=

lnstitute for Balkan Studies

MOUNT ATHOS AND THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY

MOUNT ATHOS AND THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY

nAyLOpELTLK~ BL~l\lo8~Kr] +

Athos Library

., •. .

·.

MOUNT ATHOS AND THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY

Edited by Anthony-Emil N. Tachiaos

241 -

INSTITUTE FOR BALKAN STUDIES THESSALONIKI, 1993

241

+ Athos Library n AyLOpELHK~ BL~ÀL09~Kr]

CONTENTS

© Copyright 1993 by the Institute for Balkan Studies, Thessaloniki Ali rights reserved

Foreword Dimitrios Evrigenis, Réflexions théoriques sur la Déclaration Commune relative au Mont Athos Georg Ress, The Legal Nature of Joint Declarations in General and of Joint Declarations Annexed to the European Community Treaties in Particular Constantin P. Economidès, Le Mont Athos et le droit international Charalambos K. Papastathis, The Status of Mount Athos in Hellenic Public Law Wilhelm Wengler, Particularités locales dans le domaine d'application du droit des Communautés Européennes X. Yataganas, Déclaration Commune relative au Mont Athos (Intervention) Bartholomaios Archondonis, L'esprit œcuménique de l'Orthodoxie Anthony-Emil N. Tachiaos, Europe's Encounter with the Athonite Tradition Placide Simonopétritis, Le Mont Athos et le destin spirituel de l'Europe George Kapsanis, Mount Athos and the European Community Nicos Scandamis, La Communauté Européenne et le Mont Athos Guy Petherbridge, Vulnerable physical manifestations of a spiritual tradition: The Dilemma in the Preservation of Mount Athos' Heritage of Manuscripts, Printed Books and Related Material Panayotis L. Vocotopoulos, La peinture byzantine au MontAthos

9-1 0 13-17

19-45 47-53 55-75 77-81 83-84 85-91 93-106 107-111 113-118 119-123

125-132 133-171

n AyLOpELTlK~ BL~ÀL09~Kil +

Athos Library

Foreword With Greece's entry into the European Community, the Athos Peninsula has also joined that international union, for the Holy Mountain was recognised by the Treaty of Lausanne as an inseparable part of the Greek state. Thus, a thousand-year-old monastic state, with its own (religious) laws and its own administrative system based on age-old traditions which are quite foreign to European ways, has now become a part of the new European arder. The encounter between Athonite and European tradition inevitably creates problems in the mutual understanding and, above all, the acceptance of various principles operating on either side. It was precisely these problems - which are primarily of a legal nature, but also relate to spiritual and other matters - which were the subject of a special symposium held on 17-20 May 1984: "Mount Athos in the Age of the European Community". Organised by the late Professer Dimitrios Evrigenis, in association with the Department of International Relations of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Institute for Balkan Studies, the Institute for International Public Law and International Relations, and the Centre of International and European Economie Law, the symposium was a resounding success, and it was generally agreed that the communications should be published. It is deeply regretted that the sudden death of Professor Evrigenis, who inspired the whole event, meant that publication has been delayed for many years. The Institute for Balkan Studies felt it had a duty to ensure that the proceedings of the symposium were indeed eventually published, not least as a tribu te to the memory of Professor Evrigenis himself. His enthusiasm and solicitude brought forth a conference which concerned the coming together of two worlds, in whose values he himself believed strongly: he had had spiritual links with Mount Athos from an early age, and European union was an ideal whieh he worked very hard to help to achieve. There was another important spur to publication, however: the then Metropolitan of Philadelphia, who delivered a paper on the oecumenical spirit of Orthodoxy, is now Patriarch of Constantinople, the supreme head of the Orthodox Church, with MountAthos under his direct

nAyLOpéLTLK~ BL~ÀL08~Kr] + Athos Library

10

Foreword

spiritual jurisdiction. What he said then about the oecumenicality of the Orthodox faith foreshadowed the weighty task he was later to assume: that of representing the expression of that oecumepicality himself on a world level. It is an honour and a pleasure to publish in this volume a communication by the man who is now the Ecumenical Patriarch. The papers fall into four thematic categories: i) Mount Athos, Orthodoxy, Europe, and the World; ii) Mount Athos and Greek Law; iii) Mount Athos and Cultural Heritage; and iv) Mount Athos and the . European Community. They cover a wide range of subjects, from the Joint Declaration Conceming Mount Athos (relating to the purely legal and economie status of Mount Athos) to Byzantine painting on the peninsula. The experts who took part in the symposium represented widely differing disciplines: lawyers; theologians, historians, conservators of manuscripts, art historians - each one considered the subject from a completely different viewpoint> thus demonstrating what a diverse and complex world Mount Athos is. In presenting these communications to the European public and the world at large, the Institute for Balkan Studies believes · that it can foster a greater understanding of a multinational religious community; a community which was living in harmony and unity, on European soi!, many centuries before Europe was officially united.

REPORTS

A. -E. N. TACHIAOS

nAyLOpElllK~ Bl~ÀL08~Kil +

Athos Library

Réflexions théoriques sur la Déclaration Commune relative au Mont Athos t Dimitrios Evrigenis J'imagine un enseignant du droit communautaire qui, donnant des exemples caractéristiques de textes communautaires dans la partie générale de son cours, choisirait de se référer, entre autres, à la Déclaration commune sur le Mont Athos. Son choix serait justifié à plusieurs titres. L'analyse de ce texte se revelerait, en effet, extrêmement féconde, je dirais même fascinante. Elle s'ouvrirait à des multiples perspectives et jeterait une lumière particulière sur un grand nombre de notions et de principes généraux du droit communautaire pour finalement enrichir l'infinie morphologie conceptuelle de ce nouveau phénomène juridique. 1. En premier lieu, la Déclaration commune sur le Mont Athos est un exemple qui illustre la grande variété des sources de l'ordre juridique communautaire. Le droit interne et le droit international de la Communauté s'expriment en une multitude de formes d'agencement juridique dont ni l'inventaire terminologique, ni, non plus et surtout, la classification selon leur nature et leurs effets juridiques ne sont, et de loin, définitifs et clos. Les déclarations communes font partie de cet éventail d'actes internationaux dénomés généralement "déclarations" et qui assortis ou non de qualificatifs ou de compléments, comme par exemple "déclaration commune", et "déclaration d'intention" où "déclaration commune d'intention", sont annexés aux actes finaux des accords internationaux. De telles déclarations, dont la Déclaration commune sur le Mont Athos, on trouve aussi en annexe aux actes finaux des traités instituant les Communautés européennes et les "traités d'élargissement". Toujours est-il que le terme "déclaration" ou "déclaration commune" est utilisé dans le cadre communautaire pour désigner également une autre catégorie d'actes pris dans des contextes différents par les institutions communautaires, parfois en commun avec les Etats membres, tels que p.ex.

nAyLOpELnK~ BL~ÀL08~KJ'] + Athos Library

14

Dimitrios Evrigenis

la Déclaration commune, en date du 5 avril1977, du Parlement, du Conseil et de la Commission relative à la protection des droits fondamentaux dans la Communauté. 2. En deuxième lieu, la Déclaration commune sur le Mont Athos est un texte contenant des dispositions de devoir faire ou de devoir s'abstenir (Sollvorschriften) à propos duquel se pose de façon particulièrement intéressante le problème de la valeur normative des sources du droit communautaire. La question de savoir s'il s'agit d'un: texte à caractère parfaitement juridique ou d'un engagmenet purement politique ou bien d'un arrangement situé .sur une autre zone de la ligne délimitée par ces deux extrémités logiques que représentent le juridique et le politique, vient se greffer sur la discussion, animée par la doctrine contemporaine, sur la relativité ou la gradation normative des textes internationaux. Je voudrais, à cet égard renvoyer surtout aux écrits de Wilhelm Wenglerl et les récents articles de Michael Bothe2 et de Prosper WeiP, ainsi qu'aux Rapports, provisoire et définitif, de Michel Virally4, présentés à l'Institut de droit int~mational et aux conclusions du rapporteur formulées, en 1983, lors de la s~ssion de Cambridge de l'Institut. Le débat revèle le recours de plus en plus fréquent de la pratique internationale à des actes unilatéraux, collectifs ou organiques, dont le caractère juridique et la classification dans les catégories établies des sources normatives sont difficiles à déterminer. On sait que .Ja pratique communautaire fournit régulièrement bonne quantité de tels actes. . Il serait toutefois utile de rappeler les conclusions qui semblent se dégager de ce débat selon lesquelles la nature juridique ou politique de tels actes internationaux se détermine en fonction de la volonté des auteurs de s'engager en vertu de ces actes, en fonction de leur forme et, surtout, en fonction de leur contenu. n est également intéressant de rappeler que selon la doctrine en question même les actes qualifiés de purement politiques ne 1 Volkerrecht, 1, 1964, p. 238 et s., "Die Abgrenzung zwischen vôlkerrechtlichen und nichtvôlkerrechtlichen. Normen im internationalen Verkehr", Legal Essays (Mélanges F. Castberg), 1963, p. 332 et s., "Rechtsvertrag, Konsensus und AbsichtserkUirung im Vôlkerrecht", Juristenzeitung 1976. 195 et s. 2 "Soft Law" in den Europaischen Gemeinschaften? Festschrift Jür Hans-

Jürgen Schochauer, 1981, p. 761 et s. 3 "Vers une normativité relative en droit international?", Revue générale de droit intemational public 1982. 5 et s., et en anglais (Towards relative normativity in international law?), American Journal of Intemational law 1983. 413 et s. 4 Annuaire de l'Institut de droit International, Session de Cambridge, Vol. 60-1_ p. 167 et s., 328 et s., et Résolutions adoptées par l'Institut de droit International à la session de Cambridge, 1983 (polycopié).

Réflexions théoriques sur la Déclaration Commune relàtive au Mont Athos

15

sont pas, en principe, considérés comme totalement dépourvus de valeur juridique et que, par contre, ils peuvent déployer des effets juridiques p.ex. en vertu du principe de la bonne foi ou de la confiance légitime, ou à travers une situation d'apparence où le mécanisme de l'estoppel ou bien par la création d'expectatives d'un certain comportement (Verhaltenserwartungen), dont la nature et les effets normatifs seraient déterminés eu égard au, contexte juridique et politique dans lequel ces actes se situent. De l'analyse de la Déclaration commune sur le Mont Athos se dégage une série d'éléments permettant d'identifier son caractère juridique. Il s'agit, et effet, d'une déclaration de l'ensemble des parties contractantes exprimant une volonté commune appelée à produire ses effets dans le champ contractuel du traité d'adhésion. Il s'agit, selon son intitulé, d'une déclaration commune pure et simple et non d'une déclaration d'intention. Annexé au traité d'adhésion, ce texte a été soumis aux procédures de ratification nationales et a été formellement approuvé par le Conseil et la Commission selon les termes de l'article 237, alinéa premier, du Traité CEE. Le contexte communautaire dans lequel la Déclaration commune sur le Mont Athos a été conçue et devrait être mise en œuvre est un facteur de renforcement de la volonté des parties contractantes de s'engager collectivement et en même temps d'engager la Communauté. Enfin, c'est du contenu de la Déclaration commune que l'on peut tirer un argument supplémentaire mais décisif en faveur de son caractère juridiquement obligatoire. Ce texte a, en effet, comme but de circonscrire certaines limites juridiques aussi possible claires et précises à l'action du droit communautaire dans la peninsule du Mont Athos. Il délimite le juridique communautaire au moyen d'un renvoi à un juridique national. On verra par la suite qu'une telle construction du contenu de la Déclaration commune implique des variations intéressantes dans le schéma plus ou moins consacré des rapports entre droit communautaire et droit national. Ce qu'il importe à présent de réaffirmer c'est que la clarté et la précision du message normatif contenu dans la Déclaration commune sont largement suffisantes pour-corroborer, à côté des autres facteurs auquels nous nous sommes reférés, sa classification dans la catégorie des actes à portée juridique. 3. Mais il y a lieu de serrer de plus près le sens des engagements . stipulés dans la Déclaration commune et ce sera notre troisième ordre d'idées. La Déclaration commune émane de l'ensemble des Etats parties au traité d'adhésion de la Grèce mais elle a été faite au nom et pour le compte de la Communauté. Elle lie aussi bien la volonté des Etats membres en tant que tels et en tant qu'éléments constitutifs de l'ensemble communautaire. Elle oblige Etats membres et Communauté à veiller à ce que le droit communautaire tienne compte, respecte en d'autres termes, le droit

+ Athos Library n AyLOpéLTLK~ BL~ÀL08~Kr]

16

Dimitrios Evrigenis

définissant le statut spécial du Mont Athos. Etant formulée dans un texte international faisant partie des traités instituant les Communautés, la Déclaration commune est à la fois du droit international et du droit communautaire originaire et, par cette dernière, qualité elle prime les dispositions contraires du droit communautaire y compris les dispositions contraires des traités. On pourrait, peut-être, voir dans la Déclaration commune une règle de délimitation, à proprement parler une règle de limitation du champ d'application du droit communautaire. Cette limitation est double: elle se définit ratione loci et ratione materiae, les deux définitions s'opérant par renvoi au droit hellénique. Le domaine territorial de la limitation du droit communautaire est précisé dans le premier alinéa de l'article 105 de la Constitution hellénique qui précise l'espace géographique de la Sainte Montagne. De son côté, le domaine matériel de la limitation se détermine par renvoi à l'anc;ien statut spécial du Mont Athos, tel qu'il est "garanti" par l'article 105 de la Constitution. S'agit-il en respèce d'une autolimitation du droit communautaire? Nous y verrions plutôt une limitation de ce droit qui s'impose en vertu d'une norme qui est externe à l'ordre juridique des Communautés. Tout d'abord, le domaine de la limitation est tracé au moyen d'un renvoi au droit national, donc selon des critères juridiques nationaux. Par ailleurs, la Déclaration commune émane aussi de la Grèce, donc d'un Etat qui est devenu membre de la Communauté au moment même où la Déclaration entrait en vigueur. Elle est, par conséquent, un engagement international déterminant depuis un niveau superposé les rapports entre le droit communautaire et les règles juridiques nationales fixant le statut spécial du Mont Athos. Elle n'en possède pas moins, depuis l'adhésion, la qualité parallèlle d'une règle de droit communautaire. Règle de délimitation du champ d'application du droit communautaire, la Déclaration commune est, en même temps, une règle_ déterminant le rang du droit communautaire par rapport au droit hagiorite. Si, selon les propres termes de la Déclaration, dans la mise en œuvre du droit communautaire, il doit être "tenu compte" du statut spécial du Mont Athos, si, par conséquent ce statut doit être respecté par la Communauté, il faut conclure que les dispositions de droit national portant sur le statut en question rendent inapplicables les règles du droit communautaire incompatibles avec elles. Il pourrait donc être question d'un principe de primauté du droit athonite sur le droit communautaire, principe fondé sur un acte de droit international. La Déclaration commune crée ainsi une enclave, une réserve athonite dans le droit communautaire. Ayant pour objectif de garantir dans le domaine d'action de l'ordre juridique communautaire l'intouchabilité du

Réflexions théoriques sur la Déclaration Commune relative au Mont Athos

17

statut spécial du Mont Athos, cette reserve, selon les termes de la Déclaration commune, déploit ses effets sur deux .niveaux: celui de !"'application" du droit communautaire, d'une part, et celui de son "élaboration future", de l'autre. Dans la mesure où elle se refère à l'élaboration future du droit communautaire, la Déclaration commune revêt la forme d'une limitation juridique du pouvoir législatif communautaire. Pour ce qui est de l'application du droit communautaire, la réserve du droit athonite s'adresse à tout destinataire du droit communautaire mais, en particulier, aux institutions et organes communautaires et nationaux responsables de la mise en œuvre et de l'interprétation du droit communautaire. Point de rencontre de différents systèmes juridiques - international, communautaire, national et athonite - la Déclaration commune est, en tout cas, un instrument qui ne paraît pas susceptible, par la nature des choses, de créer des difficultés dans son application. Partie' intégrante de la République hellénique, la Communauté de la Sainte Montagne, tout en préservant son statut spécial et sa physionomie spirituelle et réligieuse immémoriale, traversera dans la Grèce et avec la Grèce, l'ère de la Communauté Européenne. Si dans l'application et l'élaboration future du droit communautaire le statut spécial du Mont Athos sera respecté dans son ensemble et notamment dans les matières indiquées dans la Déclaration commune, il restent d'autres domaines d'action communautaire où des rapports de coopération et d'assistance peuvent être développés dans un esprit animé par les motifs spirituels et réligieux auxquels les rédacteurs de la Déclaration commune se sont référés. Ce terrain mérite bien d'être exploré. Enfin, si pour fixer le régime spécial athonite dont elle assure le respect, la Déclaration commune renvoie à la Constitution hellénique, celle-ci renvoie, à son tour, à }"'ancien statut privilégié" qui puise sa substance dans des textes législatifs laïcs et réligieux immémoriaux ou récents qui forment avec les préceptes spirituels et théologiques, régissant la vie de la communauté Athonite, un ensemble cohérent et indivisible. C'est ainsi, peut-être, qu'un ordre séculaire gravit, par ces renvois successifs, l'echèlle qui le mène au seuil d'un microcosme monastique imprégné de cette infinie· grandeur spirituelle qu'est la foi chrétienne orthodoxe. C'est ainsi, peut-être, que les docteurs de la loi, qui, selon Saint Luc, avaient enlevé la clé de la science, la redonnent à ceux qui veulent entrer et rester dans ce monde sacré. C'est ainsi, peut-être, que la science du droit devient, selon la définition romaine, une divinarum rerum notitia, et que l'Europe que personnifie la Communauté pousse ses racines dans ce sol béni de la solitude, de la méditation et de l'amour du Dieu de l'Homme.

