become more aware of God's presence, more aware of the Other. We move away from our self-centredness, to the restoration of the focus of our attention on God. As this happens, as Elder Isaakiy of Valaam put it, our own personal 'I' expands, and encompasses others, so that we cannot

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conceive of ourselves in isolation from God and our brothers; they are who 'I' am, and 'I' includes them. It is the bond of authentic spiritual love, powered by grace. The more we grow in this noetic consciousness, the more our love embraces all those around us. We pray from the heart for them, and for the whole world. We are purified by grace, so that we can authentically love in a purely unselfish way. This is the essence of what it means to be a Christian: to love authentically. By truly loving God and our neighbour - for our love for our neighbour is the criterion of our love of God (cf. 1 John) -we are purified, illumined, deified. We are healed from our fallenness, from our ego/self-centredness, from the tyranny of our rational and emotional consciousness. The passions come under our control, subordinated to the love of the Other. We become purified of all that focuses us in ourself, and becomes a barrier to love. 'Our brother is our life', as St Silouan said. This is what authentic monasticism is: the love of our neighbour. The more purified our love is, the more we actualize our own personhood, and the more our personal 'I' expands, to include the whole monastic brotherhood, the town, the region, the country, the Church, the whole world. The saints are those whose 'I' includes the whole Church, and their prayer is for all as their true self. Having attained to true personhood, to authentic spiritual maturity, the Christian realizes in his life what Fr Sophrony calls 'the hypostatic principle', existence like that of Christ, in Christ, for Christ, as Christ. Our deification is realized in becoming perfected in love, embracing the whole creation, as Christ did, and being grounded in His divine Person. It is a state of true synergy with God: our love in co-operation with His love, which is His energy, His grace, His life. The real significance is the spiritual authenticity of this contemporary monasticism, whether in Athos, Russia, or England, or wherever it manifests itself. It is based in love, in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in the transcendence of external observance and psychologicaVrationalistic religiosity by the ascesis of purification from egocentrism and growth to authentic personhood through the illumination of noetic consciousness. In short, by overcoming self-love by the love of the Other. This monasticism is the way of Christ, and nurtures true disciples of Christ, who pray for the whole world as their true self, in self-denying love. This vision of monastic life of Fr Sophrony, shared by many contemporary fathers and mothers, illumines monasticism as t he very soul

of the Church. It reveals what authentic Christian spirituality is about, by producing saints - who incarnate the love of Christ. This vision shows what monasticism is really about, the love of the Other. And it gives a defmition to monasticism as the mystery of holy obedience. Obedience is the very heart of monasticism. Christian obedience, monastic obedience, has nothing at all to do with institutional or military discipline. To paraphrase Archimandrite Zacharias, those kinds of discipline are impersonal, structural, having to do with the continuity of an organization, enforced by compulsion. This may be necessary for the lowest level of spiritual development, but will otherwise quench the Spirit. Authentic monastic obedience is profoundly personal, a communion of love, a willing self-offering by the disciple in which there can be no compulsion. It is through this profound personal relationship of love that the disciple is transformed, empowered to transcend his passions and ego, and to control his thoughts; and to work out his growth to maturity through purification by self-denial. Being loved, he can grow in love, and be illumined by the grace of God, which is love, forgiveness, acceptance, and healing. The spiritual father becomes God's co-worker in bringing a man up from an isolated individual into an authentic person. The authentic relationship of elder and disciple in holy obedience can only work in profound freedom, like the disciple's free offering to God of his obedience to his elder. The grace of self-denial in obedience breaks down the ego, the self-centredness, and self-will. Thus the father begets a son, who in tum becomes a father. The community becomes one in Christ in the bond oflove. This is what contemporary monasticism strives for. The love of the brothers for one another, the growth in spiritual maturity, the transcendence of externalism and self-will are a product of this kind of authentic obedience in love. Truly this is the model for what monasticism can and should become, as we strive to grow and to love. This also is what monasticism has to offer to the Church in the twentyfirst century, an answer to the secularism and atheism that is enshrouding our world: a vision of a community gathered together in love, in which each person fmds his authentic vocation and the fulfilinent of his life by living it in communion with God and one another.

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A question was posed about the programme of the monastery. The monastery's programme, its daily cycle of prayer and work, is essential for the formation of the monks. Monasticism is a life of prayer and work, that shows how work is sanctified and prayer is a state of awareness that permeates all of life. The daily cycle of services, the Liturgy and the personal prayer rule, all have to be balanced and support one another. The deeper one's personal prayer, the deeper the experience of the Mysteries, and the better the attention for the daily cycle of services. The rule of St John's Monastery, when I was abbot, was for the brotherhood to gather in the church and pray the Jesus Prayer corporately for twenty to thirty minutes before each main service, morning and evening. The basic cycle was matins early in the morning, followed on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday by the Divine Liturgy, where each would partake of Communion. In the evening the ninth hour and vespers would be served, then dinner, then eventually compline. Each brother also had his own personal prayer rule, consisting of the prayer-book prayers, and the Jesus Prayer, each with his own schedule. In addition the brothers would each prepare for Communion with a set rule. This might consist of the three canons and akathist, as per the Russian monastic rule, plus the prayers before Communion; or a combination of some of this and the Jesus Prayer. The Jesus Prayer would lead into silence. In addition, each brother read Scripture each day, and some other spiritual literature. The writings of the Fathers were read during the meals. The rule of prayer is part of the rule of the monk; the other part is to labour for the brotherhood. These are called obediences. There are two aspects to this: the daily chores necessary for the upkeep of the monastery, cooking, cleaning, shopping, chopping wood, stoking the fire (we heated with wood), and so forth. Then there were the tasks to bring in income for the community: making candles, coffins, publishing, the bookstore, painting icons, hospitality, and so forth; now they make soap, and some other things as well. Some of the brothers were involved in administration of the monastery, the bookkeeping, assignment and oversight of obediences, and pastoral work. The idea is that prayer and work are integrated, that we work prayerfully and our work becomes prayer, and thus an offering of love for the brothers. It manifests how life can be integrated and whole. Prayer also is work, the conducting of the services, singing, serving, and hearing confessions. It is living and acting in communion with God and one another, in synergy

and co-operation. Work done prayerfully becomes an experience of grace, just as the services are. It gives far greater meaning to work, and to a life of prayer. Thus, for the people who come to the monastery, and are used to a compartmentalized life, it shows a whole new way of living. It is the ultimate answer to secularism, which is life compartmentalized.

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Another question: what is unique about the situation of monasticism in America in the twenty-first century? Probably the biggest difference is the level of maturity and spiritual development of young people coming from contemporary Western culture, as opposed to those raised in a traditional Orthodox home. Those coming from a traditional Orthodox background are often already mature by the time they are ready to enter a monastery, having been brought up in a context of obedience to their parents, and obedience to the basic disciplines of the life of the Church. They are able to take and bear full responsibility for their own lives and others around them, and are emotionally stable. Many young people of our Western culture come to the monastery very immature, often from broken homes, with even greater issues if they have suffered abuse in their lives. One of the most important ministries the monastery has to offer is that it is a place of growth and healing, nurturing growth to maturity, and healing from the wounds of the past. Orthodox spirituality is both about growth and about healing. In our culture, men have come to mature later and later. That thirty is the new twenty-one is not funny. A hundred years ago, a twenty-one-yearold was fully a man, probably married with a child or two, a responsible job, and household. Now, this would describe someone closer to thirty years of age. A young man growing up with only one parent, from a broken home, often has tremendous emotional issues and instability, which have to be overcome if he is going to become mature, much less live a monastic life. Other issues can include gender confusion, and an inability to relate to others. If there has been abuse, there is deep pain that needs to be confronted. If there has been no father in his life, much less one that has rejected him, there are major issues of self-acceptance and masculine identity which need to be confronted. All of these issues isolate a person within himself, erect huge barriers to relationships, and an inability to make commitments. The result is that we have an immense epidemic of self-hatred and self-loathing among young people. The first task is to accompany a person to being able to heal and grow.

Monastic life is all about community. Thus, if a young man cannot relate freely to other people, in love and compassion, he is not going to be able to enter into the monastery. One mistake many parish clergy make is that they think that people who are anti-social or socially awkward are automatically candidates for the monastery. This is not at all the case. Rather, a person needs to be very balanced in order to be able to enter into monastic life. Someone with acute social or behavioural difficulties, much less any kind of serious psychological problems, will fmd it impossible to remain in a monastic community because of the issues that their problems create, causing pain to both the person himself as well as members of the community. How do you bring someone with these typical kinds of issues to maturity? The key is unconditional love and acceptance. We had a young man come to the monastery in our 'summer novice' programme. He stayed on the margins, not really entering in to the degree that most of the other young men did. Yet, when he left, he said that this was the first time he had ever felt that he was loved. All we did was accept him in the brotherhood for this short term, have him work with the brothers and participate in our life, the liturgical cycle, and common meals and activities. And yet this was transformative, because for the first time in his life he felt accepted and recognized by other men. How many young people are there that have never experienced love and acceptance? How many have internalized this as self-hatred? One of the things that often happened in the States was that after a boy reached puberty, he would no longer be hugged by his father, would receive no physical affection. He was told that this was not manly. However, what is subconsciously conveyed to the boy is that, with all these changes in his body, he is no longer acceptable to his father, but rejected. What does this do to his self-acceptance, the acceptance of his new manhood? It creates tremendous confusion. A close friend, the abbess of a Greek Orthodox monastery which I had served as a young priest, herself an eldress, gave me strict instructions: 'You must hug your monks.' It is only by this very natural, human physical affection, which has no sexual content or implication, that we can help a person build a sense of being loved and accepted, a sense of security. I tell men when I give talks, when you go home, give your son a hug, tell him you love him and are proud of him, no matter how old he is, and no matter that he will think it strange. He will grow to be a better man

because of it. This kind of foundation is what is critical to building a strong, integrated person who will be able to grow to his full potential, unhindered by emotional pain and insecurity. It is families that love and care for one another, work through their issues with each other, and express their love and affection, that produce young adults with the stability and maturity to take on monastic life, married family life, and leadership within the community and society.

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METROPOLITAN JONAH Orthodox Church in America

THEOPHANES THE CRETAN AND THE ICONOGRAPHY OF THE ANNUNCIATION After the fall of Constantinople on 29 May 1453 the island of Crete became an important centre of icon painting. The so-called 'Cretan School', which reached its zenith in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, has sometimes been criticized for adopting elements from contemporary Italian painting, but on the whole it remained faithful to Late Byzantine iconographic conventions and set the standard for icon painting in the eastern Mediterranean until the early nineteenth century. 1 The leading representative of this school is Theophanes the Cretan, who was born in Heraklion between 1480 and 1500.2 His first known work is the church of St Nicholas Anapafsas in Meteora, dated to 1527 by an inscription written in the artist's own hand. The inscription also tells us that he was a monk, and that he had two sons who assisted him. A few years later (c.1535), we find him at the monastery of the Great Lavra, on Mount Athos, painting the church, refectory, and a series of festal icons. In 1543 he moved to Karyes, shortly after which (1545-6) he painted the church and refectory of Stavronikita, along with an ensemble of festal and other icons for the iconostasis. At some later point he returned to Crete (when and why we do not know), and had his will signed by a Venetian notary on 24 February 1559. He left his worldly possessions - essentially his brushes and copy-book- to his sons, Symeon and Niphon. 3 1

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For the historical background, see the studies by David Holton, 'The Cretan Renaissance', and Chryssa Maltezou, 'The Historical and Social Context', in Literature and Society in Renaissance Crete, ed. D . Holton (Cambridge, 1991), pp. 1-16; 17-47; Maria Georgopoulou, 'Late Medieval Crete and Venice: An Appropriation of Byzantine Heritage', The Art Bulletin, 77 (1995), 479-96; and Robin Cormack, Painting the Soul: Icons, Death Masks and Shrouds (London, 1997), pp. 167-217. On the life and work of Theophanes, see Manolis Chatzidakis, 'Recherches sur le peintre Theophane le Cretois', Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 23-4 (1969-70), 311-52; id. , Theophanes the Cretan: The Wall-Paintings of the Monastery of Stavronikita (Thessaloniki, 1997), pp. 33-85; id., The Great Meteoron: History and Art (Athens, 1990); id. , Icons of the Cretan School (Athens, 1983); and E. Tsigaridas, Theophanes the Cretan and the Wall Paintings of St Nicholas Anapafsas at Meteoron (Athens, 2003). We as yet do not have a complete catalogue of Theophanes's works. His thirty years of artistic activity are not matched by the three churches mentioned above, and some wish to ascribe to him the Athonite churches of Iviron and Koudomousiou, and the Thessalian churches of the Great Meteora and St Vissarion (Dousiko), as well as many smaller churches and chapels on the Holy Mountain, and a large number of portable icons, such as those on the icon screen in the Protaton.