+ Athos Library n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~ÀL09~Ktl

The Legal Na ture of Joint Declarations in General and of Joint Declarations Annexed to the European Community Treaties in Particular Georg Ress I. Since 1984, the problems raised by the declarations made in connection with the Treaties of the European Communities and especially the treaties of accession, have received growing attention. This phenomenon may be illustrated by the Final Act of the Single European Act, to which many such declarations were added. These declarations contained clauses whose judicial effect could render doubtful the completion of the Internai Market due at the end of 1992. One of these declarations contains a clause concerning the immediate respectively direct application of Art. Ba of the Single European Act and its judicial importance on 31 December, 1992 1• Twenty-one declarations were added to the Single European Act of which 11 where accepted by the Conference and finally added to the Final Act on 9 September 1985. 9 others of these listed and added declarations were merely taken to the records by the Conference. 8 of these 11 declarations were adopted by the Conference itself, i.e. they are joint declarations of the representatives of the Member States of this

1 Single European Act (OJ L 169/24 (29 June 1987)): "Declaration on Article Sa of the EEC Treaty: The Conference wishes by means of the provisions in Article Ba to express its firm political will to take before 1 January 1993 the decisions necessary to complete the Internai Market defined in those provisions, and more particularly the decisions necessary to implement the Commission's programme described in the White Paper on the Internai Market".

nAyLOpELHK~ BL~l\lo8~Kr] +

Athos Library

20

Georg Ress

Conference. One of these declarations was passed by the Commission2, another by the High Contracting Parties3, and a third one was denominated as a general declaration without specifying the author4. In the literature, all 11 declarations have been considered not only as adopted by the Conference, but as passed by it5 . It is true that the Member States united in the Conference may be perceived as the authors of 10 of the declarations, with the exception of the declaration which stems from the Commission6. Since this last declaration had equally been adopted by

2 Declaration of the Commission on Art. 100a of the EEC Treaty: "In its proposais pursuantto Art. 100a (1), the Commission shaH give precedence to the use of the instrument of a directive if harmonization involves the amendment of legislative provisions in one or more Member States". Can this provision be sanctioned and thtis make possible a decision by the European Court of Justice declaring illegal a 'regulation passed in the framework of Art. 100a (1)? The obligation to give precedence to the use of the instrument of a directive leaves a large margin of discretion for the Commission, even if it does possess legal value. Cf. G. Ress, "Lôst ~tikel 100a EWGV die Probleme der Rechtsangleichung des einheitlichen Binn~nmarktes?", in: Rechtsprobleme der Rechtsangleichung, Wissenschaftliches Kolloquium aus Anlafl des 70. Geburtstages von Heinrich Matthies (Hrsg. Georg Ress), Vortrage, Reden und Berichte aus dem Europa-

Institut, Nr. 137, 1988, pp. 9 ff. 3 Declaration by the High Contracting Parties on Title III of the Single European Act (on European Political Cooperation), where the "openness to otl1er European nations which share the same ideals and objectives" is reaffirmed. This is actually not only an interpretation of the text, but an extension of its content. In order to distinguish the members of the European Political Cooperation from their status as members of the EC, the "High Contracting Parties" were chosen to make this declaration. 4 General Declaration on Articles 13 to 19 of the Single European Act (Internai Market) where the right of the Member States is reserved "to take such measures as they consider necessary for the purpose of controlling immigration from third countries, and to combat terrorism, crime, the traffic in drugs and illicit trading in works of art and antiques". It is evident that the Member States are the authors of this general declaration-general because it contains a legal reservation in regard to ali the articles of the Single European Act. The question is not so much whether this declaration is qualified as a reservation or as a rule of interpretation (cf. G. Ress, in: Bieber /Ress, Die Dynamik des europiiischen Gemeinschaftsrechts im Lichte nachfolgender Praxis der Mitgliedstaaten und der EGOrgane, 1987, pp. 64 ff.). 5 Grabitz, Kommentar zum EWG-Vertrag, EEA, note 26.

6 The declaration of the Commission (supra note 2) does actually not contain a self-obligation of the latter, but a responsibility conferred upon it by the Member States through the adoption of the text of Art. 100a.

The Legal Nature of Joint Declarations

21

the Conference, it has become an essential part of the will of the 12 States as well7 • What then is the status of the 9 other declarations? They differ from the 11 declarations in that all of these 11 have a specifie author. The declarations can either be attributed to the governments of all Member States, or they are declarations of one specifie government or of the Presiding Committee and the Commission. Such individual declarations were made by Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Denmark, the latter having made two such declarations. The joint declarations, the declarations of the Conference as such and the declarations of ali governments are multilateral declarations, whereas the declarations of the Presiding Committee of the Conference, of the Commission and of the individual governments are unilateral declarations. They may either possess reserve character or they are a unilateral instrument for interpretation in regard to the Treaty 8 .

7 Moreover, the declarations quoted in the notes above have judicial value as joint declarations of the Member States on the interpretation (art. 31 (2) lit. a of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties). All others among the 11 declarations (authentic interpretation): -Declaration on the powers of implementation of the Commission (adoption of principles and rules on the basis of which the Commission's powers of implementation will be defined in each case). -Declaration on the Court of Justice: Art. 168a EEC Treaty-jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance-does not prejudice any conferral of judicial competence likely to be provided for in the context of agreements concluded between the Member States. It does not suffice that two or three states want to confer jurisdictional competences onto that new first instance. The declaration is of particular legal importance. It is not necessary to take recourse to the procedure of treaty revision (Art. 236) if the Member States-by utilizing the concluded agreements-want to confer competences onto a first instance jurisdiction outside the scope of the EEC Treaty. -Declaration on Art. 100b of the EEC Treaty (Application of Art. 8c of the ÇEC Treaty to the proposais which the Commission is required to make under Art. 100b of that Treaty). -Declaration on Art. 118a (2) of the EEC Treaty concerning the protection of the safety and health of employees. 8 Cf. Ivo Schwartz, "Übereinkommen zwischen EG-Staaten: Vôlkér-oder Gemeinschaftsrecht?", in: Festschrift fiir W. Grewe, 1983, pp. 553 ff. Schwartz distinguishes between reservations for treaties concluded in the framework of Art. 220 EEC Treaty and reservations concerning th~ treaties which institute the Communities themselves. As to the latter reservations are not possible and precluded ratione materiae- a conclusion which is also derived from Art. 236; also cf. Grabitz, loc. cit.

+ Athos Library n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~ÀL09~Ktl

22

Georg Ress

The Legal Nature of ]oint Declarations

23

refer to Title III of the Single European Act ·are outside the framework of Community law, i.e. outside the three European Communities, whereas all other unilateral or multilateral declarations refer to Title II (Community law). These declarations, whether unilateral or multilateral, may not be considered as reservations because such reservations are not allowed 10. It cannat be concluded from- the fact ~at the Member States are still the masters of the Treaties, that they would automatically accept a unilateral reservation of a Member State in regard to positions of Community law. A reservation always constitutes an alteration of the contents of the Treaty (Art. 2d of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties) which is an extreme exception and cannat be presumed. To the -contrary, ail unilateral declarations must be interpreted as if they were a mere instrument of interpretation (Art. 31 (2) lit. b), under the condition that these declarations are part of the Single European Act. It is this condition which is not very clear and it is questionable whether it has been fulfilled. Art. 33 of the Single European Act provides that only the Single European Act (the present Act) is to be ratified and not the Final Act. It is therefore necessary to analyze the legal cate,gories more precisely. The problem is even ·m ore evident because various unilateral declarations which the Conference took notice of, e.g. the declaration of Ireland concerning Art. 57 (2), referred to the Articles of the EEC Treaty itself (in support of special provisions for the protection of insurance policy holders in Ireland) and the declaration of Portugal concerning Art. 59 (2) and Art. 84 EEC Treaty (necessity of special transitional measures) are unlawful as reservations, but do possess judicial value as a confirmation of a possible interpretation of these Articles of the EEC Treaty. The multilateral declarations which express a concensus of all Member States, are certainly not an automatic modification of the EEC Treaties. The question whether these declarations possess any judicial value insofar as they demonstrate a consensus in the interpretation was answered negatively by Toth 11 , who favours the opinion that, according to Art. 3 of the Single European Act, the Final Act is not subject. to the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice and that such declaration can therefore not serve as a means of interpretation of the Single European Act itself. Art. 31 provides that the provisions concerning the competence of the Court of Justice and the exercise of this competence are only applicable to

The declaration concerning the European Political Cooperation (declaration of the High Contracting Parties concerning Title III of the Single European Act) is a rather political one whose judicial content is not evident at first glanee. The judicial value of these "identical ideals and identical objectives" of the European nations which are members of the Council of Europe nontheless refers to the basis of the European Community itself and to a future enlargement of the Council of Europe as weil as of the European Community by the socialist countries of Europe which are going through a process of profound change of their political systems and which are - hopefully ~ on the way to becoming democratie countries of Europe in the sense of the Statute of the Council of Europe. Even though this declaration does not yield any rights to these third countries, it is nontheless clear that none of the 12 Member States of the European Community may ebject to a future enlargement of the European Political Cooperation9 by these countries. In contrast to this rather political nature stands the declara~on of the Danish Government concerning the European Political Cooperat~on which constitutes a reservation in favour of a "participation of Denmark" in the Nordic Cooperation in the area of foreign policy. Even though the European Political Cooperation does not . prohibit participation, it could be referred to if a conflict between the two institutions of foreign policy were indeed to be resolved in favour of the Nordic Cooperation. Denmark which has the right to participate in both institutions, is therefore obliged to harmonize its decisions in the field of foreign policy with this double membership. It is not the objective of the declaration to strictly bind Denmark to all decisions of the European Political Cooperation, but rather to leave her the choice to join into the results of the Nordic Cooperation. Denmark therefore possesses a special status within the European Political Cooperation in regard to the other Member States. However, Denmark is also under the obligation to respect the results of the European Political Cooperation within the framework of the Nordic Cooperation, and to try to harmonize both instruments of political cooperation. The Danish declaration does therefore not allow Denmark to pursue a policy of confrontation between both institutions. She is rather under the obligation to seek compromise. The declarations which 9 On reservations in general, cf. R. Kühner, Vorbehalte zu multilateralen volkerrechtlichen Vertrtigen (Beitrage zum ausHindischen ôffentlichen Recht und Vôlkerrecht, Bd:. 91) 1986; G. Ress, "Verfassung und vôlkerrechtliches Vertragsrecht. Uberlegungen anHisslich der Ratifikation der Wiener Vertragsrechtskonvention durch die Bundesrepublik Deutschland", in: Staat und Vôlkerrechtsordnung, Festschrift für Karl Doehring (Hrsg. K. Hailbronner /G. Ress/T. Stein), 1989, pp. 822 ff.

10 Cf. the declarations of the govemments of Ireland and Portugal, which in a certain sense wanted to alter the conditions of their accession to the EEC Treaty. 11 A.G. Toth, "The Legal Status of the Declarations Annexed to the Single European Act", in Common Market Law Review 1986, pp. 803 ff., 810.

n AyLOpELHK~ Bl~Àlo8~Kil +

}-- ·

Athos Library

24

Georg Ress

the provisions of Title ·II and to Art. 32. According to Toth, the Final Act, which is not an object of this Article, ·may therefore not be considered by the Court of Justice. It has already correctly been noticed that the question of interpretation must not be confused with the question of the jurisdiction of the Court. Within this jurisdiction, the Court must interpret ali articles of Title. II of the Single European Act and of course also aU the joint declarations of the Member States in respect of the articles of Title II12. The interpretation of Article 8a of the Single European Act gives occasion to discuss the problem. According to this Article, the Community takes the appropriate measures to complete the Common Market step by step- within the course of a period which ends on 31 December 1992, in accordance with the provisions of this article. The same Article defines the Co:àunon Ma:rket as an area without internai borders where the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is secured according to the provisions of the ; existing Treaty. If at the end of this period on 31 December 1992, fu~ther to the measures of the Community the Common Market fails to materialize, may the Court then declare that the Common Market as an area without borders does exist and that ali legal consequences of an: institutional existence follow automatically? What is the legal significance of the declaration conceming Art. 8a that "the determination of the date December 31, 1992, does not create any automatic legal ~ffect"? According.to Toth, such declaration does not have any legal value m regard to the Smgle European Act, because it is part of the Final Act which itself is not an integral part of the Single European Act and which cannot be taken into consideration by the Court of Justice. It remains to be seen whether such an argumentation which is based on the completeness of the Treaty text, will prevail. And if one shares the opinion that the declaration of the Member States as the Conference on the Single European Act does have legal effect in regard to Art. 8a, what exactly is this legal effect? Can the parties preclude a certain interpretation of Art. 8a, maybe even an interpretation which raises doubts whether the date of DecembE7r 31, 1992, has any significance at ail? It must not be assum~d that the total content of Art. 8a may be reversed by interpretation and 1ts legal value profoundly modified13. 12 Cf. Grabitz, loc. cit., note EEA. 13

A direct effect of the provision of Art. 8a EEC Treaty is considered possible by Jean-Paul Jacqué, "L'Acte Unique Européen", in: Revue trimestrielle de droit européen, 1986, p. 574 ff., 589; H.E. Scharrer, "Die Einheitliche Europaische Akte-Der Binnenmarket", in: Integration 1986, p . 108. Against an eventual direct effect of these provisions cf. H.J. Glaesner, "Die Einheitliche Europaische Akte", in: Europarecht 1986, pp. 119, 132; C. Gulman, "The Single European Act-Sorne

The Legal Nature of Joint Declarations

25

The following conclusions are to be drawn from these preliminary deliberations: The date of December 31, 1992, puts the Member States and the organs of the Community under an obligation. It is a legal obligation and the breach of this obligation may be ascertained by the Court of Justice. If Art. 8a - in dubio pro Communitate - may be interpreted in a way that with December 31, 1992, an automatic (direct) effect follows from the completion of the Common Market, it is consequently impossible for the declaration of the Member States to entirely negate this legal effect because the formula of the "automatic effect" or the "direct effect" is not only a simple expression, but leaves room for various interpretations. It is possible to determine time periods during the course of which legal results must be obtained. This is in accordance with the adjudication of the European Court of Justice which has always held that directives obtain direct effect only after the expiry of a time limit. Art. 8 provides that the European Community takes the necessary measures which also include directives. These directives could provide for a postponement beyond December 31, 1992. The Court of Justice is consequently capable of deferring the direct effect and thus opening the way for an interpretation which takes account of the will of the Member States as it is expressed in the declaration concerning the interpretation 14 . This teleological reduction is based on the hypothesis that the contracting parties intended to complete the Common Market step by step and that it was not their intention to avoid the direct effect of the provisions on the Common Market at ali costs. II. The legal nature of joint declarations is not explicitly settled in the Treaties of the European Communities. As a consequence, the definition of their legal nature will depend on (a) the application of public international law rules and in particular of the rules of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 15 to the Treaties of the European Remarks from a Danish Perspective", in: Common Market Law Review 1987, pp. 31 ff., 36. 14 A positive interpretation in the sense that a direct effect is possible in principle, but only in the course of a step by step process, is considered by E. Grabitz, "EEA, rechtliche Bewertung", in: Integration 1986, pp. 95, 99. 15 As the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 23 May 1969 has not been ratified by all contracting parties to the accession treaty of 1979 (only by Denmark in 1974, by Greece in 1974, by ltaly in 1974 and by the United Kingdom in 1971; the Federal Republic of Germany has so far only opened the parliamentary procedure, cf. Bundesrats-Drucksache 551/83), it cannot be

+ Athos n Ayl0p€LTLK~ BL~Àl08~Kr) Library

26

Georg Ress

Community and to joint declarations and (b) on .the specifie character of certain joint declarations. The EEC Member States made joint declarations already in respect of the Treaties of Rome and also in respect of the accession treaties of 197216 and 1979 17 . In the Final Act of the respective conference these joint declarations are holding a peculiar position. They are neither part of the treaty texts, nor are they annexes, nor protocols. They are separately adopted by the representatives of the Member States18 and by the EEC Council. In this way they are to be clearly distinguished from unilateral declarations which may be added by the parties to the respective act. What are the conclusions to be drawn for international public law and for Community law, in particular from the formai character of joint declarations? Th€J do not constitute annexes which by explicit reference have become integral parts of the treaty (cf. Article 19 para. 5, Article 106 para. 3 EEC Treaty). They are also not protocols, which under Article 239 EEC Treaty or by ', the related articles in the accession treaties (cf. Article 150 of the accessiqn act of 1979) have been declared to form an integral part of the treaties.

In Community law, the question what are the integral parts of Community law may at first glanee be important in many respects such as e.g. for the application of Article 236 EEC Treaty settling the treaty

directly applied. It is, however, generally agreed that at !east the rules concerning the interpretation of treaties (Articles 31 ff.) are an expression of customary law. According to Article 5, the Convention is applicable to any treaty which is the constitutive act of an international organisation and to any treaty which is adopted by an international organisation, provided that there is no contrasting rule within this organisation. 16 See e.g. the joint declaration conceming the Court of Justice (O.J. 1972 L 73/194): increase of the number of advocates-general to four; joint declaration conceming the fishery sector (ibidem). · 17 O.J. 1979 L 291/186. 18 Joint declarations are declarations of Member States made by their representatives at the Conference. From the fact that the declaration concerning Mount Athos begins by "The Community recognizes... " it must not be concluded that we are concemed here with a declaration only of the Community. As becomes evident from the heading, we are faced here with a declaration of the Member States. According to the information given by Mr. Lambers (EEC Council), it has by mere error been omitted to add: "Member States are binding the Community... ".

The Legal Nature of Joint Declarations

27

revision. It could also be argued that this problem arises in connection with the competence of the European Court of Justice (Article 164: the Court of Justice will ensure the respect of the law in the interpretation and application of the present Treaty). The question therefore is whether the joint declarations annexed to Community or accession treaties are Community law as defined in Article 164, although they do not form integral part of these treaties.

III. Before answering these questions, I would like to make sorne short remarks on the application of public international law to the EEC Treaties. The fact that the application of international public law to the European Communities is closely related to the fundamental concept of the nature and origin of the Communities is a controversial issue in the respective discussionl9. Qualifying the conclusion of the treaties founding the European Communities as a constituent act and the Community arder as a constitution, implies advocating the complete autonomy of Community law in respect of public intemationallaw20. The continuai jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice also stresses the Community's autonomous character, from which it follows as a rule that international public law is inapplicable. As a consequence, the reliance on the general rules of international public law is considered as "neither indispensable, nor appropriate", as Community law, considering its given structure, form and density, has its own means to solve any kind of legal problem21 . Those scholars in whose eyes the treaties of foundation are international law treaties are referring to the subsidiary character of international public law. In their opinion the Community is but one special manifestation of the international organization of states22 .

19 See J. Schwarze, "Das allgemeine Vëlkerrecht in den innergemeinschaftlichen Rechtsbeziehungen", in: Europarecht 1983, pp. 1 ff. 20 H.P. Ipsen, in: J. Schwarze (ed.), Der Europiiische Gerichtshof ais Verfassungsgericht und Rechtsschutzinstanz, 1983, p . 29. 21 Cf. U. Everling, "Sind die Mitgliedstaat~n der Europaischen Gemeinschaft noch Herren der Vertrage?, Zum Verhaltnis von Europaischem Gemeinschaftsrecht und Vôlkerrecht", in: Festschrift Jür H. Mosler, 1983, pp. 173, 176 ff., Schwartze, loc. cit., p. 33. 22 Cf. A. Bleckman, DOV 1978, p. 397.

+ Athos Library n AyLOpELTLK~ Bl~ÀL08~KJ']

28

Georg Ress

It appears réasonable to consider the EEC treaties as having a twofold character, because on the one hand they are establishing interstate links betw:en. the Member States, and on the other because they represent a constitution common to these States in parts of thèir sovereign tasks 23 . As a consequence, the applicability of international public law rules has to be handled in a very differentiated manner depending, as the case may be, on whether we are concerned with internai Community law or with problems which cannot yet or no longer be solved with the means of . an autonomous legal order. For the legal relations within the Community, the particularities of Community law imply either the non-applicability or modification of international law rules. Therefore Bernhardt24 rejects the applicability of the interpretation rules of Article 31 para. 3 (a) and (b) t~ this a~ea. "In the li.ght of the subsequent practice of the contracting parties, national sovere1gnty continues to subsist", Bernhardt puts it, because the contracting parties are considered as much as ever to be the mast~rs of the treàti~s, who are not ~nly entitled to repeal or modify the treahes, but also to mterpret them m the only authentic manner25. For 23 Cf. G. Ress) "Wechselwirkungen zwischen Volkerrecht und Verfassung be1 der Auslegung volkerrechtlicher Vertrage", in: Berichte der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Volkerrecht, Vol. 23, 1983, p. 16. 24 R. Bernhardt, "Zur Auslegung des europaischen Gemeinschaftsrechts" .

in: Festschrift H. Kutscher, 1981, pp. 21 ff. ' 25 Article 31 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties reads as follows: "General rule of interpretation 1. A treaty shaH be interpreted in good faith in accordance with the ordinary meaning to be given to the terms of the treaty in their context and in the light of its object and purpose. 2. The context for the purpose of the interpretation of a treaty shall comprise in addition to the text, including its preamble and annexes: (a) any agreement relating to the treaty which was made between ail the parties in connection with the conclusion of the treaty; (b) any instrument which was made by one or more parties in connection with the conclusion of the treaty and accepted by the other parties as an instrument related to the treaty. 3. There shall be taken into account, together with the context: (a). any sub~equent agreement between the parties regarding the mterpretahon of the treaty or the application of its provisions; (b) any .subsequent practice in the application of the treaty which estabhshes the agreement of the parties regarding its interpretation; (c) any relevant rules of international law applicable in the relations between the parties.

The Legal Nature of Joint Declarations

29

Community law this interpretation rule does not only mean that the Member States are entitled to further develop the treaties by means of agreements concluded outside the Community organs and to give these agreements authentic interpretation,· but also that there is no judicial means to contest unanimous Council decisions. However, this implication is opposed by the peculiarity of Community law. "It is laid down in the Community treaties that Community organs have to cooperate and that none of them can on its own and in a generally binding way take decisions. The Court of Justice responsible for ensuring the respect of the law is entrusted with examining also whether the unanimous decisions of the other Community organs and the general behaviour of Member States are in line with Community law" 26. This view is shared by Kutscher27 who emphasizes the controlling competence of the Commission settled in Articles 155 and 169, of the European Parliament in Article 137 and the competence of the European Court of Justice to examine the behaviour of Member States and Community organs. In addition to the treaty provisions, Community organs - in particular the Commission and the Court of Justice - are held to ensure the respect of the treaties. From this it necessarily follows that the competence to decide on the meaning and scope of the treaties is equally included. Bence, the treaties themselves conferred their interpretation to the organs of the Community which illustrates their constitutional character. Under these circumstances reference to the subsequent behaviour of Member States in order to interpret the treaties is not admissible. The Court as weil has refused to recognize that subsequent agreements between Member States may have a modifying effect on the treaties. It has also refused to take account of such subsequent agreements when interpreting the treaties28. Nevertheless, the operational parts of the treaty of foundation (e.g. the contracting competence and the procedure29 ) are subject at least to 4. A special meaning shaH be given to a term if it is established that

the parties so intended':. 26 Loc. cit. (above, note 24), p. 21. 27 Hans Kutscher, "Thesen zu den Methoden der Auslegung des Gemeinschaftsrechts aus der Sicht des Richters", in: Gerichtshof der Europiiischen Gemeinschaften, Begegnung von Justiz und Hochschule am 27. und 28. September 1976 (Reports, PartI, pp. 33 ff.). 28 ECJ, Defrenne II, Series 1976, 455, 478; Manghera, Series 1976, 91, 102. 29 On the other hand, the application of the rules relating to the expiry of a treaty and to the suspension of its application (Arts. 54 ff.) is a very controversial question; see L.J. Constantinesco, Das Recht der Europiiischen Gemeinschajt, 1, 1977, pp. 180 ff.

+ Athos Library n AyLOpéLTLK~ BL~ÀL08~Kr]

r

' 30

Georg Ress

the general rules of public international law30. As a consequence, with a view to the problem which we are facing here, we have to find out: (1) How to qualify the declarations made by the contracting parties in respect of the treaty of accession and what is their legal significance? This question is related to the operational part of the treaty of accession and has to be examined in the light of public international law. (2) The second question is: What is the effect of such a joint declaration? This question establishes a link to the internai legal order of the European Communities. The answer therefore will have to take into account the peculiarities of this order. IV. In treaty law, joint declarations are a well-known phenomenon. They are declarations made by the contracting parties upon agreement or even in a syllagm'atic way and are often signed separately by the parties. Formally, such declarations can be an annex to the treaty or even can be simply added to ; it. There exists no rule in international treaty law providing that only instruments with a certain label may be considered as being an annex to a treaty31 . In Article 31 para. 2 the Vienna Convention of the Law of Treatie$ makes a distinction between annexes and other documents related to the treaty text. This distinction is significant for answering the question whether declarations that have been added to a treaty have to be considered as an integral part of it. From this it would follow that the declarations would also fall under the procedure of treaty revision. Moreover, the importance of such a distinction becomes evident in the case ofa court which can develop competence only in respect of a very special treaty. In such incidence, the question arises whether a declaration which has been added to a treaty is an integral part of it, which would mean that the court's competence would cover also any questions related to the interpretation and application of such a declaration which forms an integral part of a treaty. This problem played a major role in the Ambatielos Case (ECJ competence, Series 1952, p. 34 ss.)3 2 . The legal consequences which it entails are mainly functional, i.e. they concern the treaty revision and the competence of a court to decide

30 Beutler /Bieber /Pipkorn/Streil, Die Europiiische Gemeînschaft Rechtsordnung und Politik, 2nd ed., 1982, p. 66. 31 Cf. Heidelmeyer, Untersuchungen zu einer Theorie der Beziehungen zwischen Hauptinstrument und Nebenurkunden volkerrechtlicher Vertrage, 1961, p. 108; Bittner, Die Lehre von den volkerrechtlichen Vertragsurkunden, 1924, pp. 280 ff. 32 Cf. also Heidelmeyer, op. cit., pp. 109 ff.

The Legal Nature of Joint Declarations

31

also on questions related to a joint declaration. The importance is less evident when the treaty is interpreted in the context, as the annexes and agreements of interpretation between the contracting parties have to be examined in the light of the context. A distinction has to be made between means of interpretation which have been added to the treaty and which are part of the context, and the interpretation means and declarations which, according to the intention of the parties, are an integral part of the treaty. Declarations and means of interpretation, which in accordance with Article 31 para. 2 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties are part of the context, are not automatically integral parts of the treaty. Let me quote Elias: "Even where these two classes of documents (agreement by ail the parties of a treaty /instrument of interpretation accepted by the other parties) are deemed to form part of the context, they do not thereby form an integral part of the treaty. They are not to be regarded merely as evidence for the resolution of an ambiguity or obscurity, but as part of the context for the purpose of arriving at the ordinary meaning of the terms of the treaty in question"33. The question whether annexes or other documents added to a treaty are integral parts of the treaty is in itself a question of interpretation. Under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, contracting parties may assign a significance to annexes different from that of an integral part of a treaty34. But frc;>m the fact that according to the Convention annexes have the same ranking as treaty preambles, it may be concluded that in general annexes to a treaty are integral parts of it. But how to classify joint declarations which are not formally qualified as annexes and are not formally incorporated either into the treaty as provided by Article 239 EEC Treaty in the case of protocols? One possibility of incorporating such a declaration would be to refer in the treaty itself to the nature of the document added, i.e. in order to define the rights and obligations flowing from the treaty, or to the technical peculiarities of certain provisions. Whenever there is no reference in the 33 T.O. Elias, The Modern Law of Treaties, 1974, p. 75. 34 Cf. Seidl-Hohenveldern, Volkerrecht, 3rd ed., no. 150; for the discussion on the classification of treaty annexes, see H. Schiedermair, Der volkerrechtliche

Status Berlins nach dem Viermiichte-Abkommen vom 3. September 1971 (1975),

pp. 77 f. Against Schiedermair's interpretation, see J.A. Frowein, Archiv des offentlichen Rechts, 101, p. 642.

+ Athos Library n AyLOpéLTLK~ BL~ÀL08~Kr]

32

Georg Ress

treaty itself and no formai incorporation either, indications have to be sought to reveal the will of the contracting parties in regard of the qualification of these documents. In the Ambatielos Case, the International Court of Justice derived · the unity and integrality of the operational treaty and of a declaration · added to it from the fact that the treaty text and the declaration were included in one and the same document3 5 • Likewise, shortly after the exchange of the ratification documents the United Kingdom published the "Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between the United Kingdom and Greece and th~ Accompanying Declaration" in one document which it submitted to Parliament. As a consequence, when the British Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Commissioner of the Hellenic Republic in Bern had deposited the official texts at the League of Nations in Geneva for registration, thé texts were published in the Series of Treaties of the League of Nations under one and the same number. Finally, from the fact that Greece had peposited one single text as document of ratification, the Court concluded ;that for Greece the declaration was an integral part of the Treaty. The same!conclusion was drawn in the case of the document of ratification of the United Kingdomi for the Court, the terms of "this treaty being ward by ward so conceived" and the text itself clearly indicated that the United Kingdom also considered the declaration as an integral part of the Treaty. The second argument referred to by the Court in the Ambatielos Case was the nature of the declaration. The Court held that the parties had reached an agreement before signing the treaty in 1926 which was in no way prejudiced by the treaty. The declaration therefore legally affected the entrance into force of the 1926 treaty in so far as to avoid the entire elimination of the treaty of 1886 and of all its provisions including those concerning judicial remedy. Therefore the Court held that "either expressly (by means of the document of ratification deposited by the United Kingdom) or by necessary implication (i.e. by the very nature of the declaration) the provisions of the declarations are treaty provisions". As a consequence, the Court considered itself competent to decide on any dissent concerning the interpretation or application of the declaration. Those academies who analysed this decision36 agreed that the mere fact of having the texts of a treaty and of a declaration pertaining to the

35 IC] Report 1952, p. 42. 36 Cf. Heidelmeyer, op.cit., pp. 117 ff.

The Legal Nature of Joint Declarations

33

treaty deposited in one and the same document, was not sufficient a reason for concluding that the declaration was integral part of the treaty37. The legal nature of a declaration is based on its being established for the purpose of interpreting the treaty3 8 . Judge Carneiro in his individual opinion declares that declarations to interpet parts of a treaty "adopt the significance of an authentic interpretation which is part of the treaty itse1f"39. This opinion does not appear consistent. Documents which are related to the interpretation or implementation of a treaty do not imply that they are an integral part of this treaty. However, following the interpretation, such a document may have the same effect as an integral treaty part for definitely establishing the will of the partiesi distinction should be made however between the function of an integral part of a treaty and the documents which are annexed to it for interpretation purposes. The five dissenting votes, which by reason of differing formai or material criteria or as a result of a differing assessment of these criteria reach a conclusion which is in clear contrast to that of the majority of Court members, illustrate the ambiguity of the criteria of distinction. The answer to the question whether or not a declaration is an integral part of a treaty, will also depend on the declaration's range rationis personae. Thus Schiedermair40 - whose argument falls to convince me denies that Annexes 1, II and III of the Four Powers' Agreement (on Berlin) are an integral part of the treaty, because these annexes not only affected the contracting parties, but also the Federal Republic of Germany and the

.37 Cf. the dissenting opinion of Judge Basdevant, IC] Report 1952, pp. 66 ff.: "Form details which would outweigh the legal operation of the conclusion of a treaty cannot be given a determining importance when, in case of doubt, the real meaning of the agreement is sought, the interpretation the parties wanted to give to sorne agreement concluded between them". 38 Apart from its significance for the interpretation of the treat}r, such joint declaration can imply obligations inherent in or apart from the treaty. Joint declarations have to be distinguished from reservations that have been formulated by one State and accepted by the other States (Article 20 (2) Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties) and by the competent organ in case of a constituent act of an international organisation (Art. 20 (3)) although a joint declaration conceming only the application of a treàty can for a State have the same legal effect as an accepted reservation (see Art. 21 (la) and (lb)). 39 IC] Report ·1952, p. 53. 40 See note.34 above.

n AyLOpELHK~ Bl~Àlo8~Kil +

Athos Library

Georg Ress

34

The Legal Nature of Joint Declarations

35

GDR and, as a consequence, do not fit into the synallagmatic pattern of the Four Powers' Agreement.

inclusio unius · est exlusio alterius) not be considered as part of the treaty" 46 .

Which conclusions are to be drawn from this line of reasoning? One reluctantly shares the formai argument of the Court. All depends on the indications of the will of the parties. Judge Zoricic puts it as follows: "What really matters are the terms of the text that has to be interpreted, the intention of the parties and the objective the text was aimed to serve"41 .

As Article 239 does not apply to other protocols, these latter as well as other declarations will become integral parts of the treaty only by means of the procedure set out in Article 236 of the Treaty provided that one shares this view. The same conclusion was drawn from the scheme of the Final Act (distinction between text of the treaty, annexes, protocols and declarations annexed only to the Final Act)47.

v. For Community law, the legal character of these declarations could be more easily found out. In the case of certain joint declarations the legal character is even questionable42 -we will come back to this problem later. Even if it ;is agreed that the declarations discussed here are of a legal nature, it i~ not evident that they are integral parts of the treaties (of accession). Article 239 EEC Treaty allows for a reverse argument. According to Article 239, protocols which "following a joint agreement of the Member States will be annexed to the present Treaty, are integral parts of it''. It is beyond any doubt that the protocols referred to in this article are those annexed to the EEC Treaty43 . These protocols have to be distinguished froJ,ll other joint or unilateral declarations which are annexed to the Final Act. In the opinion of most ac!ldemics, Article 239 does not cover these declarations which, therefore, do not have the "same legal significance"4 4 as the protocols45. Smits and Herzog came to the following conclusion: "It could be argued they should on the basis of an interpretation of Article 236 e contrario (or following the analogous role 41 ICJ Report 1952, p. 75.

42 Smits/Herzog, A commentary on the EEC-Treaty, 1982, Art. 230 (04):" ... expressions of intent and clearly good will gestures, rather than documents intended to have legal effects". 43 Cf. Hilf, in: Groeben/Boeckh/Thiesing/Ehlermann, Kommentar zum EWG-Vertrag, 3rd ed., 1983, Art. 239, no. 11. 44 See Wohlfahrt, in: Wohlfahrt/Everling/Glaesner/Spring, Die Europiiische Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft, 1960, Art. 239, no. 1; Carstens, ZaëRV, Vol. 18 (1958}, p. 238. 45 Cf. also Bentivoglio/Quadri et al., Article 239 no. 1: "Non hanno la stessa rilevanza le dei dichiarazioni communi delle Parti Contraenti nel caso specifico le citate dicharazioni communi contengono semplici promesse di concludere ulteriori accordi di cooperazione con Stati terzi, che come tali, non sono vincolandi".

The procedure of accession of new members as provided for in Article 237, the second paragraph of which defines the adaptation of the EEC

Treaty, allows for extending the nature of documents which forman integral part of the Treaty. Nevertheless, the contracting parties of the 1972 and 1979 treaties df accession chose the same method. The Treaty of the Accession of Greece of 18 May 1979 refers in Article 1 para. 2 to the text conceming the conditions of access~on of the Hellenic Republic and to the treaty adaptations. It declares that the provisions of this act are integral parts of the Treaty of Accession. In Article 150 of this Treaty, Annexes I to XII and the Protocols 1 to 7 annexed to the Treaty are declared integral treaty parts. These legal circumstances suggest the conclusion that, according to the will of the contracting parties, declarations other than annexes and protocols are not integral parts of the treaty. This conclusion is supported by an analysis of Articles 2 and 3 of the 1972 and 1979 accession treaties .. These Articles make a distinction between the provisions of the original treaties which are binding have the Hellenic Republic and which upon to be applied there under the conditions of these treaties and of the treaty under consideration, and the other declarations representing the s~alled Community "acquis" (Article 3 para. 3). The liellenic Republic is in the same situation as the other Member States in respect of declarations, decisions and other opinions expressed by the Council and in respect of those conceming the EEC which by a joint agreement were adopted by the Member States. As a consequence, the Hellenic Republk will respect the underlying principles and orientations and will take any measures that may be required to ensure their implementation". It has been argued48 that as a result of the rigour of Community law the contracting parties 46 Loc. dt., Art. 239 (note 0.4). 47 Cf. Jahn, in: Europarecht, 1972, p. 249. 48 Schwarze, Europarecht, 1983, p. 34.

+ Athos Library n AyLOpéLTLK~ BL~ÀL08~Kr]

Georg Ress

36

The Legal Nature of Joint Declarations

37

. refuse to subj.ect joint declarations to Community law, strictly speaking, in arder to avo1d the consequences, as e.g. the procedure provided for in Article 169 EEC Treaty.

declaration. However, as a matter of fact, such a question will be raised only in respect of the Treaty text itself, and in that event it is appropriate to raise this question before the European Court, which should decide it.

Even if the parties refrain from considering joint declarations as integral parts of the treaty in arder to keep a certain flexibility, the terms and the contents of such declarations can tum the argument into the reverse. I believe, however, that such declarations have to be considered ~s "interpretation agreements" or at least as declarations of political mtent.

In one particular case the European Court had considered itself incompetent to decide, i.e. when it had been invoked to interpret a treaty between Belgium and the Federal Republic of Germany. The Court argued that in this particular instance "the provisions of international law are establishing links between Member States outside the field of Community law" 51 .

. J?o~s the differentiation between an interpretation agreement, which 1s part of the context, and an agreement which is an integral part of the treaty, really. matter at the legal level?

On the other hand, an agreement conceming the treaty that was entered into between all parties upon conclusion of the treaty (Article 31 para. 2 (a)), which is included in the context for treaty interpretation purposes, could imply a modification of the treaty text because the treaty is given its real meaning only when it is interpreted in the light of the interpretation agreement5 2 • Unlike an agreement of association (Article 238 para. 3), the "adaptation" of the original Community treaties to the requirements of an accession treaty does not call for an explicit modification of the original treaties. It is rather possible and common use that these adaptations are incorporated into the treaty of accession and hereby exert a retroactive influence on the original Community treaties. Such a retroactive effect can be reached also by means of a joint declaration of interpretation (i.e. an interpretation agreement as provided for by Article 31 para. 2 (a)).