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Fig. 1: The Annunciation, by Theophanes the Cretan, 1546. Tempera on board, 44 x 38cm. Monastery of Stavronikita, Mount Athos. Seep. 41.

Fig. 2. Sanctuary doors: the Annunciation, by Theophanes the Cretan, 1546. Tempera on board, 127 x 36cm. Monastery of Stavronikita, Mount Athos. Seep. 45.

Fig. 5: Journey's end: a pilgrim approaches Stavronikita. Photo Philip Lambert. Seep. 57.

Fig 6: The church at Kalenic monastery in Serbia (c.1415), pearl of the Morava school. Photo Graham Speake. Seep. 60.

Fig. 7: Inside the church at Decani monastery in Kosovo (c.l335), Metropolitan Kallistos stands with Abbot Sava and members of his brotherhood. Photo Carlos Moreno. See p.62.

Archimandrite Vasileios Gondikakis, the former abbot of the monastery of Stavronikita, who for many years has lived and worshipped in the presence of Theophanes's work, offers the following insightful evaluation: The artistic maturity ofTheophanes is manifest in all his work. His lines are clear and precise, and have a natural, organic quality to them. His use of colour is harmonious and attuned to the spiritual nature of his subjects. His use of cross hatching is restrained. His faces are filled with tranquillity; his bodies are elegantly elongated, with subdued movements and august gestures. His compositions are balanced. With a few white highlights added to the dark ground of a face, he reveals the whole inner world of each figure. With one white dab of paint juxtaposed to a small black dot, he gives the eyes an expression that a thousand words could not convey. The richness of restraint and an austerity filled with love are the distinguishing characteristics of the art of Theophanes the Monk. The spiritual rest found in the return of the self to God is what gives shape to his artistic world, and this is the result of the rest and inner repose he has as both a great artist and a true monk. In his icons, all creation is transformed by means of an inner illumination. And this grace, which has been poured out upon all flesh, is what reveals the body's spiritual calling. 4

The following remarks focus on two icons of the Annunciation by Theophanes from the monastery of Stavronikita. I offer a general description of their basic artistic features, along with an interpretation of their theological symbolism. I argue that, when the symbolism is properly understood,· both of these icons identify the conception of Christ with his death on the cross, so that Incarnation and Passion are united on a single, seamless continuum. The Annunciation Our first icon (fig. 1) is from a series of fifteen festal icons that Theophanes painted for the iconostasis of Stavronikita. Like all the other icons in this series, it measures approximately 44 x 38cm, and was painted in 1546.5 Set before an elaborate architectural background draped by a red cloth, we see the figures of the archangel Gabriel and the Virgin. In his left hand, Gabriel holds the staff of a messenger, while his right hand, on which his eyes are intensely focused, is raised in a gesture of blessing (with his fmgers forming the Greek letters IC XC, an acronym of the name Jesus Christ). Gabriel's left leg is bent forwards sharply at the knee, while his

Fig. 8: Preparing for a group photo at Kotor in Montenegro. Photo Carlos Moreno. Seep. 63.

4 Archimandrite Vasileios, 'The Icons of the Twelve Feasts by Theophanes at Stavronikita', in id., Leitourgikos Tropos (Mount Athos, 2000), pp. 24-5. 5 There is a brief description of this icon by Euthymios Tsigaridas in The Treasures of Mount Atbos, ed. Athanasios Karakatsanis et al. (Thessaloniki, 1997), p. 129. The dimensions given above are from Tsigaridas. Information published by the monastery states that the icon is 54.5 x 38.0cm.

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right leg is thrust dramatically backwards; his garments flutter in a swirl of folds and creases, indicative of great vitality and rapidity of movement. The Vtrgin, clothed in a bright red garment, is seated on a golden throne strewn with two pillows; her feet rest somewhat gingerly on a footstool. Her head is inclined towards the archangel, although her gaze is focused directly on the viewer. Her body is turned to the right, recoiling slightly from the sudden appearance of the heavenly messenger. She was, as Luke tells us, 'greatly troubled' (Luke 1: 29) by his words. In her right hand she holds a spool of thread, a strand of which she has just now pulled out with her left hand. The spool with the scarlet thread is a symbol of special importance, and we will return to it below. Architecture and the Body Even though the Annunciation took place indoors, the holy figures are not enclosed within the interiors of rooms and houses (which latter appear 'inside-out'). The Annunciation, which marks the union of God and human nature, is an event that cannot be circumscribed by walls or restricted by ceilings. The excess of the divine presence, the superabundance of divine self-giving, overflows the boundaries of space and time, extending and advancing even to us. As a cosmic event without precedent or recurrence, the singular (not to say impossible) architectural forms may also be understood as expressing the unrepeatability of the event, its absolute uniqueness. Yet the Incarnation is also the entry of the divine into physical time and space, the very sanctification of time and space, making Christianity a self-consciously 'historical' religion. The human desire to transcend the limits of time and space does not mean that time and space are utterly swept aside, and thus the red cloth draped over the corners of the rooftops is a subtle reminder that historically the event took place indoors. 6

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Compare the iconography of the Presentation of the Lord, the Mystical Supper, and Pentecost, events which took place indoors but which are depicted 'outdoors', typically set before schematic clusters of buildings and other architectural forms, or simply within a field of golden light. This iconographic tradition is likely to be rooted in mystical experience, such as that described in the Life of St Symeon the New Theologian: 'Once, when he [i.e. St Symeon] was in his cell, in a state of pure prayer, his mind was illumined, and it seemed to him as if he were outside, in an open space. Although it was night, a light like the dawn began to shine from above, and his dwelling place and everything else vanished from sight. He had no sense of being indoors. The light continued to increase, becoming like the sun at midday, and he felt himself standing in the midst of it' (ed. Irenee Hausherr, Vie de Symeon le Nouveau Theologien, Rome, 1928, pp. 92-4).

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If, moreover, we reflect for a moment on the nature of the physical spaces we construct for ourselves and which we inhabit, yet another dimension of meaning will present itself to us. Spatial configurations of all kinds (rooms, houses, cities) both anchor us as subjects in the physical world and facilitate the making and refashioning of our identities. It follows that changes and modifications in spatial configurations are ways to reconstruct or rearrange the boundaries that defme our sense of self. In his treatise On Virginity, St Gregory of Nyssa uses architectural images to conceptualize the virginal body as a receptacle for the grace of God. For Gregory, virginity is figured as a building whose walls mark the boundary between interiority and the external world, between dedication to God and worldly passion; between bodily closure, on the one hand, and a radical openness to God on the other. The body of the virgin, Gregory suggests, is empty of all impurity and yet full of divine grace, and thus becomes a form of sacred architecture that simultaneously encloses its treasure and opens itself for the reception of God. For Gregory, as for the icon of the Annunciation, spatial transformations mimic the transformations of the virginal self, constructing multiple and paradoxical dimensions of subjectivity. 7 Gabriel and Mary Theophanes's icon focuses on the transmission of the divine Logos from heaven to earth through the agency of the archangel. Thus at the very centre of the icon is the word or sign formed by the archangel's Christogrammatical gesture. Mary turns her head, lending her ear to the Word of the angel's greeting, aptly expressing the centrality of the Word in Luke's narrative (cf. especially Luke 1: 31-3). Despite the motion of Mary's body away from the centre, her head is turned inwards, and thus both figures seem to move purposefully towards the Christological centrepoint. Theophanes's icon does not simply memorialize a moment in time, but provides a medium for the contemplation of the mystery of the Incarnation in an open space involving the viewer directly. Mary's outward gaze indicates that the blessing is not simply hers, but one she shares with the beholder, who is likewise called to incarnate the divine name. Mary's body is fragmented into different axes, which may reflect her various states of mind: modesty, anxiety, fear, doubt, acceptance - a 7

English translation by Vrrginia Woods Callahan, Saint Gregory of Nyssa: Ascetical Works (Washington, DC, 1966), pp. 35, 43, 56-7.

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synthesis of many psychological and spiritual states into one. And what makes this more captivating is the Virgin's direct gaze at the viewer. Her head is bowed in reverence (the fmal stage), but her body has not yet fully espoused the announcement. The canon for the feast fully explores Mary's range of feelings and emotions. Her ambivalence and stylized posture depict an almost unresolved set of emotions. This, compounded with her direct gaze at the viewer, demands that we participate in the process, that we extend and complete the transaction of looking by lending our own humanity to the narrative. Thus the canon reminds those at the feast that it is their humanity, too, which enables them to choose to abide by the will of God. Having this agency under God makes a person a true actor in his or her own salvation.

The Scarlet Thread The Virgin's distaff and thread are not mentioned in the Gospel of Luke, but have been taken from the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James, dated to the middle of the second century. In its expansion of Luke's narrative, the Protoevangelium states that, at the hour of the Annunciation, the Virgin was spinning thread, and that, at the precise moment of the angel's announcement, she had 'spun out a strand'. The Protoevangelium further informs us that this thread was to be used for 'weaving the veil of the temple'. The source for this tradition is Hebrews 10: 20, which says that the veil of the temple was a type of Christ's flesh: 'Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which He opened for us through the veil, that is through His flesh .. . let us draw near.' If Christ's flesh was derived exclusively from His mother, and if that same flesh is symbolized by the veil of the temple, then the veil itself can have been woven by no one but her, an activity logically coincident with the moment of conception. In this way, the work of the Vrrgin's hands becomes a symbolic projection of the activity of her womb, weaving a garment of flesh for the invisible God. At the drama's conclusion, the work of the Vrrgin's hands and her womb suffer a common fate: the veil of the temple will be torn in two, and Christ's body will be pierced with a lance on the cross. In this way, the small strand of thread encompasses God's entry into human life in the flesh, and the death of that life on the cross. 8 8

For further discussion, see Nicholas Constas, Proclus of Constantinople and the Cult of the Virgin in Late Antiquity (Leiden and Boston, MA, 2003), pp. 315-58.

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The Sanctuary Doors Theophanes developed this symbolism even further in another icon of the Annunciation he painted at Stavronikita, this one adorning a pair of low doors originally attached to the central gate of the sanctuary, to which we may now turn (fig. 2). 9 Against a golden ground devoid of landscape or architecture, the archangel Gabriel appears on our left, facing the Vrrgin who stands on the right. He is clothed in a flowing purple garment, the shimmering liquid forms of which contrast dramatically with the rigid lines and right angles of his bejewelled scarf. With one section plummeting down his front, and another crossing around his right side to drape over his left arm, the heavy, stone-encrusted stole gives his twisting, ethereal form solidity and structure. Simultaneously at rest and in motion, the undulating figure is moored by the scarf's strong, vertical axis, which balances the horizontal extension of the left hip, thrust forwards in exaggerated contrapposto. The Vrrgin, on the other hand, rises up like a monolith, solid and self-contained, a state of composure reflected in the limited colours and subdued tones with which she is depicted. Standing on a pedestal as one 'of low degree exalted' (Luke 1: 52), she wears a blue-green gown draped by a deep-red garment, the latter trimmed with gold fringe and falling behind her in a series of ordered folds. Her head is inclined towards the archangel, although her gaze is focused directly on the viewer, who is thereby drawn into the intimacy of the fecund transaction. Prompted by strong diagonal lines, the viewer's focus soon shifts to the icon's numinous centre: the cruciform distaff and spindle. The distaff pierces through a whorl of bright-red wool, while its vertical partner is wrapped with a growing length of thread, a single strand of which is visible at the top. As if about to begin a stately dance, the two elegantly turning figures advance towards the centre of the composition. The centripetal movement, however, is countered by the three-quarter turn of their bodies, evident in the outward thrust of their right and left legs (respectively), which creates a sense of open space that is closed only at the point where their fingers nearly touch. The same movement is reproduced by their hands, not parallelwise like the legs, but crosswise, so that the left hand of each is lowered and the right is raised. As a result, the name of Christ, uttered in the liturgical sign-language of the angel's fingers, bridges the space between them, and finds willing acceptance expressed in the Virgin's open hand. 9

See the description by Tsigaridas, Treasures of Mount Athas, pp. 127-8.

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The cross-like patterns generated by this sacred choreography are repeated in the angel's scarf and in the Virgin's spinning tools, which intersect in the shape of a cross. Located on the icon's central, horizontal axis, the two crosses mirror each other across the space of the panels. The bejewelled scarf (known as a loros) was a sign of imperial rank, and is a standard feature of angelic dress. However, as a rule it is never worn by angels in icons depicting historical events from Scripture (which of course includes the Annunciation). Theophanes could not have been unaware of this general principle, and I believe that his decision to include the proscribed motif was motivated by his desire to create an icon of the Annunciation in which conception and crucifiXion would appear within a thematically unified field of meaning. 10 To achieve such a goal, clothing the angel in imperial regalia was crucial. In the Byzantine world the loros was understood as a symbol both of Christ's cross and of the burial cloth that was entwined around his dead body. 11 When seen as a cross, the slightly crooked arms of the angel's loros further recall the broken doors in the iconography of the Anastasis, which, through a play on words, were associated with the virgin birth and the doors of the sanctuary. 12 Simultaneously evoking the cross, burial, and resurrection, Gabriel announces, not simply the divine Word's conception, but his voluntary submission to death and subsequent heavenly exaltation (cf. Philippians 2: 9). Like an object magnified in a mirror, the angelic cross reflects the figure of the Virgin's distaff and spindle, which presents the icon's core message in vivid, concentrated form. The Virgin's symbolic crucifiX gives striking emphasis to the fact that the Word of God, who has entered her womb, will be woven together with mortal flesh and surrender His life on the cross. Like a hieroglyph, the small cross depicts the facts described in the larger narrative by substituting associated objects for the things themselves. As a kind of pictogram, it additionally mimics the form of 10 Theophanes's icon is based on the fourteenth-century sanctuary doors at the Great Lavra, which he surely saw during his work there in 1535-41. However, he grasped the kenotic symbolism more profoundly than his predecessor, for not only does he intensify the cruciform appearance of the spinning implements, but he boldly added the cruciform loros, thereby creating a new icon, in which conception and crucifixion are collapsed into a single event. 11 According to Constantine Porphyrogennetos, On the Ceremonies of the Byzantine Court, ed. J. Reiske (Bonn, 1830), 2: 638. 12 See, for example, the third ode of the canon of the Akathistos Hymn: 'Hail, unique Gate, through whom alone the Word has passed, and who, through your maternity, shattered the locks and gates of Hades! Hail, divine Entrance of the saved!'

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the body, and thus couples the formation of the body with its destruction, and the creative sacrifice of birth with the redemptive sacrifice of death on the cross. Finally, the small cross seems to rest- without the weight it will soon acquire - on the Vrrgin's left knee, as if in anticipation of the incarnate Word, who will lie there as both a child and a corpse. Finally, it is worth noting that the intimate connection between Incarnation and Passion is further supported by the tradition that Christ was crucified on the same day of the year that he had become incarnate (25 March). As many of the Friends of Mount Athos will know, this tradition has found a place in medieval English iconography, which famously depicts the figure of Christ crucified on a lily - a flower which is both the symbol of the Vrrgin and a prominent feature of the iconography of the Annunciation. Here in Oxford, one may see a more recent example in the chapel of The Queen's College, in which the two elements come together (fig. 3 ). In this eighteenth-century stained-glass window, Christ appears crucified on a lily placed in the centre of an image of the Annunciation. 13

FRMAXIMOS Monastery of Simonopetra

13 I have not been able to consult J. Edwards, 'Lily-CrucifiXions in the Oxford District', OxfordArt]oumal, 2 (1979), 43-5.

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MAN'S PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER PEOPLE IN THE LIGHT OF HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD Love is the only thing worth living for, and which gives a meaning to man's life. Of course, the usual kind of human love is entirely different to divine love and does not bear its characteristics. It is but a weak shadow of it. When love is expressed on the level of the flesh, it is not even love, but only the stirring of passion for another person. It deadens the soul and makes man unable to have a relationship with God and consequently with other people, because it is prompted by the passion of the love of pleasure and pride. Again, when it is expressed as an ideal on the intellectual and psychological level, since it is still based on a weak and passionate person, it results in even greater disappointment, making his spirit desolate and grievously wounding his soul, so that it is even more difficult to cure him. Around us we see only tragedies and broken relationships. Nevertheless we think that we will manage better. Unfortunately, we are ignorant of the measure of our fall and of how weak we are. We expect perfect and dynamic love from those around us who have the same passions as us, whilst we ourselves are unable to offer this because we are all bound by strong bonds and heavy burdens of sins. Our mistake is that we expect those around us, that is, sick and fallen creatures, to fulfll our innate need for love, which is something that only God can truly satisfy. We are deceived when we expect to receive from men something that God alone can give us. He instilled in us the desire for love, and He alone can satisfy it. We will know Him through love and become like Him through love. When the winds of the temptations of the world begin to blow, then even the most perfect relationships, which seem to be incredibly good and strong, fall apart, and all that one is left with are the broken pieces which pitifully cry out 'how could this happen?' Faded human love preserves something of the sacrificial element found in divine love. It gives itself to the end and lives in the beloved, around whom all its happiness and life revolves. When, however, man betrays it, then love ends up empty and lost. Nothing remains of those good and

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strong feelings that were there, the wound is unbearable, and the whole person is shaken and shattered. Life loses its meaning. Then, in despair with life, how many times do people not end up committing suicide in order to be freed from their pain? When we are confronted by the ruins of human love and fmd ourselves completely broken, then two solutions can be given: either we tum to God with our pain, so that God enters our life and renews us, or we continue to be deceived by our human plans and skip from one tragedy and barrenness of soul to another, hoping that some time we will fmd perfection. The drama continues until we come to realize that we cannot achieve this on our own. We need a Third Person in our relationships. Just as the priests, who embrace one another in the heart of the Divine Liturgy, say, 'Christ is in our midst', so we should do the same in our life. God is not an intruder in our personal relationships, but the One Who will cleanse and perfect them. He will make them secure because His great and eternal love will strengthen and inspire them. This is exactly why we run to the Church, where the grace of God in the sacrament of marriage will sanctify the union of the man and woman so that they will complement each other with their talents and work together for a perfection which will be reflected not only in their loving relationship in this life, but in the eternity of the Kingdom to come. The Lord said, 'Without me you can do nothing.' 1 If we perceive the falseness of searching for a perfect and ideal relationship with someone, and are convinced of this, then we will understand that we can only fulfU. our deep and innate desire for a loving relationship with God, our Maker, our Provider, and our Redeemer; then we will begin an infmitely creative and life-giving journey with God. The stronger our bond of love with God becomes, the purer and stronger our love becomes in any horizontal direction. This love will be healthy and powerful in the perspective of our only true love, which is God Himself, and will only then have value because it will be free, in other words, sinless. When the passion of the flesh is active, it obscures the intellect and makes man unsuitable for spiritual progress and the acquisition of divine love. Any kind of love, independent of God, is ontologically selfdestructive. When our direct relationship with God is true and strong, then all our other relationships on the horizontal level will be pure and 1

Jn.

15: 5.

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strong. We must enter the contest of our own free will and offer a sacrifice if we wish our relationships with God and our fellows to be successful. If we understand that, in our present state, we are unable to fulftl our boundless desire for love, then maybe we will be more humble and discreet in the love we expect in our human relationships. If we become aware of man's poverty and wretchedness, but also of the greatness of God's merciful love, we will acquire compassion and forgiveness. We will be purified of our selfishness and treat others with respect and freedom. We will accept them as they are, without wishing to make them 'perfect' according to our way of thinking, and will not make demands on them, nor seek to dominate them. When we make contact with God, then the broken pieces of our former life are restored. Our heart is freed from the burden of the past and dares to love God and his fellow once again. We are no longer scared of being vulnerable and do not fence ourselves around with walls for protection, because from now on we do not trust in man, but in Him Who can raise the dead. If, however, we do not have true love in our life, inspired by a relationship with God, then we will not be able to escape one of these two classic temptations: if we happen to be psychologically stronger, we shall do anything we can to dominate our fellow and take advantage of him, but if we are weaker psychologically, then we will become the victim of the passion of ambition in others. A relationship under such conditions is indeed unhappy and graceless. It is in fact slavery. When we come to know God, and in our relationship with Him we are initiated into the mystery of the Person, of the human hypostasis, made in the image and likeness of God, then we will be able to meet every other person with fear, respect, and humble love, with the knowledge that in God's eyes every human soul is more precious than all the world. Gradually we will also learn to love others without being selfish, with trust and without limits. In this way we maintain our own personal freedom so as to continue our discipleship at the Cross of Christ, which is the most wonderful and beneficial thing in our life. In this relationship, putting Christ first as the Other par excellence, we will fmd our true identity, because when we are with Him, we can lose and fmd our life again, confident that we are safe. We fmd confirmation for all that we mentioned above in God's Revelation. In chapter 32 of Genesis the strange and amazing battle between God and Jacob is described. We see how, following the suggestion of his mother, Jacob robbed Esau of the firstborn's blessing, taking it from

his father Isaac. Even though Rebecca expressed the will of God at that moment, for, 'as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated', 2 nevertheless Jacob was obliged to go into exile in order to escape his brother Esau's fury in his desire to destroy him. Jacob went into the wilderness where he suffered for many years, working hard for his father-in-law Laban's household. Yet God was with him, and He blessed all his undertakings richly. As time passed, Jacob started to grow weary. Then God commanded him to return to his father's home. He was in a terrible dilemma. If he stayed in the wilderness, he would not last, but if he returned, he feared the threat of death he faced from Esau. Then Jacob separated himself and stood all night in prayer before God. At daybreak he felt the presence of someone strong and continued his prayer, saying, 'I will not let you go unless you bless me.' God then spoke to Jacob and said, 'Because you have been strong against God, you shall prevail against men.' 3 The following day, sealed by God's blessing, Jacob went out to meet Esau. Instead of killing him, he fell on Jacob's neck and wept, and their love for one another was restored. God's blessing on Jacob was so powerful that he entered his wild brother's presence as if it were 'the presence of God'. 4 We can see therefore that, if we make that supernatural contact in our relationship with God, then all our meetings with people will be overshadowed by this divine blessing. When we follow the Lord, we have only one care: to please Him and thank Him in all we do. But we must first establish a true relationship. We must cultivate the humility of the publican and the determined repentance of the prodigal son. Each man's relationship with God is unique. God has created each man in such a way that his particular relationship with his Creator will fulfu and perfect him. He must therefore make it his mission and purpose to build a strong relationship with Christ and to be in constant dialogue with Him. All our human relationships will derive strength from this relationship with God, and we will begin to see everything, every element of the created world, in the light of this relationship. And if we make it our concern to improve our relationship with Him, deep repentance will spring forth within us. And the more we grow in Christ,

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2 3 4

Rom. 9: 13. Gen. 32: 28. Gen. 33: 10.

the more clearly we will know our poverty, and our inspiration will always be renewed. We will fear nothing because nothing will be able to separate us from His love. In the world to come, we will continue the relationship with our Saviour which we have built up in this life. We will be judged according to our love, according to each word of Christ contained in the Gospel. Just as He asked Peter after His Resurrection, 'Lovest thou me?', so in the age to come He will ask each one of us the same question, 'And you, do you love me?' And we too will reply, 'Yea, Lord. Thou knowest that I love thee.' 5 But the strength and boldness of our reply will depend entirely on the depth of our relationship with the Person of Christ. Whatever attitude we adopt in this life will continue beyond the grave. This is clear from the Gospel account of the judgement of the righteous, who utter the humble thought which nourished their repentance: 'Lord, when did we anything good upon earth? To Thee be the glory, to us the shame.'6 We must learn the humility of this attitude now, and then we will be able to live eternally with the Lord. Arrogance and self-justification have no place in Him, but they too can accompany us into eternity and towards eternal separation from Him. For us, Paradise is Christ. St Silouan says, 'If all men would repent and keep God's commandments, there would be paradise on earth, for the Kingdom of Heaven is within us. The Kingdom of Heaven is the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is the same in heaven and on earth. '7 Paradise begins on earth through love for God and love for our brethren. In this lies the entire wealth of eternal life, for man has been created to give eternal glory to God. His delight is to return this glory to His image, man, who then returns greater glory to his Creator. And so we enter into this endless cycle of glorification and love, the 'divine increase' of which is man's true fulftlment. His calling is to become the very likeness of God. ARCHIMANDRITE ZACHARIAS Monastery of StJohn the Baptist, Tolleshunt Knights