'

First, acco'r~g to the de~isions ~f the Court of Justice (and according to all comment~es) 49 , the notion of treaty" as mentioned in Article 164 EEC. Treaty (the co:rr:petence of the Court) has a very large meaning (eqmvalent: Co~untty law). Joint declarations which form parts of the Community "acqUis" are in this respect "Community law"50. Although they are not integral parts of the Treaty - with certain exceptions - , the declarations are of great importance for the interpretation of the treaties. They should not be confused with the treaties mentioned in Article 220 EEC Treaty which are concluded between Member States, because joint declarations have a direct and concrete relation to the EEC Treaty and the treaties of accession, whereas treaties referred to in Article 220 EEC Treaty are not necessarily linked to Community Law. Similarly, the obligation of domestic courts (or their chambers) to seek the European Court's opinion on a problem connected with interpreting the EEC Treaty (Article 177), also gives the courts the opportunity ~o seek.the Eur~~ean Court~s interpretation of an article of the EEC Treaty ~ relation .to a ~omt decla~ation. The problem could become a buming issue if the requrred mterpretation concerns a term or a certain formula of a joint 49 Cf. Daxg, . m. . · Groeb en et a1., op.czt., . Art. 164, no. 6; Fermee, . m: . Grabitz, EWG-.Vertrag, Article 164, no. 20: "Alle Streitigkeiten und Fragen, die mit der prakhschen Anwendung des Gemeinschaftsrechts in unmittelbarem Zusammenhang stehen". 50 In respect of the application of the Community "acquis", see ECJ Series 1981, p. 1074; cf. also Schwarze, in: Europarecht, 1982, pp. 143 ff.

The only question that arises in this connection is whether such a declaration of interpretation could change the effective meaning of a treaty in contradiction to its original terms. As Article 237 explicitly mentions adaptations, certain provisions or terms of the original treaty may well adopt another meaning for a new Member State following a declaration of interpretation. It is possible as well either territorially or materially to modify the field of application of certain provisions in arder to ensure that the provisions take due account of the peculiarities of a certain region of the new Member State. Such an additional and corrective interpretation of the original treaty raises theoretical difficulties of distinguishing between "interpretation" and "treaty modification". In my view, our particular problem does not require such a

51 ECJ Series 1976, p. 1333. 52 Cf. W. Karl, "Vertragsauslegung-Vertragsanderung'", in: Autoritiit und internationale Ordnung (C. Schreuer ed.), 1979, pp. 15 ff.

+ Athos Library n AyLOpéLTLK~ BL~ÀL08~Kr]

38

Georg Ress

distinction, because all treaties of accession explicitly allow for the adaptation of the original treaties without formai treaty revision. Therefore the question of formally revising the treaty is not raised. As a consequence, the declaration of interpretation (concerning Mount Athos, but also other declarations) can adopt the significance of an additional agreement modifying the original treaty despite its label of interpretative agreement. It will entirely depend on its contents whether the declaration develops such an effect or not. The fact that formally additional agreements do not form integral parts of the treaty, is no obstacle. Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 237 "adaptations" can be carried out merely by means of the integral text of the accession act: on the contrary, this article allows for such "adaptations" if necessary even by means of declarations of interpretation in respect of the accession act. VI. In Community law, the question arises whether joint declarations are of a legal nature or rather entirely political. The relations between an additional declaration and the treaty itself should be carefully distinguished from thb question of its legal significance. As we have seen, joint declarations can develop quite a few effects and functions. In what follows I am going to analyse them from the viewpoint of their binding effect. Such declarations can, firstly, take the shape of declarations of political intent of the governments or States agreeing upon them. Secondly, as interpretative declarations they can form part of the context which according to Article 31 para. 2 of the Vienna Convention is to be considered as an agreement on a "particular meaning" according to para. 4 of Article 31, or at least which is to serve as an additional means of interpretation according to Article 32. Thirdly, and without prejudice to their legal qualification, such declarations can supply the basis of functioning of the treaty itself and, fourth, by modifying the rights and obligations flowing from the treaty they can develop their own legal effect53.

The distinction between an international law treaty and a declaration of a political intent has often been analysed. In Article 2 para. 1 (a) of the Vienna Convention treaties are defined as "agreements under international public law". By this formula it was intended to make it clear that the "intention to commit oneself by the treaty" is an

53 See Bernhardt (supra note 24).

The Legal Nature of Joint Declarations

39

indispensable element of any treaty5 4 . The Vienna Convention fails, however, to supply criteria for making sure whether there is any intention for commitment55. But it provides for consequences in case of non- , observation of the agreement. A treaty violation entails retaliations or daims for damages, and the violation of a declaration of political intent is qualified as unfriendly behaviour.

In international treaty practice one resorts to declarations of intent when one of the contracting parties for political or constitutional reasons56 cares much about the fact that the other party binds itself by an agreement, whereas this latter for similar reasons refuses to commit itself by a formai treaty. On the other hand, declarations of intent are .also referred to when the parties fail to agree on the exact modalities of a formai treaty, but nevertheless want to establish sorne kind of agreement57 . Thus, the respective shape and scope of the agreement depends on the will of the parties. In most cases, the parties' will to bind themselves legally is not evident, therefore objective criteria have to be found for this purpose. Sorne criteria are beyond any controversy in the pertaining literature: The term "treaty" is presumed to be exhaustive and almost irrefutable, whereas "joint declaration" is open to a twofold interpretation58 . Moreover, a declaration and its denomination formally offer little instruction about the nature of the declaration because as public international law ignores form-related regulations. As a general rule, a refusai to enter a legal commitment can be presumed to underlie the explicit declaration that it is not a document which according to the terms of Article 102 of the UN Charter can be registered59. However, this does not allow for the adverse conclusion. The declaration to appeal to an international court in case of dissent allows to infer that there exists the 54 Cf. M. Rotter, "Die Abgrenzung zwischen vôlkerrechtlichem Vertrag und ausserrechtlicher zwischenstaatlicher Abrnachung", in: Internationale Festschrift Jür A. Verdross, 1971, pp. 426 ff.; Schachter, A/IL 1977, p. 300 f. 55 Cf. Blumenwitz, "Das deutsch-polnische Ausreiseprotokoll vom 7. Oktober 1975", in: Festschrift für von der Heydte, p. 53. 56 See the constitutional reasons of Greece-regarding the precedence of Cornrnunity law-for a declaration such as that in respect of Mount Athos. For other reasons see U. Everling, in: Gediichtnis-schrift für L.f. Constantinesco, 1983, p.146. 57 Cf. the legal weight of simple declarations of the EEC Council: ECJ Series 1981, 1045 (fishery policy); Schwarze, in: Europarecht 1982, pp.133 ff. 58 W. Wengler, Rechtsvertrag, Konsensus und Absichtserkliirung im Volkerrecht, Juristenzeitung 1976, p. 194; Blumenwitz, loc. cit., p. 54. 59 Wengler, ibidem .

+ Athos Library n AyLOpELTLK~ Bl~ÀL08~Kil

40

Georg Ress

intention to enter a legal commitment, whereas the explicit exclusion of the decision of a tribunal does not necessarily imply the contrary, as in international law the competence of courts is restricted to the cases of specifie declarations. The wording of a declaration also reveals the will or intention of the parties. Thus an agreement on the treaty obligations reveals the will of the parties to bind themselves legally whereas by expressing their intentions, convictions or hopes the parties declare their political intent60. When the contracting parties in their actuallegal relations - primarily Member States of an international organisation - leave aside the treaty revision forms as provided for, it may be presumed that they concluded an act without legal obligations. Finally, the behaviour of the parties and their arguments during the negotiations or internally can reveal a party'sbeing prepared to enter a legal commitment or not. It must nc;>t be derived from the fact that a declaration is given the

nature of an expression of political intent that non-observance of the declaration will be without consequences. Thus, no contracting party could daim in application of the princip le of estoppel (or of ven ire contra factum proprium) that a situation resulting from an agreement is illegitimate (e.g. a decision agreed upon in deviation from the provisions of the Statute). Human rights which were settled in basket no. 3 of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, illustrate another aspect: a joint declaration or even an agreement on a certain procedure will have as a consequence that the subject matter of the declaration is no longer a purely internai matter of the respective staté 1. In addition, a declaration which is expressed in respect of a given treaty can reveal the operational basis of the treaty, i.e. it shows up the circumstances which essentially led to the conclusion of the treaty and in the absence of which the parties would not have concluded the treaty.

The Legal Nature of Joint Declarations

41

distinction is a rather relative matter6 2 . Article 31 para. 1 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties reads: "A treaty has to be interpreted in good faith according to the ordinary meaning to be given to the treaty terms in their context and in the light of the treaty objective and aim". Para. 2 (a) of Article 31 provides for a material agreement of the parties on the contents of interpretation, whereas para. 2 (b) mentions unilateral declarations which, although being accepted as interpretative declarations by the other party, do not necessarily meet with the approval of the other party as to their contents63. Declarations which fulfil these requirements have the same ranking as the other means of interpretation enumerated in Article 31 paras. 1 and 2 and have to be taken into account for determining the "ordinary" meaning of a notion. However, instead of interpreting the declarations in their "normal" or "ordinary" meaning the analysis may as weil come to an unusual meaning. This will happen when the contracting parties are assigning a particular context to a treaty or a provision which has to be interpreted. What then is the importance of Article 31 para. 4? "A term will be understood in a particular sense if the parties so desire". From this it may be concluded that para. 4 of Article 31 was conceived in such a way as to charge the party that refers to a special meaning of a notion with furnishing the evidence64 . According to Article 32 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of • Treaties it is, finally, possible to refer to declarations that have been made in connection with a treaty as additional means of interpretation within the framework of the circumstances that led to the conclusion of a treaty and this in order to confirm the established meaning or to find out whether the use of the interpretation means enumerated in Article 31 produces a vague, ambiguous or even absurd meaning.

Another distinction of joint declarations results from their function in relation to the treaty. Although we have to distinguish interpretative declarations from those which as "part of the treaty modify the rights and obligations implied by the treaty", we have seen that such a 60 Blumenwitz, loc. cit., p. 55 note 23; G. Ress, Die Rechtslage Deutschlands nach dem Grundlagenvertrag vom 21 . Dezember 1972, 1978, p. 19. ..

61 Cf. Schachter, "The twilight existence of non-binding international agreements", AJIL 1977, p. 304; Th. Schweisfurth, "Zur Frage der Rechtsnatur, Verbindlichkeit und vôlkerrechtlichen Relevanz der KSZE-Schlussakte", in: ZaoRV, Vol. 36 (1976), p. 721.

62 Cf. Wetzel/Rauschning, Die Wiener Vertragsrechtskonvention, pp. 429 ff.; G. Ress, op. cit., p. 20, note 68. 63 Cf. Ress, op. cit., p. 123. 64 See Hummer, "Ordinary versus special meaning", in: Osterr. Zeitschrift

für offentliches Recht, Vol. 26 (1976), pp. 85 ff., 109, note 91.

n Ayl0p€LTLK~ BL~Àl08~Kr) +

Athos Library

42

Georg Ress

VII. The joint declaration concerning Mount Athos, which was adopted by government representatives at the government conference, reads as follows 65 : "In recognition of the fact that the special status granted to Mount Athos as guaranteed by Article 105 of the Hellenic Constitution is justified only on spiritual and religious grounds, the Community will take this status in consideration in the subsequent application and elaboration of Community law provisions, in particular as regards customs duty and tax exemptions and the right of settlement". The declaration is composed of two elements: first, the recognition of the fact that the special status is granted by the Constitution only on religious grounds; and secondly, the commitment to take care of duly considering the application of the special status. According to Article 227 para. 1, the EEC Treaty in principle also applies to Mount Athos. Unlike the relationship between the Vatican and Italy, Mt. Athos is a part of the Hellenic Republi~ (see Article 105 para. 1 (1) of the Greek Constitution)66. 65

.~f. Bernh~r~ Schloh,_ "The Accession of Greece to the European Commumhes (1980) , m: Georgta Journal of International Comparative Law, Vol. 10:2, pp. 385 ff. 66 Constitution of Greece (1975), Article 105: Chapter Three-Statute of Mount Athos 1. The Athos peninsula extending beyond Megali Vigla and constituting the district of Mount Athos shall, in accordance with its ancient privileged status, be a self-governed part of the Greek State whose sovereignty thereon shall remain unaffected. Spiritually, Mount Athos shall come under the direct jurisdiction of the Oecumenical Patriarchate. Ail persans residing thereon shall acquire Greek nationality upon admission as novices or monks without any further formality. 2. Mount Athos shall, in accordance with its regime, be governed by its twelve holy monasteries, among which the entire peninsula is divided, and its territory shall be exempt from expropriation. The administration shall be exercised by representatives of its holy monasteries constituting the Holy Community. No change whatsoever shall be permitted in the administrative system or the number of monasteries of Mount Athos, nor in their hierarchy and their position in regard to their dependencies; and · the dwelling there of heterodox or schismatic persans shall be prohibited. 3. The determination in detail of the Mount Athos regimes and the manner of operation thereof is affected by the Constitutional Charter of Mount Athos which, with the cooperation of the State

The Legal Nature of Joint Declarations

43

As rules of an·economic community, the EEC Treaty provisions only apply to matters of the economie sector. This context gives the declaration its significance. The declaration is aimed to apply in favour of the purely religious nature of an activity carried· out at Mount Athos. Should there arise doubts or diverging opinions as to whether an activity is of a religious or economie nature, Community law will become applicable. The second part of the declaration refers to Article 105 para. 5 of the Constitution where it is laid down that customs duty and tax exemption of the Holy Mount are regulated by the law. In sorne instances, tax exemption might amount to subsidies as defined in Article 92 which are incompatible with the EEC Treaty. However, the guarantee given by the joint declaration to duly consider the special status of Mount Athos in the application of Community law will prevent Community organs from raising objections or accusing Greece for granting subsidies in contrast to Community law. Here the question may be raised whether such a commitment of the Community and of the European Court of Justice is compatible with Community law and the task of the Court, because unlike in the case of Berlin Article 92 does not provide for any special circumstance that might justify tax exemption on religious grounds. In connection with the EEC Treaty provisions concerning the free movement of persons, services and the right of settlement, the declaration embodies an interpretation of the ordre public clause. Apart from this task to serve as a means of interpretation- a task which in this particular instance has to be considered as an agreement according to Article 31 para. 2 (a) and as an element of confidence in favour of Greece -, the declaration implies for the Community an obligation for the

representative, is drawn up and voted by the twenty monasteries and ratified by the Oecumenical Patriarchate and the Parliament of the Hellenes. 4. The correct observance of the Mount Athos regime shall in the spiritual field be under the supreme supervision of the Oecumenical Patriarchate and in the administrative field under the supervision of the State which shall also be exclusively responsible for safeguarding public order and security. S. The above mentioned powers of the State shall be exercised through a governor whose rights and duties, as weil as the judicial power exercised by the monastic authorities and the holy community, and lastly the customs and taxation privilege of Mount Athos, shaH be determined by law.

+ Athos Library n AyLOpéLTLK~ BL~ÀL08~Kr]

44

Georg Ress

The Legal Nature of ]oint Declarations

45

future, which, however, is different from that of the declaration concerning Berlin.

concerning the" Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla can be found in Protocol no. 269 •

In this latter declaration, the Community committed itself to taking ali necessary steps to improve the situation of Berlin. In the declaration concerning Mount Athos, the Community commits itself merely to taking account of special Greek regulations in the subsequent application and elaboration of Community law provisions. This does not preclude, however, that the Community takes measures to improve the situation of Mount Athos by referring to its special spiritual and religious status.

In conclusion it may be said that the application of Community law on the Canary Islands, Ceuta, Melilla, on the Azores and on Madeira is determined in the Treaty of Accession and in the protocols which were made an integral part of the Treaty of Accession. The joint declarations annexed to the final act do not transgress the scope of application of the treaty or of the protocols and have to be qualified as a means of interpretation. The Final Act of 12 June 1985 cannat be considered as a parallel to the joint declaration concerning Mount AU:os. In a certain sens~, the declaration concerning Mount Athos was of a un1que nature because 1t provided for a particular derogation of the scope of application of the EEC Treaty. It is not this exception in the scope of application - which, by th~ way, is identical to the settlement found in the case of Gree~l~d70 ~: 1t is rather the judicial technique which is important: lt 1s a JOmt declaration annexed to the Final Act, but not formally integrated into the Treaty of Accession of Greece. This legal technique causes specifie legal problems. It could perhaps be expedient to give the representatives of the Member States and their legal services the advise not to slow dawn the elaboration of these declarations and to try to incorporate them either into the annexes or into the protocols which are formally integrated into the treaties, or, even better, to integrate the exceptions into the treaties of accession themselves. Any declaration which is simply annexed to the final act causes specifie problems, be that in regard to the question whether there really is a legallink between this declaration annexed to the final act and the treaty itselt or be it the question whether the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Community does indeed extend to these declarations. This last question was raised in regard to the Single European Act and must be answered affirmatively - in contrast to the conclusions drawn by A.G. Toth71 .