5 6 7

Cf. Jn. 21: 16-17; see Archimandrite Sophrony, Saint Silouan the Atbonite, trans. Rosemary Edmonds (Tolleshunt Knights, Essex: Stavropegic Monastery of St John the Baptist, 1991), p. 379. See Matt. 25: 37-9. Saint Silouan, p. 348

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INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ST GREGORY PALAMAS The Theological and Philosophical Significance of His Work Tbessaloniki, Greece: 7-15 March 2012 The conference until 12 March was based at the excellent Educational and Cultural Foundation of Saint Gregory Palamas. It provided lecture theatre, bedrooms, a restaurant, and lounges and is a part of the complex of the University Ecclesiastical Academy of Thessaloniki that offers theological education, research, and restoration facilities for ecclesiastical art. The conference itself was indefatigably shepherded by Dr Costa Athanasopoulos. At the opening ceremony our President, Metropolitan Kallistos, presented greetings from FoMA. Indeed he is held in such esteem throughout Greece that all of us benefited from the honours bestowed upon him. The international contributors and participants included people from Eastern and Western Europe, Mrica, the USA, and the Lebanon, representing different Christian religious backgrounds, mostly Orthodox, as well as some atheists and agnostics. St Gregory Palamas ( 1296-1359) was a monk and later the Metropolitan Bishop of Thessaloniki. He was a great theologian and philosopher. The fundamental issue of the whole conference was St Gregory's clear distinguishing of the two different types of knowledge, that of created things and that of spiritual things. The frrst type of knowledge is about things and about God. The second is personal knowledge of God through the experience of divine light given by Him. It is not a rationalistic knowing but a total knowing by mind, body, and spirit. It is a knowledge prepared for by humans through the prayer of stillness, ascetic practice, and a fulfilling of the commandments. This knowledge is fundamental to all other types of knowing and also reorders the whole human being in how he or she is, perceives, and knows. The numerous papers included discussion of the fmer philosophical points and implications of this in the areas of the human person, ethics, and concepts of God. Other papers explored the background and influences such as Aristotle and Dionysius the Areopagite as well as Gregory's opponents, especially Barlaam of Calabria. Other presentations described the influence of Palamite theology on iconography, nineteenth-

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and twentieth-century Russian thought, and on the Greek philosopher Christos Yannaras. Other speakers described the implications of Gregory's thought on contemporary issues such as hesychastic prayer and Yoga, Mrican Christianity in dialogue with Islam, and the meaning of words and language in St Gregory Palamas and Niels Bohr (quantum mechanics). The Metropolitan of Langada hosted our sessions on the Friday and the Metropolitan ofVerroia on the Saturday. Later we visited St Gregory's cave that demanded a brave crawled entry. On the Sunday we attended the Divine Liturgy in the cathedral and then in the evening our sessions were in the parish of Evosmos. At midday on the Monday the men went to the monastery ofVatopedi on the Holy Mountain and the women to the mainland convents of Souroti, where Elder Paisios is buried, and Ormylia, a female dependency of the Athonite monastery of Simonopetra. St Gregory and his teaching were summed up for many of us in the paper by Hieromonk Melchizedek. He said that the way of spiritual knowledge is neither a simple moralism nor a set of techniques alone, but is founded upon a living out of the way of the cross, as St Silouan did on the Holy Mountain. This excellent conference for mind and heart took place during Lent and the fasting food prepared for us was exceptionally good. Despite the appalling wet, cold, and misty weather, the Greek hospitality amid all their troubles was exuberantly wonderful. CANON PHILIP LAMBERT Truro

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THE LOCH LECTURES SPIRITUALITY AND THE LIFE CYCLE An international symposium on the theme of 'Spirituality and the Life Cycle' was held in Ouranoupolis, Halikidiki, on 25-6 May 2012. Designed to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Joice N ankivell Loch, who with her husband Sydney lived in the tower at Ouranoupolis for much of the twentieth century, the conference was organized jointly by the societies of Friends of Mount Athos in Finland and the UK. The organizers are grateful to the Society of Sciences and Letters in Finland and the Friends of Mount Athos in the UK for fmancial support. After registration on the first evening Professor Rene Goth6ni, Professor of Comparative Religion at the University of Helsinki, who is President of the Finnish society of Friends of Mount Athos and a Patron of the British society, welcomed the delegates to the symposium and read a paper entitled 'Spirituality in Hermeneutic Perspectives'. This was followed by a visit to the village cemetery where Metropolitan Kallistos conducted a memorial service at the grave of the Lochs. After dinner at the Taverna Apostoli, where the conference convened, there was a showing of the video that was made recently in memory of Fani Mitropoulou, Joice Loch's long-time friend and assistant, who was featured discussing the rug-making industry that was instigated by the Lochs for the refugees newly arrived from Asia Minor. The next morning papers in the first session were given by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware (University of Oxford) on 'Death in the Life Cycle', Dr Veronica della Dora (University of Bristol) on 'Mapping Spiritual Landscapes', and Fr Chrysostomos Tympas (formerly of the monastery of Dionysiou and University of Essex) on 'Individuation and Deification'. In the second session Dr Filareti Kotsi (Zayed University, Dubai) spoke on 'In Search of Spirituality outside Mount Athos', Dr Amos Ron (Kinneret College, Israel) on 'Revisiting the Holy Land and Spiritual Maintenance', and Fr Seraphim Seppala (UniversityofJoensuu, Finland) on 'The Patristic Teaching on the Spirituality of Children'. After lunch there was a private visit to the tower (now a museum but currently closed) which enabled delegates to view the small exhibition of antiquities and Loch memorabilia and to enjoy the views from the balconies that are normally reserved for swallows.

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The afternoon sessions included papers by Dr Mari-Johanna RahkalaSimberg (University of Helsinki) on 'Lived Spirituality', Dr Pauli Annala (University of Helsinki) on "'A Wheel within a Wheel" (Ezek. 1: 16) and the Life Cycle', and Professor Raili Goth6ni (University of Helsinki) on 'Spirituality in Crises'. A concluding round-table, chaired by Rene Goth6ni, attempted to summarize the discussion and elicit the most enduring thoughts that each delegate would take away from the conference. This symposium took place in a marked spirit of Christian fellowship and international understanding. The relatively small number of participants (twenty-six in all) helped to create a very special atmosphere of informality in the midst of some serious academic debate. The spirit of the Lochs is alive and well.

GRAHAM SPEAKE Oxford

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THE 2012 PATH-CLEARING PILGRIMAGE In May a team of twenty, including seven ftrst-timers and representatives of eight nations, went on the 2012 path-clearing pilgrimage to the Holy Mountain. We completed an ambitious programme, checking around 80km of routes and clearing undergrowth from about 50km of paths. Thanks to the commitment of everyone involved, we managed to achieve our goals, and are happy to report that the footpaths we maintain are in good condition. Highlights for 2012 included clearing the entire length of the Way of the Bey' along the ridge from Karyes to Esphigmenou, the completion of a 'low-level' route from Vatopedi via Kolitsu to Pantokrator, and making a new link from Bogoroditsa to the Pantokrator-Vatopedi 'high-level' path. We also rediscovered the footpath route from Docheiariou to Vatopedi and put up fourteen new footpath signs. It was encouraging to fmd that paths that have been cleared reasonably frequently over the past few years are becoming easier to keep clear, though there are still problem sections which need detailed attention every year to stop them becoming impassable. We were, however, saddened to ftnd a few areas where forest clearance had obstructed the paths. Wherever possible, we removed logs and branches, but had to admit defeat when confronted by around 50 tons of earth bulldozed across a path. Pilgrims had to climb over this, but a recent report from a Greek pilgrim tells us that the earth has now been removed. We were pleased to hear from guestmasters and gatekeepers that the number of pilgrims using the footpaths is still increasing, though the vast majority continue to rely on the Holy Mountain's minibuses. One of the drawbacks for some pilgrims until now has been that the footpath descriptions have only been available in English. Therefore one particularly important step since we returned from the Holy Mountain has been the addition of Greek translations of the footpath descriptions to the FoMA website. Currently ftfteen of the most heavily used routes are available in Greek for both directions, and the remaining descriptions will be added to the FoMA website over the next few months. In addition Hilandar and Zographou have expressed interest in creating Serbian- and Bulgarianlanguage versions for the paths around their monasteries. We hope that this wider availability of detailed route descriptions will encourage more pilgrims to walk these beautiful and historic paths.

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Another task being undertaken by the team is the creation of a new 1:25,000 map of the peninsula. A ftrst draft of this has been positively received by both monasteries and pilgrims. During this year's pilgrimage the team started the process of checking on the ground the accuracy of information gleaned from satellite images and other sources. We believe that making this new map is important because the Zwerger map is no longer being updated, the various maps currently available to the public are often inaccurate, and none is designed for walkers. The next steps will be the addition of maps to the path descriptions, publishing downloadable GPS tracks, and the creation of an online atlas of the Holy Mountain. Given the importance of accuracy, we need to test all of these thoroughly, and therefore plan to make 'beta' versions available to a number of 'testers'. We will incorporate their feedback and corrections plus our own checks during the 2013 pilgrimage, before making them generally available. In keeping with our aim of encouraging pilgrims to walk, all of these will continue to be available free of charge. Our special thanks are due to the monasteries which hosted us, Vatopedi, Hilandar, Koutloumousiou, Pantokrator, and Zographou, and to the team at SETE General Services in Athens for their help with travel arrangements. I would also like to thank all the 2012 team for their hard work, good humour, and strong companionship, though I admit there were one or two moments when I wondered if I might qualify for the catherding Olympics. In addition particular thanks are due to ftve FoMA members: Roland Baetens for wrangling 700 photos into a single easily usable disk, David Bayne for his meticulous work on the path descriptions, Dimitris Bakalis for his careful Greek translations, Peter Howorth for taking on the huge task of mapping the Holy Mountain, and Bob Allison for cheerfully coping with the Footpath Project's increasing demands on the FoMA website. We hope that the path-clearers will once again be able to visit the Holy Mountain for two weeks in May 20 13; the most likely dates are Friday 17 May to Friday 31 May. ANDREW BUCHANAN Westbury-sub-Mendip

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THE 2012 PILGRIMAGE TO SERBIA, KOSOVO, AND MONTENEGRO 'Sometimes a country will for days keep its secrets from a traveller, showing him nothing but its surfaces, its grass, its trees, the outside of its houses. Then suddenly it will throw him a key and tell him to go where he likes and see what he can.' So wrote Rebecca West on her travel in the Balkans in the 1930s. We were fortunate in our pilgrimage through Serbia, Kosovo, and Montenegro in 2012 to feel that some of its secrets were shared with us. Yet it was not only the secrets of the former Yugoslavia that were unlocked for us, as we also learned through the services and through each other. Our fmal day included an inspiring sermon from Metropolitan Kallistos about the joy of the Mother of God and the joy we fmd in the Mother of God which was matched in the smiles from Bishop Joanikije and his monks and nuns at Piva monastery. Joy was shown in all our travel, as we were welcomed and as we shared hospitality, as we shared services and as we shared the history and art of the monasteries. There was joy in the conversations of the pilgrims also as we spoke of so many things. The thirty or so of the group had diverse origins, including various jurisdictions of Orthodox and Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Quaker backgrounds. We came from the USA, Hawaii, .Mexico, Engla~d, Wales, France, and Greece. Some had a Serbian connection through family or career, some remembered the former Yugoslavia, while others were new to this area. The conversations on the coach and at mealtimes were full of learning, humour, and gratitude. There were those who could identify the plants and birds we were seeing, those who knew something of the history and those who knew something of the art, and those who conversed about matters interesting but unrelated to our journey. Metropolitan Kallistos had made his ftrst visit in 1970, followed by another visit about ten years ago, and his remarks on the changes added interest to our ~its. . We met ftrst in Belgrade where on Sunday Metropohtan KalliStos celebrated and preached at St Mark's Church on the Feast of the Transfiguration. For those of us coming from the wet summer of England the hot sun was very welcome and we went on to the wonderfully named '?' restaurant for our lunch. Here we started to learn the truth of Rebecca West's claim, 'We ate too large a lunch, as is apt to be one's

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habit in Belgrade, if one is man enough to stand up to peasant food made luxurious by urban lavishness of supply and a Turkish tradition of subtle and positive flavour.' This followed a visit to the Palace of Princess Ljubica, then after a rest we went to inspect the huge St Sava Church, still under construction although conceived in 1926 and begun in 1935. It was a short walk to the parish rooms where a local group named 'Bel Platno' gave an accomplished concert of Serbian music but with melodies that could be recognized from other Balkan, Greek, and European areas. Here, as we enjoyed our refreshments afterwards, we were greeted enthusiastically and emotionally by Professor Dimitrije Stefanovic who was happy to be reunited with former Oxford colleagues and friends. Our peregrination started with our setting off on Monday for Manasija and Ravanica monasteries. Under the expert guidance of Branislav Cvetkovic we learned that we were travelling backwards in time and in architectural styles as we journeyed south, beginning in Sumadija which was where the last principality of Serbia was established after the Battle of Kosovo. Manasija had been built and fortified by Despot Stefan Lazarevic and we were amazed by its eleven towers. Equally surprised were we to hear English as we found an Irish nun in the shop who knew Fr Stephen at Oxford and had many connections with friends of the Jenningses. Here we were introduced to the Morava style of architecture. The same style of architecture was seen at Ravanica, the first church in this style, dating from 1376, which was founded by Prince Lazar. He was infamously killed at the Battle of Kosovo, after which his body was brought to Ravanica. The Turks destroyed much of the original church and its frescos, but it was reconstructed in the eighteenth century. The holy relics of Prince Lazar have been put back in the church. We then made our way to the old capital of Krusevac where we visited the Lazarica Church which, with its fme wheel windows, is the most ornate example of the Morava school. It was built by Prince Lazar in 1370-4 and restored in the nineteenth century. Our next stop was our hotel in the spa resort of Vrnjacka Banja. The following day we were still in the same architectural period as we visited Ljubostinja, founded by Lazar's widow, Princess Milica, who established a convent and girls' school here. Milica became a nun and her tomb remains in the church there. Then after some brave driving off the main road we came to the later church of Kalenic, built in the first part of the fifteenth century and considered by many to be the height of the

Morava school. Here we marvelled at the frescos of the life of our Lord painted by Radoslav. After yet more food we were off to Zica where we were now to learn about the Raska style. The great church was the place for state occasions and especially for coronations. Here Stephen was crowned by his brother, St Sava. There are interesting historical questions concerning what part the then pope played in the giving of the crown. The bright red walls were striking, and its strategic position overlooking the confluence of the Ibar and the western Morava was obviously well chosen. The nuns sang as they entertained us in the refectory and allowed us privileged access to the upper parts of the church. Moving into the town of Kraljevo, we were wonderfully welcomed by Bishop Chrysostom of Zica who showed us his new church, still to be fmished, and with yet more rakija (the local spirit, usually home-produced) entertained us in his splendid rooms. Nikolai Velimirovic had been Bishop of Zica and we remembered both his great work for the Orthodox Church and his friendship with Bishop George Bell of Chichester. We said farewell to our spa hotel with its noisy night life and travelled to Studenica with its delightfully peaceful accommodation just outside the monastery walls. Reading the itinerary, some thought that this would be the most Spartan place of the trip. That was not our experience and even the fasting food of mushroom pastry for breakfast was a treat. On our way there we visited Gradac monastery. This had a western connection, being founded by Helena (]elena) of Anjou, which could be seen in the Romanesque and Gothic elements added to the Raska style of architecture. Studenica has the most stunning of frescos. That there are thousands of visitors viewing art in Italy and only a handful in Serbia demonstrates the ignorance of the west, but it was to our advantage. This walled monastery is one of the most important places in Serbia, recognized by its being listed as a World Heritage Monument in 1986. It was founded by the Grand Zupan Stefan Nemanja and built between 1183 and 1196. After abdicating, Stefan took monastic vows here and became monk Simeon before travelling to Mount Athos. He was buried here in 1208/9. As well as the main church of the Presentation of the Mother of God there is a smaller church dedicated to Sts Joachim and Anna. We enjoyed its small museum as well as its setting in the mountains above the river Studenica, where at least one of our number was brave enough to swim. On Thursday we set off for the drive to Metohija on our way to Kosovo.

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We had a wonderful visit to St Peter's Church, which claims to be the oldest in the country, dating from the eighth or ninth century, with its ancient graveyard. The priest was there to welcome us inside and show us the ancient baptismal pool and pillars. Then to Sopacani, close to Novi Pasar, where again the horizontal lines told us that it belonged to the Raska school. It was endowed by King Uros I and built in 1263-5 with its paintings completed by 1270. The frescos here are very important and are a major contribution of the Serbian Church to the world and to the Orthodox Church in particular. We marvelled at what had survived, considering that the Turks had destroyed large parts in the seventeenth century and it remained roofless until the twentieth, but it is now another UNESCO World Heritage Monument. We crossed the river, getting to Gracanica as the day was coming to an end. There the razor wire around the perimeter walls was a sad reminder of the situation, but once inside we enjoyed the quiet and joined the nuns in their evening service. Here there was a strong sense of the threat that this heritage could disappear. The part of Pristina where our hotel was located looked very modem and we noticed all the money spent on buildings, not least on the hotel where we were passing the night. Then we were off to Pee, the seat of the Patriarch, who moved there from Zica about 1290. Now it is home to a community of twenty nuns, and we heard the testimony of Mother Fevronia who had been accepted into the church by St (then Bishop) Nikolai Velimirovic. The Vicar Bishop Johvan made us most welcome and again allowed us to venerate the relics and to view the wonderful frescos. There were three churches linked by a common narthex. The chapel of St Nicholas by their side was almost cartoon-like with its scenes from his life. Old postcards showed us that the outer coat of red was a relatively recent restoration. Our last monastery in Kosovo, Decani, guarded by KFOR troops, was another example of the Raska school, though we could also see the influence of western architecture. The present Igoumen Sava gave us a very warm welcome. He emphasized their ministry was to all in the neighbourhood and that it was a holy shrine for all who lived there and he explained that, as the building was partly east in the west and partly west in the east, so the continuing ministry of the community was to be a bridge. The frescos here had remained practically untouched and had only been cleaned in the last century. Here we were able to venerate the relics of St Stefan Decanski who with his son, Dusan, had founded the church.

Igoumen Sava said they promoted the site as a place of reconciliation, as taught by King Stefan. Metropolitan Kallistos was again delighted to be back, having visited here forty-two years ago. The scenery was always changing and our drive over the mountains to Kolasin in Montenegro was spectacular through healthy evergreen forests covering the mountainsides. The staff at the hotel were most obliging, for we arrived as they should have been ending their shift, but we enjoyed a good meal and settled into our comfortable chalet hotel savouring the mountain air. Our ftrst stop in Montenegro was at Moraca monastery. Here we saw later, but wonderfully preserved, frescos, since geography had protected the monastery from the ravages that most of the buildings we had already visited had experienced in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Of particular interest was the often reproduced painting of St Elijah (Ilija) in the desert being fed by the raven. Yet more rakija and hospitality before we set off for lunch , which defeated a number of our pilgrims and was followed by a farewell to the Greek contingent. After a short drive we received a royal welcome at the Cetinjski monastery with Metropolitan Kallistos being escorted in with the bells ringing. We were given the privilege of being able to venerate the hand of St John the Forerunner and a part of the Holy Cross. Some made visits to the Royal Palace in this historic former capital, others toured the art and historical museums where an ancient and much-darkened icon, said to be from the hand of St Luke, was kept, while others just sat and enjoyed the sunshine in the quiet, clean square. We experienced another change of scenery as we swept down to the coast and the town of Budva for a hotel on the seafront. We drove north a little for liturgy in Kotor, followed by a sumptuous breakfast (wine and more rakija included!), and then had a walking tour around a city which showed a blending of western and Byzantine styles and influences. This was demonstrated by the remains of the frescos in the present Roman Catholic cathedral of St Tryphon where we were guided by its priest. At Kotor we were joined by Dimitri's son, Sava, and his friend, Josh, who were en route cycling from England t o Thessaloniki. After this we set off round the bay or ria (the largest southern European ftord, being 28 kilometres long and surrounded by mountains up to 1,900 metres high) for another large lunch , and then to the monastery of Savina for yet more hospitality (and rakija!) before returning to Budva. In the morning we had a walking tour of the old city and amidst all the tourist

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development we were shown the churches. Then we were off on a spectacular journey to Ostrog. Everything about this place is in the superlative. The long winding road leads up the mountain (fortunately we were decanted into two minibuses rather than ask our two excellent drivers to navigate the bends and meet the oncoming traffic in our large coach) to the Upper Monastery, sitting on the cliff like a swallow's nest. Here, as we venerated the body of St Basil of Ostrog, we saw the long line of people waiting to make their prayers and seek his aid. It was a sad reminder of how the Reformation had denuded England of its public religion. We then made our way to the Lower Monastery where again we were given hospitality before moving on to our lunch which was waiting for us at the bottom of the mountain road! This was followed by a wonderfully atmospheric preparation for the Feast of the Dormition at the monastery of St Luka with inevitably more hospitality, before we travelled on to Niksic. Dimitri's daughter Thalia was performing in that city and a number of us set off to attend, but alas only one pilgrim had the intelligence to fmd the correct venue. However, many of us felt all the better for skipping supper! The next day we experienced different scenery as we visited the Piva valley, arriving at the monastery dedicated to the Feast of the Dormition where Metropolitan Kallistos joined Bishop Joanikije to concelebrate the eponymous liturgy. The remarkable thing here was that the whole sixteenth-century building had been moved stone by stone to its present position as its original site was flooded to provide power for a hydroelectric plant. The church was full and, as already mentioned, we had another uplifting address from the Metropolitan, pointing us to the ministry of the Mother of God not only to the church but to us as individuals. This was followed by yet more lavish hospitality and some wonderful entertainment, including the playing of the traditional stringed instrument known as the gusle, which was welcomed most warmly by the gathering in another very public display of Orthodoxy. The guslar apparently interprets traditional epic poetry to relate it to the contemporary situation. We said our farewells and set off for Podgorica where we found ourselves in a very modem city in a high-tech hotel. The consensus of those who had been on many FoMA pilgrimages was that this one was the highpoint and that Branislav had been the best of guides, for he had with erudition, charm, and patience shepherded us through a journey that had enriched our geographical and historical, artistic and spiritual knowledge. We were grateful for Dimitri's careful planning of an epic and enlightening tour.

Each pilgrim will have his/her own highlights but no one will forget the warm hospitality of the monks and nuns, the fact that their numbers were growing and that many of them were relatively young, the worship and the encouraging numbers taking communion, the beautiful frescos and architecture, the opportunity for veneration of the relics and icons, the open religious behaviour of an Orthodox society, the beautiful natural surroundings in which the buildings were set, full of flora and fauna. It will not be surprising if like Metropolitan Kallistos many of us shall also return, though we may not wait forty-two years to do so.