VIII. The Treaty of 12 June 1985 concerning the accession of the Kingdom of Spain and of tl)e Republic of Portugal to the European Economie Community and tQ the European Atomic Energy Community67 also consists of annexes, protocols and a Final Act. Added to the Final Act are several joint declarations, 'along with unilateral declarations on the part of Spain, Portugal and the EEC. But none of these declarations contains a reservation or a ~ans of interpretation aiming at the establishment of a special legal regime for a particular region (with the exception of the declaration of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany concerning the application of Community law to Berlin). The provisions dealing with the exceptions of the application of certain parts of the Treaty can be found exclusively in the Act of Accession and in the protocols, which, according to Art. 400 of the Act of Accession, are an integral part of the Act. Art. 25 of the Treaty of Accession provides that the treaties as weil as the legal acts of the EC organs are applicable to the Canary Islands, to Ceuta and Melilla, subject only to those derogations spelled out in sections 2 and 3 and those provided for by this Act. The conditions under which the provisions concerning the free movement of goods, the customs law legislation and the economie policy are applicable to these Islands are defined in Protocol no. 2. The acts concerning the agricultural policy of the Community and the common fishery policy are not applied to the Canary Islands, to Ceuta and Melilla. As for Portugal (Arts. 376 and 377), sorne derogations in regard to the autonomous region of the Azores and the Island of Madeira are provided for. The Final Act contains a joint declaration concerning the economie and social development of the autonomous region of the Azores and of Madeira68. Apart from that, declarations

67 J.O. CEL 302/85. 68 J.O. CEL 302/85, p. 479.

69 Ibidem, p. 483. 70 J.O. CEL 29/85. 71 Loc. ~it., (supra note 11). A recent problem not discussed in this article

concerns the legal significance of declarations to protocol related to acts of the Council. Cf. M. Pechstein, "Die Bedeutung von ProtokollerkHi.rungen zu Rechtsakten der EG", in: Europarecht 1990, 249 ff.

n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~l\lo8~Kr] +

Athos Library

r

Le Mont Athos et le droit international* Constantin P. Economidès 1. Je dois tout d'abord préciser que je n'ai pas l'intention de présenter un rapport, ni de faire une communication dans le cadre du présent colloque. Je ferai seulement quelques brèves remarques au sujet du Mont Athos vu sous l'angle du droit international. I

2. D'emblée, il convient de relever que le Mont Athos n'a jamais été, tout au long de son histoire, un sujet du droit international. Ainsi, les activités de la Communauté Monastique Athonienne n'ont jamais été régies directement par le droit international et elle n'a jamais possédé les droits, prérogatives et obligations qui appartiennent aux sujets du droit international, qu'ils soient à capacité entière comme c'est le cas des Etats, ou à capacité restreinte comme c'est celui de certains autres sujets dits fonctionnels, par exemple les Organisations Internationales et quelques autres entités spécifiques. 3. Le Mont Athos, lors de la première phase de son existence, qui va du 10ème siècle à la conquête ottomane en 1430, faisait partie intégrante de l'Empire Byzantin. Ce dernier exerçait une souveraineté complète sur lui, tant sur le plan personnel que sur le plan territorial. En effet, les moines étaient des ressortissants de l'Etat byzantin et le territoire du Mont Athos faisait partie du territorium de l'Empire. Il convient ici de signaler que l'Empire de Byzance exerçait même une totale autorité spirituelle sur les monastères et ce n'est qu'en 1312, sous l'Empereur Andronique II Paléologue, que la compétence spirituelle est passée de l'Empereur au Patriarche Oecuménique de Constantinople, situation qui continue depuis lors jusqu'à

* ·Les vues exprimées dans cette intervention ont un caractère personnel.

1 1

l

nAyLOpELTlK~ BL~ÀL09~Kil +

Athos Library

48

Constantin P. Economidès

nos jours et constitue une des caractéristiques fondamentales du régime du Mont Athos. 4. Il en fut de même tout au long de la domination ottomane, c'est-à dire de 1430 à 1912. En dépit des premiers textes de caractère international qui concernent le Mont Athos et que nous allons voir par la suite, la Montagne Sainte appartenait, sur le plan du droit international, à l'Empire ottoman. Les moines étaient des sujets ottomans et le territoire du Mont Athos faisait partie intégrante du territoire de l'Empire ottoman. Cependant, en ce qui concerne le statut intérieur du Mont Athos, il n'y eut pas de changement sous le gouvernement ottoman. Ce dernier ne limita pas l'indépendance des moines et il ne s'immisca pas dans la gestion des affaires intérieures du Mont Athos, qui, spirituellement, continua, comme aujourd'hui, de relever du Patriarcat œcuménique. S. La même situation continue durant la période de la souveraineté hellénique sur~le Mont Athos, qui commence à partir de 1912. Ainsi, les moines, en vertu de l'article 4 du traité d'Athènes du 1er/ 14 novembre 1913 entre l'Empire ottoman et la Grèce, deviennent ressortissants hellènes. De même, les monastères, en tant que personnes morales, acquièrent la nationalité hellénique. Je me permettrai ici de lire un passage d'une sentence arbitrale rendue le 31 juillet 1934 par les membres neutres de la Commission Mixte pour l'échange des populations grecques et turques!, sentence qui est d'un très grand intérêt pour le Mont Athos et que nous aurons l'occasion de citer plusieurs fois par la suite. Or, cette sentence dispose que: "Faisant partie de l'Empire ottoman depuis 1430 jusqu'en 1913 et étant soumis, au temporel, à la souveraineté du Sultan, il va de soi que tant la Communauté Athonienne que les monastères dont elle se compose doivent être considérés comme des personnes morales de nationalité ottomane. Mais, dés l'instant que le droit de souveraineté sur le territoire du Mont Athos a été transféré à la Grèce, il est dans la nature des choses mêmes que ces institutions ont perdu la nationalité de l'Etat cédant pour acquérir celle de l'Etat cessionnaire". Par conséquent, et c'est la conclusion du tribunal arbitral: "Depuis le transfert à la Grèce du droit de souveraineté sur la presqu'île du Mont Athos, les monastères susindiqués doivent être considérés comme des personnes morales possédant la nationalité hellénique" (pages 120-121). 1 Cette sentence, bien que concernant "le cas des certains moines et monastères du Mont Athos ayant demandé l'admission au bénéfice des articles 9 et 29 de la Convention signée à Ankara le 10 juin 1930", a un intérét bien plus général car il y est examiné en détaille régime juridique de la péninsule du Mont Athos. Elle a été rendue par les membres neutres de la Commission Mixte précitée: H. Anderson et H. Holstad.

Le Mont Athos et le droit international

49

De même, le territoire du Mont Athos fait partie intégrante du territoire hellénique. 6. Pour conclure ce premier point, nous dirons que le Mont Athos n'a jamais possédé au cours de son histoire de personnalité internationale, même limitée, puisqu'il était purement et simplement soumis à la souveraineté de l'Empire byzantin d'abord, de l'Empire ottoman ensuite et de l'Etat grec de nos jours. Les relations entre ces Etats et le Mont Athos n'étaient point des relations de droit international, mais des relations de droit interne. D'ailleurs, la sentence arbitrale que nous venons de citer précise que: "Ces rapports-entre la Communauté monastique et l'Etat exerçant la souveraineté sur le territoire où cette dernière est établie-sont du domaine du droit public interne et ont été nettement définis dans de nombreux Actes émanés du pouvoir souverain au cours des siècles" (idem p. 121). Le dernier acte en date est naturellement la Constitution de la République Hellénique de 1975, dont l'article 105 est consacré au Mont Athos. 7. Avant de voir les textes internationaux qui concernent le Mont Athos, il convient de dire quelques mots sur le passage de ce dernier sous la souveraineté de l'Etat Hellénique.

II

8. La Chalcidique a été occupée par les armées helléniques au début de la Première Guerre Balkanique, soit en novembre 1912. Cette situation de facto s'est transformée très vite en situation de jure, bien qu'il n'y ait pas eu de texte conventionnel exprès dans ce sens. En effet, par le Traité de Paix de Londres de mai 1913 entre la Bulgarie, la Grèce, le Monténégro et la Serbie d'une part et l'Empire ottoman d'autre part, ce dernier céda aux Etats alliés tous les territoires sur le continent européen à l'ouest d'une ligne tirée d'Enos sur la Mer Egée à Midia sur la mer Noire, à l'exception de l'Albanie (art. 2). Toutefois, l'article 5 de ce même Traité contenait une clause spéciale relative aux îles de la Mer Egée et à la Péninsule du Mont Athos dont le sort devait être décidé par les grandes puissances, c'est-à-dire par l'Allemagne, l'Autriche, la France, la Grande-Bretagne, l'Italie et la Russie. · Cependant, alors que les grandes puissances ont réglé, le 13 février 1914, la question des îles de la Mer Egée en les attribuant à la Grèce, elles n'ont pris aucune décision expresse à l'égard du Mont Athos. La Russie avait proposé à la Conférence de Londres "de proclamer l'autonomie de la

n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~l\lo8~Kr] +

Athos Library

50

Constantin P. Economidès

presqu'île du Mont Athos sous la protection des Etats y ayant des intérêts religieux, sans toutefois toucher à l'administration intérieure de la Sainte Montagne qui continuerait de rester aux mains du Conseil des Représentants des 20 monastères sous la direction suprême du Patriarcat œcuménique". Mais cette proposition, qui aurait modifié radicalement le régime séculaire du Mont Athos, en faisant de lui un protectorat de divers Etats y ayant des intérêts religieux, n'a pas été acceptée. Par ailleurs, la Conférence des Ambassadeurs à Londres s'est orientée en août 1913 vers une autre solution, selon laquelle le Mont Athos "aurait une autonomie indépendante et neutre". Mais cette solution, quelque peu vague, n'a pas été consignée dans les procès-verbaux (elle n'est connue que par les compte-rendus préparés pour la délégation britannique) et n'a jamais été élaborée dans sa totalité, ni appliquée en fait. (idem p. 96, 97 et 102). 9. Dès lots, la question qui se pose est de savoir quand et comment la Grèce a acquis ' la souveraineté sur le Mont Athos. Pour répondre à cette question, je me ?:"éférerai à la sentence arbitrale du 31 Juillet 1934 déjà citée, qui est l'élément le plus pertinent en l'occurrence. Or, cette sentence donne la réponse suivante: a. Par le Traité de Bucarest conclu le 10 août 1913 après la Seconde Guerre Balkanique, la Grèce a acquis vis-à-vis des autres Etats contractants-c'est-à-dire de la Bulgarie, de la Roumanie, du Monténégro et de la Serbie-la souveraineté de jure sur la presqu'île du Mont Athos, du fait que, selon ce Traité, qui régla le partage des territoires ottomans cédés à Londres, Salonique avec toute la péninsule de Chalcidique a été attribuée à la Grèce. b. Vis-à-vis de la Turquie, la question est plus complexe. Certes, le Traité d'Athènes du 14 novembre 1914 entre la Grèce et la Turquie confirme dans son article 15, en ce qui concerne la Grèce, les dispositions du Traité de Londres, donc la cession par la Turquie des territoires situés sur le continent européen à l'Ouest de la ligne Enos-Midia. Mais l'article 15 du Traité d'Athènes se réfere également à l'article 5 du Traité de Londres, qui confie aux grandes puissances le soin de statuer sur le sort de la péninsule du Mont Athos, ce qu'elles n'ont jamais fait de façon expresse, comme nous l'avons déjà dit. 10. Cependant, le tribunal arbitral, sur la base d'un certain nombre d'arguments pertinents, développés en détail dans les pages 92 à 111 de sa sentence, aboutit à la conclusion que le Mont Athos est passé de jure, aussi bien vis-à-vis de la Turquie que des grandes puissances, à la souveraineté hellénique, le 14 novembre 1913, c'est-à-dire à la date de la conclusion du Traité d'Athénes. Les arguments utilisés par le tribunal arbitral sont notamment les suivants:

Le Mont Athos et le droit international

51

a. La renonciation par la Turquie à tous ses droits sur les territoires ottomans situés à l'Ouest de la ligne Enos-Midia, conformément à l'article 2 du Traité de Londres. b. la confirmation de cette renonciation vis-à-vis de la Grèce par l'article 15 du Traité d'Athènes. c. le fait que les grandes puissances, qui avaient reçu le soin de statuer sur le Mont Athos, n'ont jamais eu l'intention de soustraire les territoires de la peninsule au droit de souveraineté de la Grèce. Dans la sentence, il est même dit expressément "qu'avec la chute de l'ancien Empire de Russie le règlement du sort du Mont Athos avait cessé d'être une question internationale" (page 100). d. le fait que ces mêmes puissances, aussi bien que la Turquie, ont reconnu d'une manière implicite l'acquisition par la Grèce du droit de souveraineté sur la presqu'île du Mont Athos, ce qui résulte de l'article 13 du Traité de Sévres de 1920 que nous allons voir plus loin. Ce Traité, concernant la protection des minorités en Grèce, présuppose, selon l'avis du tribunal arbitral, la souveraineté, non pas seulement de facto mais aussi de jure de la Grèce sur le Mont Athos. En effet, comment la Grèce pourrait-elle légalement assumer des obligations de caractère international à l'égard d'un territoire qui ne relèverait pas de sa souveraineté? 11. Enfin, le tribunal conclut, que, même si l'on n'accepte pas cette solution, c'est-à-dire le passage de jure du Mont Athos à la Grèce à la date du 14 novembre 1913, la question est de toute façon définitivement réglée par le Traité de Paix de Lausanne du 14 Juillet 1923, qui a fixé les frontières entre la Grèce et la Turquie en incluant la presqu'île du Mont Athos à l'intérieur du territoire hellénique (idem p. 109 et 110).

III 12. J'en viens maintenant aux textes de caractère international qui se rapportent au Mont Athos. Le premier en date, qui appartient à l'histoire, est un texte bilatéral: le Traité de San Stefano du 3 mars 1878 entre l'Empire ottoman et la Russie dont l'article 22 dispose, à la fin, que: "Les moines du Mont Athos d'origine russe seront maintenus dans leurs possessions et avantages antérieurs et continueront à jouir, dans les trois couvents qui leur appartiennent et dans les dépendances de ces derniers, des mêmes droits et prérogatives que ceux qui sont assurés aux autres établissements religieux et couvents du Mont Athos". 13. Le second est le Traité de Berlin signé le 13 Juillet de la même année entre la France, l'Allemagne, l'Autriche-Hongrie, la Grande Bretagne, l'Italie, la Russie et l'Empire ottoman qui, à la fin de l'article

n AyLOpELTlK~ BL~ÀL09~Kil +

Athos Library

52

Constantin P. Economidès

62, contient une disposition de portée plus générale que celle du Traité précité, à savoir que: "Les moines du Mont Athos, quel que soit leur pays d'origine, seront maintenus dans leurs possessions et avantages antérieurs et jouiront, sans aucune exception, d'une entière égalité de droits et prérogatives". 14. Enfin, la dernière disposition internationale concernant la péninsule du Mont Athos est celle déjà citée de l'article 13 du Traité de Sèvres du 10 août 1920 concernant la protection des minorités en Grèce. Ce traité, qui a été maintenu en vigueur par le Protocole XVI du Traité de Paix de Lausanne de 1923, dispose en son article 13 que: "La Grèce s'engage à reconnaître et maintenir les droits traditionnels et les libertés dont jouissent les communautés monastiques non grecques du Mont Athos d'après les dispositions de l'atticle 62 du Traité de Berlin du 13 juillet 1878". Le Traité de Sèvres ne vise donc que les communautés monastiques non grecques du Mont Athos, qui sont considérées comme une minorité établie sur le territoire hel'Lénique. 15. Est-ce-que ces dispositions sont toujours en vigueur? On a soutenu et on soutient 'de plus en plus que les dispositions conventionnelles concernant les minorités, qui ont été conclues entre les deux guerres et notamment sous l'empire de la S.D.N. ne sont plus valables en raison surtout: a. des résultats de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, b. de la dissolution de la S.D.N., c. de l'avènement de la Charte des Nations-Unies, qui assure désormais la protection des droits de l'homme sur une base universelle et non pas sur une base minoritaire. 16. Quoi qu'il en soit, la question, bien qu'importante sur le plan général, est dénuée d'intérêt pratique car la Grèce depuis sa Constitution de 1927 jusqu'à celle actuellement en vigueur de 1975 consacre toujours une disposition spéciale au régime du Mont Athos qui dispose que: "La presqu' île de l'Athos qui, à partir et au delà de Megali Vigla, constitue le territoire du Mont Athos, est, suivant son antique statut privilégié, une partie autoadministrée de l'Etat hellénique dont la souveraineté y demeure intacte. Au point de vue spirituel, le Mont Athos relève de la juridiction directe du Patriarcat Oecuménique" (art 105).

r 1 1 1

1

1

Le Mont Athos et le droit international

53

.. Cette disposition con~a~re e: sanctionne de la manière la plus officielle et la plus nette, le regrme seculaire du Mont Athos de façon plus large .et ~lus étendue que ne le faisait le Traité de Sèvres. Cette pratique constitutiOnnelle constante est la meilleure garantie pour la Montagne Sainte, qui est ressentie dans le cœur de tous les grecs comme le foyer et le gardien des traditions de l'Eglise Byzantine.

1 1

11 1

1 !

+ Athos Library

n AyLOPElTLK~ BL~l\L08~Kfl

The Status of Mount Athos in Hellenic Public Law Charalambos K. Papastathis I. The Final Act (1979) of the Agreement concerning the accession of the Hellenic Republic to the European Economie Community includes Joint Declaration n° 4 concerning Mount Athos, which states: "Recognising that the special status granted to Mount Athos, as guaranteed by Article 105 of the Hellenic Constitution, is justified exclusively on grounds of a spiritual and religious nature, the Community will ensure that this status is taken into account in the application and subsequent preparation of provisions of Community law, in particular in relation to customs franchise privileges, tax exemptions, and the right of establishment" 1• The present paper examines, in very general terms, this "special status" from the point of view of contemporary Hellenic public law.

II. Organised coenobitic monastic life on the Athos Peninsula is considered to date from the year 963, when the Monastery of the Great Lavra was built2, though anchorites were living there before this time. Both in 1 Official Journal of the European Communities 291/19.11.1979, p. 186; N. Skandamis. ''To .i\yLo 'OQOÇ ML ot EUQWlta·cxéç Kotv6tTJtEç", EUnvtx1j Em()edJQTJGTJ EvgwJCaixov Lltxalov 1983,

n° 2,

271-285.

2 For bibliography on Mount Athos published before 1963 see Ir. Doens, "Bibliographie de la Sainte Montagne de l'Athos", Le Millénaire du Mont Athos, 963-1963, Il, Venezia-Chevetogne [1964], pp. 337-495. For Russian works concerning chiefly the relations between Russia and Mount Athos, see An. Prosvimin, "Afon i Russkaja Cerkov. Bibliografija", Bogoslovskie Trudy 15 (1976) 185-256. Basic works on the history and art of Mount Athos are: M. Gedeon, ·o ~Aewç. 'Ava1wnauç, èyy(Jacpa, anp.etdJaetç, Constantinople 1885; .. episkop Porfirij Uspenskij, Istorija Afona, c. 1, Kiev 1877, Vostok christianskij-Afon. Istorija Afona, c. II-III (1-2), Kiev 1877, Sankt Peterburg 1892; deacon Cosmas Vlachos, •H XE(Ja6vnaoç roii 'Ayiov ~o{Jovç ~Aew xai al èv ain:fi p.ovai xai olp.ovaxoi JC
nAyLOpéLTLK~ BL~ÀL08~Kr] + Athos Library

56

Charalambos K. Papastathis

the earlier years and, particularly,. after 963, the Byzantine emperors were in the habit of granting to the whole monastic community and to various individual establishments, as also to individual monks, privileges of self-administration (relating to the exercise of administrative, legislative, and judicial power), together with other privileges of a religious, persona!, and financial nature. At the same time, the Oecumenical Patriarchs offered Mount Athos special protection in the form of ecclesiastical self-administration, as well as direct spiritual obedience to the Patriarchal See of Constantinople. This privileged status was still respected even after the peninsula was conquered by the Ottomans in 14303. Mount Athos was never a sovereign state: it was part of the territorium first of the Byzantine and then of the Ottoman Empire, and the agents of its self-administration were invested with potestas delegata. State sovereignty was confined, as a rule, to maintaining order and to ensuring the implementation chiefly of financial regulations. All the foundations and the monks, irrespective of their national origin, enjoyed the benefits of the privileged status. Mount Athos was always a pan-Orthodox spiritual centre, peopled by monks from all over the Christian Orthodox world. This was particularly true in the second half of the nineteenth century, when, apart from monks from the various Orthodox nations of the Ottoman Empire (Albanians, Bulgarians, Hellenes, Serbs), there were also many from such Orthodox countries as Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Montenegro, Remania, Russia, and Serbia. It was in 1878 that Mount Athos's regime first received international protee-

viiv, Volos 1903; archimandrite Gerassimos Smyrnakis, Tà ~AyLov ~O(]OÇ, Athens 1903; F.W. Hasluck, Athos and its Monasteries, London 1924; archimandrite Christophoros Ktenas, ~An:avra rà èv 'Ayüp ~o{}eL le(]à xa8LÔ(]VP,ara, Athens 1935; Emm. Amand de Mendieta, La presqu'île des Caloyers. Le Mont Athos, Bruges 1955; 1. Mamalakis, Tà ~Aywv ~O(]OÇ (~Aewç) &à p,éaov rwv alwvwv, Thessaloniki 1971. 3 The legal bibliography on Mount Athos was published by Ir. Doens-Ch. Papastathis, "Nof.ttxn ~tBÎo.toygacpta 'Aytou ~ogouç, 1912-1969", MaxeoovLxà 10 (1970) 191-242. The various texts of the byzantine and post-byzantine periods concerning privileged status of Mount Athos, - which continues to be valid according to the Hellenic Constitution and the international Treaties -, have been collected mainly by Ph. Meyer, Die Haupturkunden für die Geschichte der Athoskliister, Leipzig 1894; G. Young, Corps de droit ottoman, vol. II, Oxford 1905, pp. 40-56, and in the series "Archives de l'Athos", founded in S. Peterburg and continued in Paris after 1917.

The Status of Mount Athos in Hellenic Public Law

57

tion4. The Treaty of San Stefano (1878) recognised it and protected it, but only on behalf of the Russian monks5. The Treaty of Berlin (1878), which superseded San Stefano, also recognised Mount Athos's status in its existing form and extended protection to all the monks, regardless ·of their national origin6 • During the First Balkan War (1912), the Hellenic navy liberated the Athos Peninsula and Ottoman domination came to an end. There followed a veritable tug-of-war over who should have state sovereignty over Mount Athos. Owing to Russian interests7, the Ambassadors' Conference in 4 N. Antonopoulos, "La condition internationale du Mont Athos", Le Millénaire du Mont Athos, 963-1963, I, Venezia [1963], pp. 381-405. 5 Article 22 of the Treaty of San Stefano deals with Mount Athos as follows: "... Les moines du Mont Athos d'origine russe seront maintenus dans leurs possessions et avantages antérieurs et continueront à jouir, dans les trois couvents qui leurs appartiennent et dans les dépendances de ces derniers, des mêmes droits et prérogatives que ceux qui sont assurés aux autres établissements religieux et couvents du Mont Athos", see G. Noradounghian, Recueil d'actes internationaux de l'Empire Ottoman, vol. III, Paris 1902, p. 519. 6 Article 62, § 8: "Les moines du Mont Athos, quel que soit leur pays d'origine, seront maintenus dans leurs possessions et avantages antérieurs et jouiront, sans aucune exception, d'une entière égalité de droits et prérogatives", see G. Noradounghian, op. cit., vol. IV, Paris 1903, pp. 191-192. 7 See:* Ich vysokoprevoschoditeljstvam, Gospodam Poslam Velikich Derlav, Clenam mezdunarodnoj konferencii v Londone po Balkanskim voprosam. Sv. Gora Afon 12 Maja 1913 g. Sledujut podpisi Nastojatelej s bratijami 97 afonskich russkich obitelej. S podlinnym verno. Predsedatelj Bratstva Russkich Kelejnych obitelej na Afone Ieroschimonach Gerasim, [Mount Athos 1913], (the same study was published in Cerkovnye Vedomosti 1916, no 16; 1917, nos 3, 4, 6); Réfutation du Mémoire soumis par les moines russes kelliotes à la conférence des ambassadeurs de Londres et contenant des prosositions anticanoniques et subversives de toute notre constitution. Soumise par notre sacrée communauté de la sainte Montagne d'Athos à la susdite conférence, aux ministres des Affaires étrangères et aux consuls de grandes puissances à Thessalonique, A.S.E. le président de notre respecté gouvernement M. Eleuthérios Vénizélos et au ministre des Affaires Étrangères (Caryès, le 26 août/ 8 septembre 1913); Décret des Supérieurs et Primats de la Sainte Assemblée extraordinaire et des représentants des vingt Saints Couvents à la Sainte Communauté du Saint Montagne d'Athos fait dans l'église historique du "Protatou" à Caryès le 3 Octobre 1913 pour être présenté à Sa Majesté le Glorieux Roi des Hellènes C.onstantin. Des copies en seront envoyées à S.S le Patriarche Oecuménique Monsieur Germanos, aux Augustes Gouvernements des États Orthodoxes et à L. Excellences le Président et les Ambassadeurs membres de la Conférence, Salonique 1913; Aktaios, Memoires du Mont Athos. Contre la proposition politique insolite présentée à la Conférence des ambassadeurs à Londres d'après laquelle

n Ay~opELTLK~ BL~l\lo8~Kr] +

Athos Library

58

Charalambos K. Papastathis

London (1913) came out for Mount Athos's autonomy 8. However, the Peace Treaties of Bucharest (July-August 1913), Athens (November 1913), and Neuilly-sur-Seine (1919) included it within Hellenic territory and said nothing about autonomous status. Finally, the Treaties of Sèvres (1920) and Lausanne (1923) recognised Greece's territorial and persona! sovereignty over Athos. Article 13 of the special Treaty of Sèvres conceming the protection of minorities in Greece (which was included in the sixteenth protocol of the Treaty of Lausanne), safeguarded the rights and liberties of the non-Hellenic monastic communities9, in which it repeated in principle the provisions of Article 62, § 8 of the Treaty of Berlin.

Mont Athos devait être mis sous la protection des États Orhtodoxes Russie, Bulgarie, Monténégro, Serbie, Roumanie et Grèce et sous la juridiction spirituelle du Patriarche Orcuménique, Athènes 1913; Tà 'Iegàv IJii}(j)Lap.a -roü 'Ayiov VO(JOVÇ VA8w xai -rà avva({Jfi è:rrianp.a lyygacpa, Thessaloniki 1913; A.A.Dmitrievskij, "Afon i ego novoe politîceskoe i mezdunarodnoe polozenie", SoobScenija Imperatorskogo Pravoslavnogo Palestinskogo Obscestva 24 (1913) 225-250; Issidoros Monachos (=Ioakim Iviritis)i :A:rrav-rnaLÇ elç ràv x. 'A. !J.Tif.l1/TQLéj3axnv fi :rre(Ji bLe8vo:rroLi}aewç -roii 'Ayiov vO(JOVÇ, Smyma 1913; I. Ivanov, Polozenie Russkogo monasestva na Svjatoj Afonskoj Gare pos'le Balkanskoj vojny, Odessa 1913; M. Karavokyros, Toii 'A yiov vogovç -rà &xma xai :J!(JOV6p.La. :A vaaxevn roii iJ:rrop.vi}p.aroç Pc!Jawv rLVWV XEMLW'fWV p.ovaxwv xarà roii :rrgovop.wxoii xa8ea-rwroç -roii 'Ayiov VO(Jovç, Constantinople 1913; Meletios Metaxakis, Tà &AyLOv VO(JOÇ xai il gwaLxn :rroÀmxn èv :AvaroÀji, Athens 1913, pp. 20-55, 167-213; * "Polozenie Afona", Cerkovnyj Vestnik, 1913, n° 46, 1445-1447; S.V. Troickij, "0 budu5cem ustrojstve Afona", Pribavlenija k Cerkovnym Vedomostjam, 1913, n° 10, 460-463; Idem, "Afonskaja smuta", op. cit., 1913, n° 20, 882-909; Idem, "Bor'ba s Afonskoj smutoj", op. cit., 1913, n° 36, 1636-1643; episkop Anatolij, "Afonskij vopros", newsp. Golos Russ 1914, n° 101; S.V. Troickij, "Plody greceskogo vladycestva na Afone. Afon i Londonskaja konferencija", Pribavlenija k Cerkovnym Vedomostjam, 1917, n° 3, 65-68; Idem, "Memorandum greeeskich monachov Londonskoj konferencii", op. cit., 1917, n° 4, 87-90; Al. Vamvetsos, Tà &AyLOV vogoç xai il ÉMT/VLXn :rro)..mxiJ, Athens 1917, passim; St. Papadatos, Al a)..avlxai bLeLabVaeLç èv ·Ayicp VO(JeL xai al

è~

avrwv :rro)..mxai xai vop.Lxai avvé:rreLm,

Ioannina 1961, pp. 133-143; archimandrite Bessarion Grigoriatis, "OL àywveç tO'Ü ·Aytov vogovç xatà. tfiç ôte8vo:rcOLi]aeroç a'Ùtoü", XgovLxà rfiç 'Iaro(JLXfiÇ xai J\.aoygacpLXffÇ •E-raLgeiaç XaÀXLDLXf1Ç6 (1963) 156-199. 8 "Le Mont Athos aura une autonomie indépendante et neutre ... ", see N. Antonopoulos, op. cit., p. 392; Ch. Papastathis, "To xa8EatÛ>Ç tov Aytov 'Ogovç xat tnç Exx/..nai.aç atnv Maxeôovta f.lEta tnv l:w8nxn tov Bovxovgeattov", H Lvv8iJxn rov Bovxov(}eariov xm 11 E.Ua<5a, Thessaloniki 1990, 197-198. 9 "La Grèce s'engage à reconnaître et maintenir les droits traditionnels et les libertés, dont jouissent les communautés monastiques non grecques du Mont Athos d'après les dispositions de l'article 62 du traité de Berlin du 13 juillet 1878", see G.F. de Martens, Nouveau recueil général de traités et autres actes relatifs

The Status of Mount Athos in Hellenic Public Law

59

III. In concert with proceedings on an international level, the Hellenic state also made strenuous efforts to: 1. Draw up a new regulation for Mount Athos, to replace the Athonite General Regulations of 1911-12. The relevant study resulted in 1924 in an Athonite commission's drawing up of the Mount Athos Charter (henceforth MAC), which, having been voted by the competent Athonite authorities, was ratified by the Hellenic State in the Legislative Decree of 10/16 September 1926 (henceforth LD). The MAC and the LD came into force the day after the Constitution of 1927, i.e. 4 June 1927, and 2. Safeguard the centuries-old existing regime by constitutional means. Articles 109-12 of the 1927 Constitution did indeed contain provisions recognising the general privileged status of Mount Athos, and the same provisions are to be found in Article 103 of the 1952 Constitution and Article 105 of the 1975 Constitution, which is in force today 10.

aux rapports de droit international, 3e serie, par H. Triepel, vol. 12, p. 806. This Treaty was sanctioned by the Decree of 29.9/30.10. 1923 "On the Protection of the Minorities in Greece", Official Gazette of Greece A. 311/30.10.1923. 10 "Regime of Mount Athos Article 105 1. The Athos peninsula extending beyond Megali Vigla and constituting the region of Mount Athos in accordance with its ancient privileged status, is a selfgoverned part of the Hellenic State, whose sovereignty thereon remains intact. Spiritually Mount Athos in under the jurisdiction of the Oecumenical Patriarchate. Ail persons leading a monastic !ife thereon acquire Hellenic citizenship without further formalities, upon admission as novices or monks. 2. Mount Athos is govemed in accordance with its regime by its twenty Holy Monasteries among which the entire Athos peninsula is divided; the territory of the peninsula is exempt from expropriation. Administration of the Mount Athos region is exercised by representatives of the Holy Monasteries constitution the Holy Community. No change whatsoever is permitted in the administrative system or in the number of Monasteries of Mount Athos, or in their order of preeminence or in their position to their subordinate dependencies. Heterodox or schismatic persons are prohibited from dwelling thereon. 3. The determination in detail of the regimes of Mount Athos and the manner of operation thereof is effected by the Charter of Mount Athos which, with the cooperation of the State representative, is drawn up and voted by the twenty Holy Monasteries and ratified by the Oecumenical Patriarchate and the Parliament of the Hellenes. 4. Faithful observance of the regimes of Mount Athos in the spiritual field is under the supreme supervision of the Oecumenical Patriarchate, and, in the

n AyLOpELnK~ BL~ÀL08~KJ'] +

Athos Library

60

Charalambos K. Papastathis

The Hellenic state has always recognised and protected the existing status of Mount Athos, and has from time to time added regulations, for both religious and ideological reasons, as also out of a sense of responsibility arising from its international law obligations towards Athos. This special treatment does not clash with the constitutional principle of equality (Article 4), for the latter in fact demands equal or the same treatment for all persons in the same or similar circumstances. As far as the nature of the MAC is concerned, the Constitution states that the Charter is that law which determines in detail the Athonite regimes and the manner of their operation. The MAC is a law of superior formai force in comparison to the other laws of the Hellenic Republic: none of its provisions may be modified or repealed by common laws. Such a change has to be drawn up and voted by the representatives of all the Athonite moriasteries and ratified by the Oecumenical Patriarchate and the Hellenic Parliament. Furthermore, the Council of State (which is Greece's supreme administrative court) has ruled that any modification of the MAC mus~ be explicitly mentioned in the subsequent law. In other words, it is not, sufficient, as is usually the case in law, simply to include a clause to the effect that any previous general or special provision is now repealed 11 . IV. The Constitution recogtùses and protects the centuries-old status of Mount Athos. This protection takes three forms: 1. specifie provisions of a special nature; 2. specifie provisions of a general nature; 3. authorisation

administrative, under the supervision of the State, which also is exclusively responsible for safeguarding public arder and security. S. The afore-mentioned powers of the State are exercised through a governor whose rights and duties are determined by law. The law likewise determines the judicial· power exercised by the monastic authorities and the Holy Community, as well as the customs and taxation privileges of Mount Athos". See: D. Petrakakos, Tà !J.Ovaxtxàv JWÀ.f:r:ev!J.a -r:ov 'Ayiov ~oQovç ~Aew, Athens 1925; P. Panayotakos, '"H ôgyâvwcnç 'tO'Ü !J.OvaxLxoü n:oÀL'tEUIJ.a'toÇ èv 'AyLcp ~oget-~A6cp", :Af?xerov 'ExxÀ.nawanxov xai Kavovtxov ..1txaiov 4 (1949) 79-192; B. Dentakis, "'H ÔLOQyâvwcrLç 'tiiç !J.ovaxLxfiç n:oÀL 'tdaç 'toü 'AyLoll YOQollç", 'EUnvtxn ..11/!J.LOVQyia 13 (1954) 521-534; N. Antonopoulos, 'H avvr:ay!J.anxiJ 1T:Q007:aaia 1:0'Ü éxyLOQELnXO'Ü xaeemrinoç, Athens 1958; St. Papadatos, 'H JT:OÀ.L7:etaxn 8éatç -r:oü 'Ayiov ~af?ovç, Athens 1965; J. Konidaris, "Die orthodoxen Kirchen. in Grie~henland nach der neuen Grundgesetzgebung", Zeitschrift für evangelzsches Ktrchenrecht 23 (1978) 199-201; Sp. Troianos, IIaQaô6aetç 'ExxÀ.nataanxoü ..1txaiou, Athens-Komotini 21984, pp. 463-521; Ch. Papastathis, H et&xil VO!J.LXil !J.e-r:axeiQtan -r:wv AyLOQEL7:Wv, Thessaloniki 1988. 11 Council of State 869 /1967; 2140/1975.

The Status of Mount Athos in Hellenic Public Law

61

of the commoh legislator (i.e. Parliament) to regulate certain specifie issues. 1. The first category includes self-administration, with a wide range of directly related issues, such as the delimitation of the territory of Mount Athos and its subordination to Hellenic sovereignty; the inalienability of the peninsula's territory, which is distributed exclusively amongst the ruling monasteries; the direct spiritual jurisdiction of the Oecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople; the prohibition of any change in the administrative system, the number of ruling monasteries (twenty), their hierarchical order, and their position in relation to their dependencies; the process of drawing up, voting, and ratifying the MAC; the allocation of supreme supervision over spiritual matters to the Oecumenical Patriarchate and administrative matters to the state, which is also in charge of public order and security (Article 105, §§ 1-4). 2. The specifie provisions of a general nature are included in§§ 3 and 4 of Article 105 and refer, I think, to any kind of privilege which has ever been recognised or granted, regardless of whether or not it has anything to do with self-administration. The Council of State has asserted that constitutional protection covers only those provisions for Athonite status relating to self-administration 12 . I hesitate to accept this opinion. It is quite clear that the provisions of§§ 1 and 2 of Article 105, which concern the "xa8eo"troç" (status) of Mount Athos, are limited to the context of its self-administration (" ... [it] in accordance with its ancient privileged status, is a self-govemed part..."); but in §§ 3 and 4 the Constitution uses the term "xa8ea"tùna" (regimes) and stipulates that their determination in detail and the manner of their operation is effected by the MAC. Furthermore, it also states clearly which authorities are to exercise supreme supervision over their faithful observance. In other words, I believe that §§ 1 and 2 introduce special provisions, which safeguard selfadministration toits fullest extent (both in scope and in content), whereas §§ 3 and 4 introduce a general provision, which safeguards the scope both of self-administration (together with the provisions of §§ 1 and 2) and of any other kind of regulation which has ever been enacted in relation to Mount Athos. At the same time, this provision also safeguards the content of these regulations, but only partially, since the Constitution assigns their detailed determination to the MAC, which is a law of superior formai force. These regulations arise from various old legal sources, such as Byzantine chrysobulls (imperial decrees), charters (Turnxa), sigils (patriarchal decrees), sultanic firmans, and general regulations issued at various times, as also from age-old monastic institutions and regimes, as

12 Council of State 869/1967; 2140/1975.

+ Athos Library n AyLOpéLTLK~ BL~ÀL08~Kr]