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TERRY HEMMING Andover

SYNDESMOS AND MOUNT ATHOS The Nineteenth Spiritual Ecology Camp Zograpbou Monastery: 26 ]uly-5 August 2012 Fire on Atbos Barely a week after the completion of this year's Spiritual Ecology Camp at Zographou Monastery, a catastrophic fire broke out in the pineforested area of the holy peninsula between Zographou and Hilandar. The nearby town of Ouranoupolis was evacuated for a day and for twenty-four hours the passenger boats were ordered not to sail to or from Daphne. The conflagration began on Wednesday 8 August with flames from near Jovanica surging to within a few kilometres of Hilandar. Around 5,000 hectares of woodland were destroyed by the blaze. It was not clear how the fire started but a forty-five-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of causing it by discarding a cigarette - allegedly a deliberate act of revenge for a reduction in wages - among dry scrub. Around twenty-five fire-fighting units were deployed to allay the wildfire in the region. They were hampered by strong winds blowing through the forest; the gales' constant and unpredictable directional changes exacerbated the danger. Four water-dousing airplanes and several helicopters assisted in the efforts to extinguish the blaze. Greek fireman and soldiers, assisted by frre fighters from Serbia, Bulgaria, and Russia, worked together to stub out the frre. Monks from all of the monasteries, operating on a shift basis, also helped to subdue the flames. Finally, on Sunday 12 August, the blaze was fully brought under control after liturgical processions with holy icons were held by Elder Metodije of Hilandar. After months of a dry and rainless summer, a rumble of thunder - totally unforeseen - was followed by a thickening of dark clouds precisely over the burning areas of the forest but nowhere else. The monks considered the sudden rain to be a miracle of the Vrrgin, in order to keep her garden safe. 'The frre stopped at the point where prayers were offered', reported Hieromonk Dositheos. 'Lightning began to strike at sea. A cloud rose from the island of Thasos and hovered near the monastery. The Abbot of Hilandar approached the frre with the Holy Cross and an icon - a copy of the miraculous Tricberousa. He blessed Holy Water and sprinkled the surrounding area with it. Within half an hour, the rain had extinguished the fire.'

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Zograpbou The monastery of Zographou ranks ninth in the ordering of the Holy Mountain and is occupied by about two dozen monks. Located on the south-western side of the Athonite peninsula, it is dedicated to St George because of a legend that an icon of the warrior saint mysteriously painted itself on a prepared board (zograpbos = painter in Greek). According to tradition, the monastery was founded during the tenth century by three Bulgarian brothers, the monks Moses, Aaron, and John, from Ohrid. While the monastery initially was inhabited by Bulgarian, Greek, and Serbian monks, since 1845 the brotherhood has essentially been composed of Bulgarians. The earliest record concerning the monastery is from 980. During its early years the monastery was well supported by Bulgarian rulers, especially Ivan As en II and Ivan Alexander. Zographou also received land endowments from the Byzantine emperors and Serbian and Romanian voivodes. As was the fat e of many of the Athonit e monasteries at the time, Zographou also suffered from raids by pirates in the Mediterranean Sea during the thirteenth century. In 1275 Catalan pirates launched a major raid in which the monastery was burnt down and twenty-six monks were killed. These included the abbot Thomas, as well as the monks Barsanuphios, Kyril, Micah, Simon, Hilarion, James, Job , Cyprian, Sabbas, James, Martinian, Cosmas, Sergius, Paul, Menas, loasaph, Ioanikios, Anthony, Euthymios, Dometian, Partenios , and four laymen. The reason for this attack was the opposition of the Athonite monks to the Union of Lyon of 1274, which the Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologos had supported for political reasons. Since the emperor could not attack the Greek monks without incurring the wrath of his own people, he vented his frustration on the Slavic monks. Having hanged the Protos, and having killed many monks in Vatopedi, lviron, and other monasteries, the Latins attacked Zographou. The martyrdom of the twenty-six is commemorated annually on 10/23 October. The monastery buildings were reconstructed in the late thirteenth century with financial aid from the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II Palaeologos. The monastery was also given numerous metocbia in parts of Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, and modern-day Turkey. Further major construction in the monastery began in the sixteenth century, with many of the existing buildings dating from the middle of the eighteenth century. The south and east wings were erected in 1750 and 1758 respectively.

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A small church was constructed in 1764 and a larger one in 1801. The north and west wings were built in the late nineteenth century and with the raising of the Sts Cyril and Methodius Church and bell tower, major construction was completed by 1896. Today's katholikon is a building of the nineteenth century, although it follows the usual Athonite triple-apse plan. It was frescoed in 1817. The monastery features eight chapels within the precincts, and eight more outside. These chapels are dedicated to the Virgin of Akathistos, Sts Cyril and Methodius, the Transfiguration, StJohn the Baptist, St Demetrios, Sts Cosmas and Damian, the Forty Martyrs, and the Archangels. Northwest of the katholikon is the pbiale for the blessing of the waters and opposite the katholikon is the refectory, built into the west wall. The collection in the monastery library constitutes a comprehensive archive of Bulgarian culture. It contains 388 Slavonic manuscripts, 126 in Greek, and some 10,000 printed books. One can see the original draft of Paisy of Hilandar's Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya (mid-eighteenth century) and other manuscripts from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, including copies the Passions of St Naum of Ohrid and of St Petka. Two medieval Bulgarian royal charters, the Zograph Charter and the Rila Charter, were also discovered in the monastery's library. The monastery also has two miraculous icons of St George and icons of the Virgin of the Akathistos and the Virgin Epakouousa as well as assorted heirlooms and ecclesiastical vessels.

The work teams The nineteen volunteer workers at this year's monastery clean-up were from all continents: Australia (New South Wales), Africa (Kenya and Zimbabwe), South America (Brazil), North America (Canada), Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, Romania, Russia, and Belarus), Western Europe (England and Ireland), and Asia (South Korea). As a group we set sail at 09.45 from Ouranoupolis on 26 August and arrived at Zographou's wharf about an hour later. Waiting for us was a large, dusty lorry which, to everyone's surprise, was furnished with four solid park benches, two on each side of the van. These seats, though grimy, were elegantly adorned with intricately wrought-iron arm and back rests; they looked altogether jejune in this context but I could not stop myself from imagining that these antique benches must have been precisely the same as those upon which Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz and Ivan Nikolaevich Bezdomny

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were seated, debating, when the demonic Professor Woland approached them in Moscow's park of the Patriarch's Ponds. 1 Our encounters with the monks of Zographou were, needless to say, of a much more positive nature than those of the three men by the Moscow ponds. After a hot and bouncy journey, we entered the monastery and were cheerfully greeted by Hieromonk Vtssarion, second-in-command, and by Fr George, the guestmaster. Addressing us in excellent English, the fathers proclaimed this first day to be a day of rest and relaxation. Fr George began the initiation process admirably by providing us with coffee, tsipouro, loukoumi, and ice-cold water. We were shown our rooms: simple but clean, with four to eight beds per room. Mosquito screens were highly effective, but the shutting down of electric power daily from 22.00 until 05.00 often proved to be hazardous. Laptops and phone monitors had to be read under torchlight. The lavatories and washing facilities were mostly of the Turkish variety whereby cabinets had lengths of hose to be used for showering. On the first day we held a 'meet and greet' session and discussed the programme. Each of us was assigned to one of three working areas: the forest; the gardens and orchards; and the corridors, kitchen, and refectory. The forest work was tough. Team members were required to collect precut logs, now lying on the ground, and stack them into boxes which were then piled on to the back of a forest truck. There were many hundreds of logs to gather and this laborious task continued for the entire duration of the mission. The young men eventually discovered that the chain method of passing the logs from hand to hand proved to be the most effective method for this undertaking. The main difficulty was that much of the gathering required carrying the crates of logs down a fairly steep hill, at the bottom of which waited the truck. In the gardens and orchards the contingent spent its time gathering fruit and vegetables: peaches, melons, plums, pumpkins, peppers, tomatoes. They were also asked to discard old cucumbers and plant new ones. Similarly, they removed inedible cabbage leaves before unearthing the cabbages themselves. A particularly onerous task was to pick com from two huge plantations - an occupation that lasted several days. The fruit and vegetables were placed in boxes, lifted on to a van, and taken to 1

Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita (Frankfurt, 1967), chapter one.

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the monastery. Once the area was cleared, appropriate preparation was made for the new crops. There were two garden/orchard areas, one beside the monastic complex itself and the other by the arsanas. Those assigned to the buildings had to clear very large rooms full of debris, rubbish, and broken wooden planks. Located on the uppermost floor, the cleaners simply tossed the rubble out of the window where it crash-landed in a huge heap in the central yard. Other jobs included cleaning the wooden doors and frames, polishing the glassware along the long, dirty, unused corridors, and mopping the floors. We were greatly encouraged in our tasks when, from time to time, generous amounts of watermelon, stone fruit, chocolate, juice, and lemonade were made available. Short breaks were frequent and effective in sustaining morale and igniting conscientious dedication. Working hours were from straight after breakfast (around 08.30) until 15.00, when we rested before Vespers or took a walk around the monastic grounds. One could always pop into the guestmaster's reception room to have a cup of tea or coffee and some biscuits, nuts, or loukoumi. Many of the workers voluntarily continued with their tasks throughout the afternoon. Holidays - Sundays and feasts - provided opportunities for visits to nearby monasteries. Zographou is in an isolated area and the closest monastic houses are two to three hours away. Several people, myself included, went to Vatopedi for the feast of the Prophet Elijah. Following the Divine Liturgy, a very long procession with priests and pilgrims carrying relics, banners, crosses, and miraculous icons of the Theotokos formed a huge caterpillar parade that covered an area requiring an hour of slow, steady walking. At significant points, the procession stopped for the singing of a litany by the entire crowd. Services in Zographou's katholikon were conducted according to the familiar Athonite pattern: 04.00 for Matins and Liturgy; 18.00 for Vespers; Compline after the evening meal. The singing in church was remarkably introspective with no attempt at vocal display or virtuosic bombast. Its contemplative sonority was ideal for liturgical prayer. We were provided with breakfast (tea, jam, honey, juice, bread, and margarine) even on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, since our work was strenuous and we needed to muster and to conserve energy. For this reason we were, by exception, given oil on fast days. The meals were ample and there was always salad and fruit on the table.

On the last day of our stay the Elder, Fr Amvrosi, sat with us and told us many interesting stories about his own life on the Mountain and about the transformation of the monastery into a flourishing coenobium. Zographou is a lively and accommodating community; we will certainly return in the future for another ecology camp. 2

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DIMITRI CONOMOS Oxford

2

For notices on the previous camps, kindly refer to the relevant pages in the Annual Report of the Friends of Mount Athas (1994-2011). Thanks once again are due to the Friends of Mount Athos, whose assistance contributed enormously to the success of this event.

BOOK REVIEWS

This is a first-rate book, which has been very well prepared and researched by its various contributors and beautifully produced; it is also very good value for money. Under the aegis of Bishop Kallistos Ware, who contributes a foreword, these contributors come from across the Church and across the Atlantic. This symposium is a truly ecumenical production of the highest significance. For this is the first time that a careful academic hinterland has been created to enable due consideration of the significance of the Pbilokalia as a seminal collection of ascetic texts, with a rich history, of importance initially within the Orthodox Church, but more recently attracting use and appreciation within the Catholic and Protestant churches. Its preface pays tribute to the foundational work of translation by Bishop Kallistos Ware and others in the English-speaking world: four volumes of the Pbilokalia have now been translated into English, and the fmal volume is awaited with eager expectation; their translation rests, where possible, upon the modern critical Greek text. As Bishop Kallistos has observed, it is astonishing that this collection of spiritual writings, stretching back over a millennium and compiled in the eighteenth century in relative obscurity, should now speak so urgently to the spiritual needs of the modern Christian world. This symposium is divided into three discrete and substantial sections, dealing with the history of the collection, its theological foundations, and its spiritual practices. The history of how the Pbilokalia came to be is carefully examined by three contributors, outlining the intentions and aspirations of its Athonite monastic initiators, St Nikodimos and St Makarios, who first published the work in 1782. They demonstrate some of its likely antecedents in the monasteries of Mount Athos, and speculate about the principles of its compilation, noting that some famous ascetic texts were not included, perhaps because they were already available. The Slavonic edition of the Philokalia, which incorporates many though not all of the texts included by the Greek monastic fathers, was issued in 1793 by Paisy Velichkovsky. This text had a profound influence on Russian

and other Slavonic spiritual traditions in the nineteenth century; and it was through this route that the earliest select translations drawn from the Philokalia became available in English just after the Second World War. The whole story is told in some detail with meticulous references. The first part of the symposium concludes with a fascinating account of the way in which Fr Dumitru Staniloae pioneered the translation of the Philoka/ia into Romanian, during and after the communist era, adding significantly however to the range of ascetic writings included within it. The section considering the theology of the Phi/oka/ia is rich indeed. It deals with its roots in the Bible and the way in which its writers relate to the spiritual meaning of the text of the Scriptures: in many ways the manifest unity in diversity of the Philokalia mirrors that of the Bible itself. The contribution by Rowan Williams in particular is masterly, in which he lucidly outlines the theological world of the Philokalia, demonstrating its inherent spiritual unity. No less striking is the contribution by one of the editors that considers the singular influence of St Maximos the Confessor, whose writings constitute most of the second volume of the Phi/oka/ia in its English translation. The consideration by another contributor of the ecclesiology inherent in this long spiritual tradition is equally important, not least for correcting any misapprehension that the path of ascetic prayer enshrined in the Athonite tradition and embodied in the Phi/okalia can be attempted outside the sacramental life and discipline of the Church. The third part of this symposium ranges over a number of interesting topics, indicating along the way the relevance of the Phi/oka/ia to spiritual and pastoral needs today. There is a judicious consideration of the place of the Jesus Prayer within this tradition, and a perceptive analysis of the demands of spiritual authority in the writings attributed in the Philoka/ia to St Symeon the New Theologian. Three of the contributions reflect as much about the modern American scene, however, as they do about the text that they are considering; but their reflections are of interest and contemporary relevance nonetheless. The last two contributions distil much wisdom: about the role of women in the Philokalia; and about its antecedent roots in the ascetic traditions of the earliest Christian monasteries in Egypt and Gaza. The discussion of the significance of the Virgin Mary in the Athonite tradition is sensitive, well informed, and of great spiritual value and relevance for modern attitudes towards gender within Christianity. The fmal contributor is surely correct in highlighting the underlying significance of the spiritual