62

Charalambos K. Papastathis

The Status of Mount Athos in Hellenic Public Law

stated in Article 188 of the MAC. I therefore believe that the privileged regulations of the MAC (regardless of whether they are wholly or partially favourable or unfavourable to Mount Athos and its inhabitants): i) cannot be abolished or modified by a unilateral legislative act of the Hellenic state; ii) cannet be repealed by any revision of the MAC without being replaced, and iii) can be modified, as to their content, by revision of the MAC, insofar as the constitutionally safeguarded Athonite legal tradition allows, but by constitutional order the extent and the type of the various privileged regulations cannet be ignored in this case. It seems to me that Joint Declaration No 4 of the Agreement concerning the accession of the Hellenic Republic to the European Economie Community points in this direction. The Joint Declaration interprets Article 105 ofthe Hellenic Constitution as recognising the whole scope of the special status of Mount Athos - not merely with regard to selfadministration - and it goes on to consider as manifestations of that status the issues of tax and customs exemption and right of establishment. The special and general regulations for Mount Athos are described in the sources of Athqnite law as "xa9eo-cùna" (regimes), ":n:gov6!!La" (privileges), "àovôootm" (irrununities), and ":n:ÀEOVE'X't'lÎ!-1-a"Ca" (benefits). Most of these Athonite institutions have not been included in the MAC and the LD. The Arias Pagos (Greece's supreme civil court) and modem legal theory agree that provisions and institutions which were laid down in the distant past and are not included in the MAC and the LD remain valid if, at the time when Mount Athos was first granted constitutional protection (by the 1927 Constitution), they were not specifically repealed 13. The provisions and institutions relating to these regimes may be written or unwritten, as I believe is under-stated in MAC 188 §2. It is only if such legal sources were not instituted, or if they were instituted but were repealed or not implemented because they had lost opinio juris when the 1927 Constitution came into force, that general Orthodox canon law and common Hellenic ecclesiasticallaw are applied. Thus, even regulations which have at various times been instituted for the monastic community, the establishments, and the monks of Mount Athos, but have not been included in the MAC and the LD, continue to be valid, as long as: i) they were not repealed explicitly or implicitly when Mount Athos was first granted constitutional protection; and ii) they do

63

not contravene ·the provisions of Article 105 of the Constitution, the MAC, or the LD. The protection granted to Mount Athos by explicit constitutional provisions (both specifie protection relating to the scope and content of its self-administration and ·general protection relating to the extent of its general regimes) binds the common legislator and applies even if it happens to contravene other provisions of the Constitution. 3. Constitutional protection also extends to other areas, which are enumerated in § 5 of article 105. They are the rights and duties of the Govemor (the Hellenic state's representative on Mount Athos), the judicial power of the monastic authorities, and the customs and taxation privileges of Mount Athos. The Constitution stipulates that ali this shall be determined by common law. Constitutional protection is confined here to: i) the safeguarding of the existence of the Govemor's rights and duties; ii) the exercise of judicial power by the monastic authorities; iii) the granting of financial exemption by the state. The scope of these regulations, however, lies with common laws by constitutional authorisation. V. Administrative power. The administrative power of Mount Athos lies in self-administration in the first and second degree. First-degree self-administration is exercised by the ruling monasteries14, which are twenty in number. This number may not be changed, nor may their individual positions in the preeminence, nor yet their position towards their dependencies (sketes, cells, and hermitages). The monasteries are either coenobitic or idiorrhythmic, according to the way in which their members conduct their lives. In a coenobitic monastery everything is communal; the monks share a common way of life and have no private property. The monks in an idiorrhythmic monastery are allowed at support themselves through private resources, to have their own property, and to dispose of it as they wish (though not by an act of mortis causa). The idiorrhythmic system came into being in the early fifteenth century. The monasteries may change from idiorrhythmic to coenobitic, but not vice versa. Today nineteen are coenobitic and only one idiorrhythmic (Pantocrator). The coenobitic monasteries are administered by the Abbot (Hegumen-'HyO'lJ!-1-EVOÇ) and the Eiders' Assembly (fcgov-cta); the idiorrhythmic monastery by the Leaders' Assembly (Luva~LÇ -cwv TI QO 'CO"CU!-1-ÉVWV ). i

l3 Arios Pagos 170/1964. Th. Tsatsos, 'TvroJ,toô6'tnatç: "Aywv ~ogoç· rcgovoi.AWX6v xa8wtù.Jç, etc.", Bé!-LLÇ 64 (1953) 428-430; Ch. Fragistas, "Ilegi. 'tTtV ôuvm:6trrta ÈxrcoLnaeroç Èx !J.ÉQouç twv 'IEQWv MovWv toü 'Ayiou ~ogouç àxLVi)twv ... fvwf!oô6tnmç", Nowxov Bii!-La 19 (1971) 298-300; Sp. Troianos, op. cit., pp. 474, 477; Ch. Papastathis, "IlEQL tnv âaxnmv momdaç ELÇ ta ext6ç 1nç xegaovnaou tou A8w XEL!J.EVa ayLOQEmxâ !J.Et6XLa. fvro~-toô6'tnmç", NO/-LLX6 BfJ!-La 34 (1986) 820.

1

14 The twenty monasteries, in the arder of their preeminence, are: Megisti Lavra, Vatopedi, lviron, Chilandari, Dionyssiou, Koutloumoussi, Pantocrator, Xeropotamou, Zographou, Docheiariou, Karakallou, Philotheou, Simonos Petra, Hagiou Pavlou, Stavronikita, Xenophontos, Grigoriou, Esphigmenou, Rossikon (Hagiou Panteleïmonos) and Kastamonitou (MAC 1).

1

n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~ÀL09~Ktl + Athos Library

1

64

Charalambos K. Papastathis

Each monastery draws up and·votes its own Internai Rule, on which its self-administration is based. The Rule covers the internai life of the monastery, its administration, the election of its representatives, and the management of its property. Each monastery submits its Rule for approval by the Holy Community and the Rule must accord with the Constitution the MAC, and the various institutions of the privileged status. Each monastery elects its administrators and property managers with no intervention from other Athonite, state or ecclesiastical authorities. The elected officiais administer the monastery, manage the property, and also constitute a court of the first instance without any external intervention or interference . . Second-degre.e self-administration is exercised territorially throughout the penmsula and personally over all individuals upon it, whether monks, clergy, or laymen. The members of the collective agencies of second-degree self-administration: i) are elected by the monasteries without state' or patriarchal intervention, and ii) are the only bodies competent to d;eal with every issue relating exclusively to Mount Athos. The Holy Community ('IEQà Kow6tnç) is the main agent of seconddegree self~ad~inistration. It sits in the capital of Mount Athos, Karyes, and compnses· twenty members, each of whom represents one ruling monastery. They serve for one year, but may be re-elected an indefinite numb~r of times. If he is called upon, the Govemor, representing the H~ll:mc ~tate, may attend the sessions in a consultative capacity. The admimstrat~ve power of the monastic community rests with the Holy Commun1ty, as the supreme permanent agency. It also functions as a court of law (see VII). The Holy Community's executive organ is the Holy Superintendency ('~egà 'Ercwtaa(a), which comprises four monks drawn annually from four different monasterie~ in rotation. That is to say that each monastery is represented every five years 15 . The leader of the four is known as the llg~nEmaténnç or llgrotoç ~="First"), and he is also in charge of the . busme~s of the Holy Commum~. Apart from being the Holy Community's executive organ, the Holy Supermtendency also performs specifie duties of certain state authorities, namely the police force and police court. It also has municipal competence: it is responsible for keeping Karyes dean and ~epair~g r~a~s; it maintains public lighting; it carries out hygiene mspectwns; 1t fixes the priees of foodstuffs in the shops and restaurants of Karyes; it ensures that bath monks and laymen comport themselves with 15 1. Me.gisti Lavra, Docheiariou, Xenophontos, Esphigmenou; 2. Vatopedi, Koutloumouss1, Karakallou, Stavronikita; 3. Iviron, Pantocrator, Philotheou, Si~ono~ Petra; 4. Chilandar~, Xeropotamou, Hagiou Pavlou, Grigoriou, and 5. D10nyss10u, Zographou, Ross1kon, Kastamonitou (MAC 28).

The Status of Mount Athos in Hellenic Public Law

65

decency and decorum, prohibiting disorderly behaviour, secular sangs, games of chance, horse-riding, and smoking in the main streets; it forbids shops to open during Vespers, on Sundays, and on official holidays; it forbids the sale of meat and the preparation or public consumption of nonLenten fare on Wednesdays, Fridays, and other fast- days; and it expels laymen and non-Athonite clerics and monks who engage in misconduct. It has the Athonite police force under its command and may, if necessary, also cali upon the state police force (MAC 37). Under common penal law, it tries the minor offences committed in Karyes by monks and laymen (MAC Article 40), imposing (LD 7; MAC 71) upon monks the penalties laid dawn by canon law or a fine, which involves giving the Church of the Protaton in Karyes a specified amount of wax or ail, and upon laymen detention of between one and thirty days or a fine of up to 1,200 drachmas and/ or expulsion from the peninsula. Prison sentences are served on the premises of the state police force. The Holy Superintendency also processes and stamps the Holy Community's correspondence (MAC 37). It issues pilgrims with the permit (ôLa!!ovn•newv) necessary for their visit, which I shall discuss further on. It also administers the "Common Fund", which consists of contributions by the monasteries. With this fund the Church of the Protaton and the motor raad between Karyes and Daphne (Karyes' harbour) are maintained and the Holy Community's employees and the Athonite police force are paid. Every expense must be supported by a decision of the Holy Community (MAC 35 and 36). There are two further organs of self-administration, which, unlike the preceding ones, are not permanent. The Extraordinary Biannual Twenty-Member Assembly (~Ex-taxtoç LlLOEVLauata Etxoaa!!üilç Lilva~LÇ) comprises the àbbots of the coenobitic monasteries and a leader from the idiorrhythmic monastery. It sits twice a year in arder to vote the Regulative Provisions of Mount Athos and to act as a Special Court (see VII). The other non-permanent organ of self-administration is the Extraordinary Double Assembly CExtaxtoç LlLrtÀ:ii LUvŒ~LÇ), which consists of all the members of the Holy Community plus a representative from each monastery; which ineans that it has forty members. Its existence is not covered by the MAC or the LD, and for this reason its authority has been called into question 16. Personally, I cannat agree with this view, which, anyway, has not prevailed in practice. The Extraordinary Double Assembly has convened repeatedly in the past and continues to function today. It was this body, indeed, which voted the MAC in 1924. It has on occasion been summoned by the Holy Community to deal with serious

16 By I. Iliakis, Oi aytoeemxoi 8ea!J.oi, Athens 1938, p. 16, and P . Panayotakos, op. cit., 130-132. Contra: Th. Tsatsos, op. dt.

+ Athos Library n AyLOpELnK~ BL~ÀL08~KJ1

66

Charalambos K. Papastathis

matters. In other words, it existed when the constitutional provision for Mount Athos came into force in 1927. Consequently, regardless of the fact that it is not covered expressis verbis in the Constitution, the MAC, and the LD, its basis cannot be challenged, precisely because it is one of the regimes of Mount Athos. In any case, the MAC and the LD do not include or regulate ali the institutions of Mount Athos. The question which now arises is: how can the status quo be maintained and safeguarded? Does there exist an authority which will intervene if or when the organs of self-administration exceed the bounds of their competence, and if so what is it? There are two controlling agents: the Governor of Mount Athos and the Oecumenical Patriarchate. The G6vernor is a government official, answerable to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and residing in Karyes. He is invested with public authority, but is not an agent of Athonite self-administration. For this reason, I consider the use of the term "governor" (ÔLOLXrrtiJÇ) in the Constitution to be inexact. Should the Constitution be revised, this term really ought to be replaced. The Co~stitution charges the Governor with ensuring that the Athonite reg~e is closely adhered to from an administrative point of view. He exercises his responsibilities: 1. at the decision-making stage, attending the sessions of the Holy Community if and when called upon to do so, and 2. after decisions have been made, when he has to check the legality of the actions proposed by the organs of self-administration. If he finds that any of their decisions contravene the regimes, the MAC, or other provisions, the Governor draws the Holy Community's attention to the fact. If the Holy Community disagrees with his appraisal of the situation, then the Governor seeks the guidance of the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The Governor's actions are subject to the control of the Council of State17, as also are the actions of the Athonite agents, with the exception of those of the latter which relate to the internai administration of Mount Athos. The jurisprudence of the Council of State accepts that internai issues include ali the relations of the monastic establishments and the monks themselves, both with each other and with the monastic authorities and the Holy Community18. · The second controliing agent is the Oecumenical P~ltriarchate of Constantinople, whose jurisdiction covers matters of a spiritual nature. The Patriarchate also ratifies the Extraordinary Biannual TwentyMember Assembly's regulative provisions relating to spiritual matters and any decision to convert an idiorrhythmic monastery to the coenobitic

The Status of Mount Athos in Hellenic Public Law

! i 1

67

system; it issues permits to clerics to go to Mount Athos and officiate there; and provides letters of recommendation to scholars wishing to study in the archives and libraries. The Patriarchate must be informed of the election, resignation, and deposing of hegumens, trustees, and members of the monastic assemblies. The Patriarch and the Patriarchal Synod together form an Athonite court (see VII).

1

1

VI. Legislative power. Legislative power on Mount Athos is manifested by: 1. the MAC; 2. the laws referred to in § 5 of Article 105 of the Constitution; and 3. the Regulative Provisions. 1. The MAC is drawn up and voted by the twenty ruling monasteries of Mount Athos, that is to say by the Holy Community (Constitution, Article 105, § 2, sect. b). The Governor also plays a part in drawing up the MAC, but does not have the right to vote. Having been voted, the MAC is submitted for ratification by the Oecumenical Patriarchate and the Helienic Parliament. I believe that the Patriarchate's ratification is confined to the spiritual and Parliament's to the administrative provisions, since § 4 of Article 105 of the Constitution stipulates that faithful observance of the regimes of Mount Athos shall in the spiritual field be under the supreme supervision of the Oecumenical Patriarchate and in the administrative field of the Hellenic state. 2. As I h.ave already pointed out (see IV, 3), Article 105, § 5, of the Constitution stipulates and safeguards the existence of: i) rights and duties of the Governor; ii) judicial power exercised by the Athonite authorities; and iii) customs and taxation privileges granted by the Helienic state to Mount Athos. The scope of ali these rights, however, is determined not by the Constitution or the MAC, but by common laws passed by the Helienic Parliament. 3. The Regulative Provisions are drawn up and voted by the Extraordinary Biannual Twenty-Member Assembly, which is the "supreme legislative and judicial body of Mount Athos" (MAC 43 and 45). The Regulative Provisions are issued in order to regulate various specifie points in the MAC and the LD, as also others for which these documents make no provision. They are made known to the Governor and the relevant minister, and those relating to spiritual matters are submitted to the Oecumenical Patriarchate for approval. Both the minister and the Patriarchate may grant or withhold ratification of the Regulative Provisions, but they may not amend them.

17 Council of State 339 /1976; 2421-2424/1980. 18 Council of State 1093/1936; 1267/1966.

n AyLOpELHK~ Bl~Àlo8~Kil +

1

Athos Library

68

Charalambos K. Papastathis

VII. J':d.icial power. Matters rèlating to judicial power are regulated by the proviSIOns of the MAC and the LD. The Athonite courts exercise civil, penal, and ecclesiastical jurisdictionl9. The Athonite courts are: 1. the monastic courts (the Eiders' Assembly and the Hegumen in each coenobitic inonastery; the Leaders' Assembly in _the idiorrhythmic monastery); 2. the Holy Community; 3. the Holy Supermtendency, and 4. the Oecumenical Patriarch with the Patriarchal Synod, who, however, have the right to delegate their own competence in this sphere to a special tribunal, comprising a three-member exarchate of Patriarchal metropolitans on Mount Athos and the Extraordina~y Biannual Twenty-Member Assembly. The disputes in private law which may be resolved by the Athonite courts are those which arise in connection with: 1. the boundaries of the various moriasteries' property, and 2. the "6!J.6À.oya" (bonds), written agreements made between monasteries and their dependencies conceming the use of land on the peninsula. It is the ;m onastic court which deals with boundary disputes between two or more of its dependencies. The Holy Community is a court of both the first and the second instance. As a court of the first instance, it deals with: 1. boundary aisputes between monasteries, 2. disputes over "bonds" betw~en a monastery and its dep~ndency, and 3. disputes between dependencies of two or more monastenes. As a court of the second instance, it handles appeals against the decisions of the monastic courts. The Oecumenical Patriarchate (or the Special Tribunal) acts as a court of the second instance for appeals against decisions by the Holy Community. Ail ether disputes arising in private law between the Athonite establishments are brought before state civil courts: the Court of the First Instance in Halkidiki initially, and subsequently the Court of Appeal in Thessaloniki. · Offences and felonies committed under common penal law are tried by_ ~e st~te p~nal courts in Thessaloniki. Mount Athos enjoys a special pnvllege m th1s respect: the relevant inquiries are carried out on Mount Athos itself and a member of the Holy Superintendency is present throughout the proceedings. 19 I. y oup1s, . "Au.Lxaanxn' uLXaLouoaLa " " ' !J.ovacrtnQLaxc:i>v àQX<Ï>V 'Ayf.ov YÜQOtJÇ", Ttp.nnxix; T6p.oç im:è(! :4vcwviov ZnM1p.ovoç, Athens 1939, 33-48; Idem, '"H futovo~-tn ÔLxaLoauvnç Èv 'Aytcp ~ÜQEL" , :4QXEiov 'ExxJ..nawanxov xal Kavovtxoü tltxaiov 4 (1949) 3-27; P. Panayotakos, op. cit., 142-170; Th. Tsatsos- M. Volonakis, '"H futovo~-tn tflç ÔLxmoauvnç tv 'Aytcp ·oQEL", 'A(!XEiov 'ExxJ..nawanxoü xai Kavovtxov t1txaiov4 (1949) 210-221; Ch. Papastathis, "'H Èm~o)..i] 'Û:ItEQOQf.aç Etç !J.Ovaxoùç toù 'Ayf.ou ·oQovç. fvw~-toMtnatç" , ':AQJ.I.EV6.7rovJ..oç 28 (1974) 484-487; Sp. Troianos, op. dt. pp. 510-521. ,

The Status of Mount Athos in Hellenic Public Law

69

Misdemeanours under common penal law, and market and police offences committed on Mount Athos by monks, clerics, and Iaymen are tried by Athonite courts: the monastic court, when the offence is committed within the monastery precincts; and the Holy Superintendency, when it is committed in Karyes. Canonical offences (ecclesiastical and disciplinary) committed by Athonite monks are dealt with by the court of the monastery concemed, with the exception of those offences which entail unfrocking, which applies to those monks who are also ordained priests (hieromonks). The Holy Community acts as a court of appeal against the decisions of the monastic courts. Applications for review of the Holy Community's decisions are examined by the Patriarch and Synod (or the Special Tribunal). If the accused is a hieromonk and his offence is punishable by unfrocking, he is tried in the first and last instances by the Patriarch and Synod, in which case the Holy Community is restricted to an investigatory role. Furthermore, if a non-Athonite monk or cleric commits a canonical offence on the Athos Peninsula, the investigation is carried out by the Holy Community, which remits the brief to the accused's own ecclesiastical authority. VIII. In addition to self-administration in the broadest sense, the Hellenic state has also recognised (in the Constitution, the MAC, the LD, and other laws) various other privileges of Mount Athos. Since the present paper focuses on customs franchise privileges, tax exemptions, and the right of establishment, as mentioned in Joint Declaration n° 4 of the Final Act of the Agreement conceming the accession of the Hellenic Republic to the European Economie Community, I shall simply enumerate the various other privileges: 1. The territory of the whole peninsula (including the littoral) is the inalienable property of and divided among the twenty ruling monasteries exclusively (Constitution, Article 5, § 2; MAC 2). 2. The protection of the heirlooms of each monastery lies with the monastery itself (LD 2). 3. Only the Holy Community, the monasteries, and the sketes may have their own seal (MAC 25, 31, 172). 4. It is forbidden to form societies on the peninsula (MAC 183). 5. Athonite monks and novices are exempt from military service (MAC 93; LD 38; Law 1763/1988, Article 6, § 1, sect. iii). 6. The documents of the Holy Community, as also those sent by the monasteries and their dependencies to the Holy Community, must be written in Greek (MAC 26); other documents may be written in any language the monasteries and dependencies desire.