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The Pbilokalia: A Classic Text of Orthodox Spirituality. Edited by Brock Bingaman and Bradley Nassif. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. 368 pages. £22.50 paperback. ISBN 978-0-19-539027-8.

teaching found in the letters of the Gaza fathers, Barsanouphios and John, who lived in the sixth century and whose writings were certainly known to the Athonite compilers of the Philokalia. St Nikodimos prepared an edition of their entire correspondence comprising 850 letters, which was published at Venice in 1816. This is altogether a fascinating and outstanding volume, richly endowed with copious references. As such it should provide a sure springboard for further research into the provenance and influence of the Philokalia. But this is not its ultimate purpose in the minds of its contributors and editors, any more than it was of those who initially compiled it , either in Greek or in Slavonic. Rather- Tolle lege! For the Philokalia is a demanding handbook for a lifetime of prayer, suffering, and disciplined application; a sure guide, however, to the narrow and afflicted way up the Mountain of the Lord that leads to the life that is Life indeed.

The English reader has had to wait a long time for this, the ftrst fulllength biography of the ever-memorable Elder Paisios (1924-94), one of the great luminaries of twentieth-century Athos. The author, Hieromonk Isaac, a spiritual child of the elder, had begun writing in 1996 and had nearly completed a ftrst draft when he himself reposed on 3 July 1998. Bereft of their elder and not a little daunted by his legacy, his brotherhood on the Holy Mountain took some time to regroup and apply themselves to the still unfinished book. The task was no doubt greater than it at ftrst appeared, given the wealth of material made available to them by the elder's numerous friends and contacts in the form of letters, cassettes, photographs, notes, and testimonies, and the responsibility of compiling what is in effect the 'authorized' Life of a potential saint will have weighed heavily on them. In any case Athonites are fortunate to live in a world without deadlines and delivery dates: for them it is much more important

that a job should be done well than that it should be done quickly. And in this instance it has been done very well indeed, as may be judged from the book's publication history so far: the ftrst Greek edition was published in 2004 and ftve years later it was already in its seventh edition! The book is a long one, running to more than 700 pages, but not disproportionately long in relation to the richness of its subject-matter. It is divided into two parts of approximately equal length. The ftrst part, entitled 'His Life', tracks the elder's 'journey of spiritual struggle' from his birth in Cappadocia to his death at the convent of Souroti near Thessaloniki. Its fourteen chapters are arranged chronologically according to the various locations in which the elder lived. The second part, entitled 'Themes', abandons the chronological arrangement of the ftrst part in favour of a thematic presentation of the ways in which the grace of God manifested itself in terms of the elder's 'VIrtues' , 'Spiritual Gifts', and 'Offerings'. Such a bipartite arrangement potentially runs the risk of duplication, and indeed there is some , but for a book of this extent commendably little. Editorially then the brotherhood have done their job extremely well (apart from the regrettable omission of an index) . But so have the translators. So often translated works on Orthodox spirituality are marred by infelicities and mistakes of language, but in the book under review they are almost entirely absent . (Among the very few I noticed were 'convicted' for 'convinced' on p. 24 and 'beach trees' for 'beech trees' on p. 100.) In fact t he text throughout its length is a pleasure to read and could be mistaken for an English original. This is not the place to give a summary of the elder's long and eventful life, even if there were space for it, but the circumstances of both his birth and his death are interesting; and I shall pick out one or two episodes in between that struck me as worthy of comment. He was born on 25 July 1924 in the village of Farasa, Cappadocia, where his father was the mayor. The people of Farasa were a God-fearing lot and proud of their ascetic tradition which could be traced back to the Cappadocian Fathers. This tradition culminated in the person of the village priest at the time of the elder's birth, Fr Arsenios the Wonderworker (1841-1924), who was canonized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1986 and gives his name to the monastery that published the book. At the time of his baptism the elder's parents planned to name him Christos but the priest persuaded them to name the child Arsenios after himself, prophesying that he would one day become a monk like him. Forty days after his birth the entire

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DOUGLAS DALES Oxford

Elder Paisios ofMountAtbos. By Hieromonk Isaac. Translated by Hieromonk Alexis (Trader) and Fr Peter Heers. Chalkidiki: Holy Monastery of St Arsenios the Cappadocian, 2012. 719 pages. Numerous black and white illustrations. $45.00 hardback. ISBN 978-960-89764-3-6.

population of Farasa was required to abandon their homeland in the exchange of peoples that was forced upon the Christians living in Turkey, and Fr Arsenios, like a second Moses, put himself at the head of his flock for their 400-mile trek to the Aegean coast. Forty days after their arrival in Greece they had reached the island of Corfu when Fr Arsenios died (his relics are now at Souroti). But the child Arsenios with his parents fmally settled in the town of Konitsa, high up in the Pindus mountains near the Albanian border, rugged country that breeds rugged people. We know from Nicholas Gage's gripping autobiographical novel Eleni (1983) what it was like to grow up in that part of Greece during the Civil War. It is no surprise to learn that Arsenios was captured by the communists and suffered great hardships in prison. Even worse were the conditions that he endured during his two years' military service: no food for as long as thirteen days, frequent dehydration, and intense bitter cold. What is amazing is that amid all these hardships Arsenios had the strength to subject himself to a spiritual struggle that included a rigorous regime of prayer and fasting. From an early age the elder's one ambition was to become a monk and before he had even taken off his army uniform he was off to Mount Athos in search of a spiritual father. He moved around a great deal during his early years both on and off the Mountain: he was given the rason at Esphigmenou and the small schema at Philotheou, he returned to Konitsa to restore the monastery of Stomio, and he even spent two years in the Sinai desert. He loved the desert but his health was breaking down and he returned to Athos, this time to a hermitage at the skete of lviron. He was happiest when leading a hesychastic life: 'I've lived all the different ways of monastic life', he wrote, 'and I've seen that everything comes together in stillness'; but he was not to be left alone for long. Among his neighbours at the skete were the hieromonks Vasileios and Gregorios who had been invited by the Holy Community to revive the idiorrhythmic monastery of Stavronikita whose brotherhood had dwindled to a few monks. They asked the elder's advice on the matter and he agreed to help them. For a year then he joined the hieromonks in the monastery, helping to put matters in order for the newly established cenobitic brotherhood, and thus he made a valuable and practical contribution to the renewal of monastic life which first manifested itself at Stavronikita and was later to spread to all the other monasteries. But life inside the monastery was not to the elder's taste and, when his own spiritual father,

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the Russian ascetic Fr Tikhon, died in 1969, he was happy to take his place in the nearby hermitage of the Holy Cross. From his ascetic's cell he continued to take an interest in the progress of the monastery and, as his fame spread, several young men joined its brotherhood in order to be close to him. In between receiving visitors, carving icons, dealing with his correspondence, and managing his own rule of prayer the elder found time to write a biography of St Arsenios the Cappadocian. This left him with the desire to revisit the land of his birth and so in 1972 together with Abbot Vasileios of Stavronikita he made a pilgrimage to Farasa and Constantinople where he marvelled at the churches and was moved by the humility of Patriarch Demetrios. Five years later the two Athonites travelled together again, this time to Australia, where the elder stressed the need to found monasteries in order to provide people with spiritual support. For a hermit of the Athonite desert the elder was quite well travelled, but whenever there was discussion about roads and cars on the Holy Mountain he took a finn line, saying: 'They even want to build a road on the ridge that would go across the whole mountain. Listen to that! Don't they understand? You could say it's like hacking away at the Mountain's backbone with an axe .. . But the Mother of God won't let her garden be destroyed.' In 1979 the elder moved again, within the Mountain, to a hermitage called Pangouda belonging to the monastery of Koutloumousiou. He had hoped for a quiet cell on the south side of the peninsula but he agreed to settle in a more accessible location for the sake of the pilgrims who now flowed like a river. Soon he was overwhelmed by their numbers and he found himself at the limit of his endurance. He considered various solutions: leaving the Mountain, even going to the USA; but then a change came over him and he let it be known that he had received a divine command, quoting Isaiah: 'Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.' He received similar instructions from the Mother of God: 'My job is to protect your border [here on Athos], and I do it. So you, [for your part,] are to receive people without exception, because they are in need.' The elder humbly accepted his role and no one was ever sent away, though he often made sacramental confession a precondition before agreeing to see people. As a young monk the elder had suffered from pulmonary problems and internal bleeding, resulting in the removal in 1966 of most of his left lung. As he grew older, the problems recurred and gave him a great deal

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of pain, though by concentrating on prayer he was able to ignore his pain. 'As we have seen,' writes his biographer, 'asceticism and pain were the elder's lifelong companions.' In October 1993 he left the Mountain for the convent of Souroti (which he had helped to found) to celebrate the vigil for St Arsenios, as was his custom. While he was there, his medical condition deteriorated and cancer was diagnosed. He underwent surgery in February 1994, after which he returned to Souroti to be cared for by the sisters. He had hoped to return to the Holy Mountain, to die inconspicuously in his spiritual homeland, but his condition suddenly worsened and it was not possible to move him. Enduring great pain but never complaining and glorifying God to the end, he died peacefully on 12 July 1994, the feast of Sts Peter and Paul by the Old Calendar. According to his wishes, no mourners attended his funeral and he was buried in secret behind the church of St Arsenios. Since his death the elder's tomb has become a place of pilgrimage, and indeed of healing, as has his hermitage on Athos. He lived a life of utter humility and self-sacrifice, for the most part in total seclusion and stillness, and yet he is hailed as 'a professor of the desert' and 'a practical teacher of the monastic life'. Apart from his occasional overseas visits, he did not leave the Holy Mountain to teach, but rather he stayed in the desert practising asceticism while God led people from every continent to him. Apart from a twelvemonth spell at Stavronikita in 1968, he took no part in the revival of cenobitic monasticism which was going on all around him, and yet his contribution to the renewal of spiritual life on the Mountain was incalculable. As we read in this book, which is in every way a worthy memorial to this saint of our times, 'Monks, ascetic elders, and even abbots from all over the Holy Mountain would go to the elder. He was a trainer of monastics, because he was able to bear and to heal their thoughts. He was, behind the scenes, one of the most important factors in the repopulation of Mount Athos.' GRAHAM SPEAKE Oxford

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Icons of the Holy Monastery of Karakallou. Edited by Euthymios N. Tsigaridas. Mount Athos: I.M. Karakallou, 2011. 549 pages, 241 colour illustrations. €97.00 hardback. ISBN 978-960-99914-0-7. In Greek, with English translations of the picture captions and of Chapter 2.

This splendidly illustrated volume coincides with Karakallou's second millennium since its foundation. (The earliest historical document to refer to Karakallou monastery - a deed of the Protos Nikiphoros - dates from 1018, and describes an already well-established ruling monastery, clearly founded somewhat earlier.) The book's subject is 152 portable icons from the monastery's collection, dating from the late fourteenth to the early nineteenth century. The opening chapter describes the monastery's history, while the second presents an overview of its portable icons. The following six chapters are devoted to the individual icons, grouped chronologically and according to stylistic schools. Karakallou monastery does not now possess many old icons, a fact no doubt due to its devastation by the Franks and then by pirates in the thirteenth century, again by pirates prior to a rebuilding in the sixteenth century, and then a great fire in 1875. It has had its fair share of fires. From Stavronikita I myself witnessed in 1988 another devastating fire in its newly completed guest quarters. Only one icon survives from before the Turkish occupation of Athos in 1423- a splendid but much-eroded icon of Christ from the last quarter of the fourteenth century. The next oldest icons are three from the late ftfteenthlearly sixteenth century. The great majority covered by this book therefore date from the middle of the sixteenth to the first half of the nineteenth century. This makes t he book a valuable visual resource for those who want to understand how the postByzantine icon tradition fared. It is only a pity that none of the studies attempts to analyse in any detail the changes that created the various icon schools -vicissitudes in the spiritual, social, and academic culture, stylistic influences from the west or elsewhere, and so on. The editor, Euthymios Tsigaridas, divides post-Byzantine iconography on Athos into three periods. The frrst extends from 1424 to 1535, when production tends to shift away from cities towards the provinces of northern Greece. The second period, characterized by the Cretan style, stretches from 1535, when Theophanes the Cretan arrives on Athos, to 1711. Most of the monastery's icons of this period are made either by Athonite ateliers

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of the Cretan school or by painters visiting from north-western Greece. The Cretan school remained the dominant influence throughout Greece from soon after the fall of Constantinople until the end of the seventeenth century. Probably because Crete was protected from Turkish occupation by Venetian rule until 1669, it managed to sustain an icon tradition with some continuity with the Byzantine golden age. The third phase runs from 1711 until 1859. In this time western influence gradually grows, with the notable exception of Dionysius of Fouma and his short-lived school, active on Athos in the early 1700s. Hieromonk Dionysius, a scholar by the standards of the time as well as an iconographer, called for a return to traditional iconography with Emanuel Panselinos (active c.1290) as its inspiration. But more of this important painter later. Icons of this period otherwise gradually became influenced by folk art, which was in tum influenced by elements of western art, especially as conveyed through engravings. Their relatively low cost and abundance made these engravings the main form of western art known in Greece at the time. The ftrst large group of Karakallou's icons are from the latter half of the sixteenth century, when the monastery's katholikon along with its iconostasis was renovated. Twenty-one of these icons, of the Cretan style, are illustrated and described. To my mind the most important icons in Karakallou's possession, together with the much-damaged fourteenth-century icon of Christ, are those by Dionysius of Fouma. The book devotes a whole chapter and thirty-ftve illustrations to his work. Dionysius and his helpers produced the great Deisis for the monastery's iconostasis, plus eleven other icons, including the four large despotic icons. This makes Karakallou the holder of the biggest collection in the world of portable icons by Dionysius of Fouma. Amidst the traditional but often stiff Cretan icons and the folkish or naturalistic tendencies of other post-Byzantine iconography, Dionysius's icons stand out for their high level of skill and their faithfulness to the Byzantine iconographic tradition. Although Dionysius self-confessedly based his work on the masterpieces that Manuel Panselinos painted for the Protaton of Karyes around 1290, he does not slavishly copy his muse. So who was Dionysius of Fouma? He was born around 1670 in Fouma, central Greece. At the age of twelve he goes to study at Constantinople, before moving as a monk to Athos, aged sixteen. In 1711 he builds and

frescoes his own kelli in Karyes, dedicated to StJohn the Forerunner. It still exists. He is an active iconographer throughout Athos at this time, painting for example the chapel of St Demetrius at Vatopedi in 1721, and then the aforementioned icons for Karakallou in 1722. Four other Athonite monasteries possess icons by him. In 1724 he returns to Fouma, where he paints the interior of the church of the Transfiguration. He returns to Athos in 1731, restores his kelli, and probably at this time also writes his well-known and influential manual for iconographers. Dionysius then returns to Fouma in 1734 with the hope of founding a school. He goes back to Athos in 1739 and in the following year continues on to Constantinople, where he seeks and receives a blessing and patronage for his institution. In that or the following year he returns to Fouma to found it. In 1743 the school is dedicated to the Life-giving Spring (Zoodochos Pigi). Dionysius probably dies in Fouma in 1745 or 1746. It is a mystery why Dionysius's lead t o invigorate iconography by going directly to extant Byzantine works was not followed. His influence wanes as quickly as it begins. The raiment in the illustrated 1769 icon of St Nicholas by one of his followers, for example, already shows marked decadence in the excess of its decoration. This is a book whose quality is a worthy celebration of Karakallou's icons and its millennium birthday. It can be ordered through the dedicated website, www.iconskarakallou.gr.

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AIDAN HART Shrewsbury

Techniques of Icon and Wall Painting: Egg Tempera, Fresco, Secco. By Aidan Hart. Leominster: G racewing, 20 11. 460 pages. Numerous colour illustrations. £40.00 hardback. ISBN 978-0852442 159.

A ftrst glance through the chapter titles in the wonderfully illustrated book by Aidan Hart, with a Foreword His Royal Highness Prince Charles and a Preface by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, might not sufftce to enable the reader to discover their exact content. They are as follows: ( 1) The Theology of the Icon; (2) A History of Icon-painting; (3) Designing Icons; (4) The Icon-screen; ( 5) Proportion and Geometry; (6) Making the Wooden Panel; (7) Gesso; (8) Colour and Pigments; (9) Gilding Techniques; (10) The

Brush; ( 11) Painting in Egg Tempera; ( 12) Varnishing; ( 13) The Theology of Mural Schema; (14) Fresco; (15) Secco; (16) Photographic Art-work. Only by reading the book will one fmd out that, for example, Chapter 2 contains just succinct information with regard to some schools of iconography; the author, in all honesty, draws the reader's attention to this fact and supplies valuable bibliography for further reading. His intention is mainly to teach his students and any other icon-painting devotee how such a work should be undertaken. Hart reveals to them the rich 'symbolism of colours and design' (to quote from Prince Charles's Foreword). He reminds the reader, for instance, that in the colours of the vestments Christ is wearing, red represents the heavenly and blue the earthly; and he states that the Crucifixion icon (fig. 147 on p. 89) reflects in its geometry a connection between the two realms: the arch is used as a device to suggest the heavenly and the square the domain of created things. These two geometrical figures are usually present in any church and the iconographer-author points out this reality (p. 89). Typically of him, he goes beyond the symbolism of colour and geometry and builds a theological metaphor: he refers to the crucilled Christ in the icon in question as being 'like a second sleeping Adam' (p. 89). Another type of symbol is employed in the depiction of St Anthony the Great (fig. 52, p. 4 7) where the saint is represented in prayer with his hands symmetrically raised; the symmetry of his gesture emphasizes the inner stillness of ascetics. The author flags up the continuity between tradition and modernity in iconography by introducing more concrete examples, such as that mentioned in both fig. 13b (p. 17) and fig. 25 (p. 35 ); this is the Mandylion icon painted by Deacon Vladimir Grygorenko from the USA, where the source of inspiration - an early Russian model - is recognizable. Other examples Hart discusses are icons by famous twentieth-century painters which he and a few contemporary iconographers reproduce, such as St Gregory Palamas by Leonid Ouspensky (1902-87) and the Mother of God of Kazan by F r Gregory Krug ( 1909-69). The book is at the same time a manual of icon-painting and a guide to interpreting it. It contains elements from the history of this liturgical art as well as valuable up-to-date information on hagiography, especially on that concerning British saints. It brings a freshness to the field of iconography by, among others things, depicting St Francis of Assisi and St Edwin, saints who are not

often represented in churches, and also new saints such as the Holy Martyr Elizabeth of Russia, killed in 1918, with scenes from her life (the opening page and fig. 21 on p. 33). In this latter case St Elizabeth's representation is not merely the rendering of a deeply spiritual persona, but also an opportunity for the writer to explain something from the 'mechanism' of 'an icon in the making' and the process of a holy image being established as such. Hart describes it as being 'an icon of a saint of whom photographs exist, showing the need to obtain a recognizable likeness without being naturalistic'; fig. 22 shows the photograph of the Duchess/nun Elizabeth which served as the basis for the icon illustrated in fig. 21 (both images are on p. 33). The author of the book also composes new scenes, such as those on p. xiv in the triptych containing Jacob wrestling with the angel, the Transfiguration of Christ, and Jacob's dream of the celestial ladder. He details the rare technique of 'marouflage', which involves painting on glued canvas, and dedicates an entire section to it (p. 403). The text displays the informality of the spoken word, helped in part by numerous exclamation marks; its language is communicable. One could say that it expresses throughout an endless care for the student: a section of Chapter 11 demonstrates the process of 'Hanging the Icon' (p. 292); elsewhere rubber gloves are recommended as a means of protection against chemicals used in the process of icon-painting. Advice on photographing one's works after their completion is included and even certain types of camera for such a purpose are suggested. 'Bust figures are most pleasing and stable when broadly contained within a triangle raised on a plinth', writes Hart concerning St Lucia in fig. 138 (p. 85); this is further evidence of his care for the students he teaches for the Diploma in Icon and WallPainting programme at the Prince's School of Traditional Arts in London and for his students wherever they are. Certainly they and anyone else who has an interest in icon-painting will appreciate this visually rich and glossy book and will value its author's many suggestions.

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ELENA ENE D-VASILESCU Oxford

All the Diamonds in the World: A Novel. By Mark Guscin. Austin, TX: ArcheBooks Publishing, 2011. 276 pages. £19.99 hardback. ISBN 978159507-233-7. Readers of The Da Vinci Code, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, or the more accomplished Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco will find themselves in familiar territory with All the Diamonds in the World, for it is another religious conspiracy novel. The book opens with the murder of a monk on Mount Athos for betraying 'The Brotherhood of the Holy Face', a fictitious organization devoted to searching for 'the original image of Christ, miraculously imprinted onto a cloth'. Whoever possesses this image will apparently 'hold the key to world peace ... or world war'. The scene is set for conflict between the Brotherhood and a nameless scholar who is researching the Image on the Holy Mountain (and who subsequently travels to Athens, Cappadocia, Rome, Genoa, Turin, and Norway). It is a pity that the scholar is not given a name, as he is never really developed as an independent character and often seems to be little more than a mask for the author, especially since we are told on the dust jacket that 'parts of the novel are based on his [the author's] experiences while doing fieldwork for ... academic books in Greece, Turkey and Rome'. Fieldwork or research are not in themselves usually of very much dramatic interest to the general public. Mark Guscin's strategy for overcoming this problem is to involve not only the mysterious brotherhood and some Russian gangsters engaged in the theft of manuscripts from Mount Athos, but also a beautiful Norwegian violinist turned property developer, whose name is Anniken. We are told that her name means 'grace' and she first appears wearing a cream-coloured trouser suit. By page 212 we are told that 'Anniken's whole body had taken the place of the whole body image of Christ'. This seems to be because the scholar is caught in emotional conflict between his love of research and his love of Anniken. He cannot decide which is truly his 'Holy Grail'. A parallel is suggested between the relationship of the scholar and Anniken on the one hand, and that ofthe historical characters ofNikephoros Phokas and Theophano in the tenth century on the other. Attention is drawn to similarities in both couples' sexual behaviour. However, it is not clear why this should be so, since the theme is insufficiently developed and one is left with the feeling that some of the material is gratuitous. Having said that, the interweaving of historical material with modem does serve

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to convey something of the living presence of the Byzantine past. What really interests Guscin is the possibility that the Image of Edessa 'not made by hands', whose translation to Constantinople in the tenth century is commemorated by the Orthodox on 16 August, may in fact be the Shroud of Turin. The key piece of evidence presented for this claim is a sermon apparently delivered by Gregory Referendarius, Archdeacon of Hagia Sophia, on 15 August 944, when the Image arrived in Constantinople. The sermon appears to have been recently discovered in the Vatican Archives. It is not quite clear where fact and fiction meet in Mark Guscin's book. The 'Author's Note' observes, 'This is first and foremost a novel. With that said, all of the places, some of the events and even a few of the people herein are real.' Readers may enjoy the descriptions of places that they have visited and recognize some of the difficulties of research on the Holy Mountain and elsewhere. They may also take an interest in speculation concerning the Image. However, as a novel All the Diamonds in the World suffers not only from weakness of characterization but also from a monotony of tone that fails to convey the true mystery which lies at the heart of Orthodoxy. DAVID HOLLOWAY Godalming

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