n AyLOpéLTLK~ BL~ÀL08~Kr] +

Athos Library

70

Charalambos K. Papastathis

7. Only the Holy Com.munity 'may establish a printing-press on the peninsula (MAC 180). 8. When a layman dies on Mount Athos intestate and without heirs , the belon.gings and money he has with him are inherited by the Hol; Com.munlty or the monastery in which he dies, which in this case takes the place of the state (MAC 179). 9. Collections of money may be made with the permission of the Holy Com.munity and only for religious, educational, or charitable purposes (MAC 185). 10. All proselytism and propaganda are prohibited, on pain of expulsion from the peninsula (MAC 184). 11. The peninsula's forests do not come under the forestry laws of the Hellenic state (MAC 169). 12. It is forbidden to sell on Mount Athos icons or handicrafts not made on the peninsula itself; the production of icons and handicrafts on the peninsula by laymen is also prohibited (MAC 174). 13. Land~d property may not be sold on the peninsula, but only exchanged between monasteries (MAC 100). 14. The Holy Com.munity and the monasteries do not pay the employer's quota to the various social security funds for their lay employees and workers (Law 1759/1989, Article 4, § 1). 15. There shall be no usucaption by third parties of the monasteries' property off the peninsula (LD of 22 April1926); this in fact applies to ali monasteries, whether Athonite or not. .16. Athonite monks .(lik~ ali monks in Greece) are insured by the Agranan Insurance Organisation, from which they receive medical care and pensions (Law 4169/1961). 17. The Hellenic Republic offers an annual subvention to the monasteries: in 1924, sorne 200,000 acres of land belonging to Mount Athos were expropriated for the benefit of refugees from Asia Minor, and as the Hellenic state was unable to indemnify the monasteries at that time, an annual subvention was agreed upon. Law 1166/1981 provides that this subvention shall not be less than 30,000,000 drachmas. 18. Law 1198/1981 established the state-run Centre for the Preservation of the Heritage of Mount Athos, which is based in Thessaloniki (Ministery of Macedonia and Thrace) and carries out various construction works on the peninsula, financed by the Hellenic state and the European Com.munity.

The Status of Mount Athos in Hellenic Public Law

71

IX. Let us now come to the customs and tax exemption20 and the restrictions on the right of establishment which are explicitly mentioned in the Joint Declaration of the Agreement conceming Greece's accession to the European Economie Com.munity. Article 105, § 5 of the Constitution safeguards Mount Athos's financial }'\fivileges and empowers the law to determine their extent. This does not violate the principle of equality of taxation (Constitution 4, § 5), because the same principle recognises certain exceptions which serve the general interest. The customs and most of the tax privileges of Mount Athos directly concem the monks: the total extent of sorne privileges is determined on the basis of the number of inhabitants of the peninsula, while others are instituted for their direct benefit. The customs franchise privileges consist in: 1. Exemption from duties on any goods imported to Mount Athos for the monasteries and other foundations up to a total value of one thousand official monetary units ("!.le"taÀ.À.Lxi] ÔQax!.lil") per monk per year (MAC 167; LD 2, i). The goods must be imported by the agents of Athonite selfadministration (not by merchants or visitors). At the moment the official monetary unit of Mount Athos's customs exemptions is equivalent in value to three ordinary drachmas 21 . An annual exemption of 3,000 drachmas (1 ECU=approx. 230 dr. in 1991) is far from satisfactory, particularly in view of the high cost of transportation both to and on the peninsula. 2. Exemption from duty on both forestry and other products exported from Mount Athos (MAC 168, § 1). The said products must be of Athonite production and their export from the peninsula effected by the foundations. Mount Athos's tax privileges consist in the exemption of the foundations or monks or both together from the obligation to pay various taxes. These are: 1. Real property tax (Law 1299/1982, Art. 21, § 2, sect. 3 and 11). 2. Tax on income from real property (LD 3843/1958, Art. 6, § 1, as amended). 3. Real property transfer tax (off the peninsula): 100% exemption if both buyer and seller are religious legal entities in public or private law, 20 On the customs and tax exemptions of Mount Athos, see Ch. Papastathis, "State financial Support for the Church in Greece", European Consortium for Church-State Research. Proceedings of the Meeting 1989: Church and State in Europe - State Financial Support - Religion and the School, Milano (Dott. A. Giuffré) 1992, 15ff.; N. Skandamis, op. cit., 280-282. 21 Law 4055/1960, Art. 2, § 5.

+ Athos Library n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~ÀL09~Kt'J

72

Charalambos K. Papastathis

and 50% if only one party is such an entity (Law 1587/1950, Art. 4, § 1, II, sect. 6, and Art. 6). 4. Tax on donations of movables, money, and real property (LD 118/1973, Art. 43, § 1, sect. 1 and 3). 5. Inheritance tax (LD 118/1973, Art. 25, § 1, sect. 2). 6. Donations to the monasteries of Mount Athos are subtracted from the donor's taxable income (LD 3223/1955, Art 4, 7, iv, as amended by Law 1828/1989).

7. Fishing off Mount Athos is exempt from all tax, as long as it is carried out for the purpose of the monks' own sustenance (MAC 170). 8. Everything produced on the peninsula is exempt from land tax or any other direct taxation (LD 2, sect. b, 1). 9. Transfer of property on the peninsula is exempt from property transfer tax. This privilege applies to the exchange of real property between monas~ries and the transfer of movables by the foundations and the monks (LD 2, sect. b, 2). 10. Income from property on the peninsula is exempt from taxation (LD 2, sect. b,'2). This privilege is particularly useful to the cells, whose residents subsist on their own agricultural produce and handicrafts. However, laymen engaged in commerce on the peninsula are not exempt from this tax. 11. The monks are exempt from purchase taxon those products produced and consumed on the peninsula (LD 2, sect. b, 3). 12. Contracts drawn up on Mount Athos by the Holy Community and the monasteries relating to the transfer of rights over real property on the peninsula are exempt from stamp duty (LD 2, sect. b, 4). This privilege has been extended to cover "contracts of all kinds" made between the Holy Community or the monasteries and any third party, as also all the documents issued by or submitted to the Holy Community or the various establishments of Mount Athos (LD 2561/1953, Art. 13, § 4). 13. The Athonites are exempt from the tax and general state levies on the alcohol produced and consumed on the peninsula. They are also exempt from certain formalities governing the production of alcohol (Forced Law of 14/14.10.1935). 14. The whole of Mount Athos is exempt from Value Added Tax (Law 1842/1986, Art. 1, § 2; Decision of the Minister of Finance 7395142691 1987).

Restrictions on the right of establishment are as follows: 1. Any male, irrespective of ethnie origin or nationality, may settle on Mount Athos as a monk or novice. He must, however, be an Orthodox Christian and a member of a regular Orthodox Church. Schismatic and heterodox persons and members of most other religions are excluded

The Status of Mount Athos in Hellenic Public Law

73

(Constitution 105, § 2, sect. ii; MAC 5). Like any other Hellene citizen, the monk and the novice have the right to leave the Orthodox faith and adopt another Christian doctrine or become atheists. In this case, however, they cease to be Athonites and may no longer dwell on Mount Athos. 2. The MAC imposes special restrictions on the monks' right of free movement, owing to their monastic status and the necessity for monastic obedience. Thus the monks may not leave the peninsula without written permission from their monastery, which must be informed of the reason for the absence and its duration. However, the monastery may not refuse leave of absence to monks who are following a course of study (MAC 96)22. 3. Monks who do not belong to Athonite monasteries or dependencies and are found wandering about on Mount Athos are expelled by the Holy Superintendency (MAC 177). The Holy Superintendency also has the right to expellaymen who cause a disturbance (MAC 37). 4. Everyone (non-Athonite monk, clergyman, or layman) who visits Mount Athos (for any purpose other than that of settling there) must first obtain a permit (ôw~-tovntnQLOv) from Karyes, which gives him the right to travel on the peninsula and seek hospitality from the monasteries. The "diamonitirion" is issued by the Holy Superintendency, which also determines its duration (MAC 176). Clergymen, whether Orthodox or not, must also obtain a permit from the Oecumenical Patriarchate (MAC 173). In addition, both clergymen and laymen who are not Hellene citizens must obtain a permit from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Athens or the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace in Thessaloniki. If the visitor does not leave when the permit expires, he is · expelled by the Holy Superintendency. 5. Anyone wishing to study in the rnonasteries' libraries and archives must present the Holy Community with a letter of recommendation from the Oecumenical Patriarchate or the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAC 185, § 2). 6. The presence of all females, whether women or animais, on Mount Athos has always been prohibited (MAC 186). Violation of this rule is an offence under Canon Law, which means that sanctions may be applied only to Orthodox Christians. The Hellenic State has therefore issued LD 2623/1953, which was included as Art. 43 b in the LD which ratified the MAC. It imposes a prison sentence of between two and twelve months, with no alternative fine, on any woman who sets foot on the peninsula. In 1956, the Extraordinary Biannual Twenty-Mernber Assembly passed a Regulative Provision punishing anyone who introduces fernale animais

22 Ch. Papastathis, H Etbtxn, op. cit., pp. 27-40.

n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~l\lo8~Kr] +

Athos Library

74

Charalambos K. Papastathis

onto Mount Athos with a fine of up to 300 drachmas and detention of up to five days. A more recent Regulative Provision of the same Assembly decrees that any ship with women aboard must sail at least 500m offshore. In 1975, which was declared International Women's Year, a member proposed before the Hellenic Parliament that the prohibition on women's entering Mount Athos be lifted by law. Parliament rejected the proposai because: i) the prohibition has always existed, and therefore cornes under the constitutional and international protection of Mount Athos; ii) the prohibition is included in the MAC, any amendment of which lies exclusively in the hands of the Athonites23. 7. Laymen may exercise their profession on Mount Athos only with the permission of the Athonite authorities. Further, the practice of trade is restricted to Karyes and its harbour of Daphne, since it is "absolutely" forbidden to set up commercial establishments in the monasteries and their dependericies, as also to trade anywhere on the peninsula in goods which are not essential there (MAC 175). 8. Foreigners who come to live on Mount Athos as monks or novices acquire Hellenic citizenship ipso jure with their enrollment in the relevant monastery's register (Constitution 105, § 1; MAC 6). Loss of Hellenic citizenship is not mentioned ad hoc in any legislative text; in this case the provisions of the Code of Hellenic Citizenship (LD 3370/1955, Law 1438/1984) should apply24. The acquisition of Hellenic citizenship is a privilege, for there is thus no possibility of a foreign-born monk or novice's being expelled. Foreigners who wish to settle on Athos may choose whichever monastery they wish. Russians, Serbs, Bulgarians, and Romanians traditionally choose St Panteleïmon, Chilandari, and Zographou Monasteries, and the Skete of St John the Baptist respectively. Like the other seventeen, these three monasteries are under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Oecumenical Patriarchate, as weil as legal persons of Hellenic public law 25 . At the same time, however, they are also sanctuaries of the Russian, Serbian, and Bulgarian people, as the Skete of the Baptist is a sanctuary of the Romanian people26. They enjoy self-administration and

23 See Ch. Papastathis, H et<'!Lxn, op. cit., pp. 40-56, where further bibliography. 24 Ch. Papastathis, "The Nationality of the Mount Athos Monks of nonGreek Origin", Balkan Studles 8 (1967) 84; Idem, H et&xn, op. cit., pp. 63-64. 25 Council of State 1093/1936; Court of the first Instance of Athens 7922/1954. 2 6 See: A.-E. Tachiaos, "Mount Athos and the Slavic Literatures", Cyrillomethodianum 4 (1977) 1-35; J. Smolitsch, "Le Mont Athos et la Russie", Le

The Status of Mount Athos in Hellenic Public Law

75

aU the other privileges given by the Constitution and the laws of the Hellenic Republic. They also receive international protection, in accordance with the provision of the Treaty of Sèvres concerning the protection of minorities in Greece, which was carr'ied on by the Treaty of Lausanne. Despite the intervening wars and the national and political differences which have crept into its relations with other Orthodox countries, it is a fact that Greece has respected the rights and liberties of these establishments. They were the cradles of their respective countries' national and cultural rebirth and to this day continue to offer them spiritual sustenance. The existence of these monastic communities is, I think, an eloquent token of the oecumenical nature of Mount Athos, where Orthodox from aU nations live together as monks and novices 27 . This society in the thousand-year Amphictyony of Mount Athos has much to teach our world. From this point of view the present Symposium is not only a starting point for the study of Athonite issues in the age of the European Community, but also a discovery by the European Community of a thousand-year-old spiritual expression of itself* . Faculty of Law Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Millénaire ... , op. cit., I, 279-318; D. Dimitrijevié, "L'importance du monachisme serbe et ses origines au monastère athonite de Chilandar", Le Millénaire ..., op. cit., 1, 265-277; D. Bogdanovié- V. Djurié - D. Medakovié, Chilandar, Belgrade 1978; M. Kovacev, B r!lgarski ktitori v Sveta -Gora, Sofia 1943; Idem, B rilgarsko monasestvo v Aton, Sofia 1967; N. Iorga, "Le Mont Athos et les pays roumains", Academie Roumaine. Bulletin de la Section historique 2 (1914) 149-213; G. Cioran, 2xécmç 1:wv PovfJ.aVLxwv XW(!WV f1.&7:à mv ~Aew, Athens 1938, where further bibliography. 27 See D. Nastase, "Les débuts de la communauté œcuménique du Mont Athos", 2V/-LJWX7:a6 (1985) 251 ff. * The present communication had been already delivered to the editor when (1992) the last idiorrhythmic monastery of Mount Athos, that of Pantocrator, became coenobitic.

n AyLOpElTLK~ Bt~ÀL08~Kil +

Athos Library

Particularités locales dans le domaine d'application du droit des Communautés Européennes Wilhelm Wengler C'est le principe de l'égalité qui, de prime abord, paraît exiger l'uniformité du droit émanant d'une autorité dans tout le domaine territorial soumis à cette autorité. Dans ce sens plusieurs constitutions, surtout des Etats membres de l'Amérique du Nord, empêchent le législateur d'édicter des "locallaws", c'est à dire des lois introduisant dans une partie du territoire de l'Etat une réglementation divergente de celle qui vaut pour le reste du pays. Les constitutions de certains Etats fédéraux interdisent au législateur fédéral d'apporter dans la législation fédérale des différences entre les divers Etats membres. Il est vrai que d'autres Etats fédéraux admettent que le législateur fédéral émane des lois qui ne concernent que le territoire d'un seul Etat membre, ou une partie d'un tel territoire, si l'intérêt commun de tous les Etats exige une telle loi fédérale avec un domaine d'application qui n'est pas ïdentique avec le territoire de tout l'Etat fédéral. D'autre part on peut déduire du principe d'égalité que chaque législateur doit tenir compte de ce qu'il existe des inégalités de toutes sortes dans la réalité de choses, et qu'il y a souvent inégalités locales des conditions préexistantes à l'intervention du législateur. C'est surtout dans le cas que toute la législation en vigueur dans un Etat fait l'objet d'une réception globale dans un autre Etat, ou dans un pays annexé, que cette réception n'est opérée que sous la condition que des circonstances locales de ce pays ne se révèlent pas comme un obstacle insurmontable à la réception de telle ou telle loi. La "local conditions clause" a été apportée presque toujours lorsque le droit anglais a été introduit dans une colonie, et elle a été retenue souvent lors de l'émancipation d'une telle colonie. On a fait application de la "local conditions clause" non seulement lorsque le climat

+ Athos n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~l\lo8~Kr] Library

78

Wilhelm Wengler

ou la nature de sol d'un pays d'outre mer étaient autres que ceux en Angleterre et qu'il s'agissait de lois concernant l'agriculture etc., mais aussi lorsque les convictions religieuses de la population locale-produits de l'histoire-étaient tout à fait contraires à certaines idées à la base du commonlaw. L' antinomie des deux tendences mentionnées se fait voir aussi dans le droit des Communautés européennes. L'idée du marché commun et du rapprochement des politiques économiques des Etats membres militent évidemment en faveur de l'uniformité de la législation communautaire. D'autre part p. ex. la politique dite régionale de la Communauté partait de l'idée qu'il existe certaines "déséquilibres" entre les diverses "régions" du territoire commun et que des mesures temporaires en faveur de certaines régions sont légitimes afin de créer des conditions égales. En ce qui concerne le traité base de la Communauté économique il faut se rappeler d:abord que le domaine territorial où un traité de droit international ~oit être réalisé n'est pas nécessairement identique avec l'ensemble des,territoires des pays signataires: Le domaine de réalisation d'un traité peut être plus grand que l'ensemble des territoires des Etats signataires, p.ex. lorsqu'un traité d'alliance prévoit la défense commune de toute une région, comprenant aussi des Etats tiers, contre une puissance adversaire. Le domaine territorial d'application des règles insérées dans un traité international peut aussi ne comprendre qu'une partie des territoires des Etats signataires, si c'est ce que les signataires ont voulu. Cette volonté résulte souvent du texte, mais parfois seulement du but poursuivi par le traité.

L'art. 227 al. 1er du traité instituant la Communauté économique doit être entendu de sorte que, en principe, les dispositions du traité s'appliquent à l'ensemble de ce que sont les territoires des pays signataires conformément au droit international public, c'est à dire du droit international public au moment d'une telle application. Mais ce même article 227 prévoit déjà des exceptions pour les îles Féroé et pour certaines parties du Royaume Uni. De nombreux protocoles se référent entre autres au Luxembourg, à l'Irlande etc. et prévoient des réglementations spéciales pour certaines matières dans ces pays. En tant que le traité lui-même ne prévoit pas des exceptions à l'application de ses dispositions à l'ensemble des territoires des Etats members, la législation faite par les organes de la Communauté doit-elle être uniforme pour ce domaine, ou est-ce qu'il est permis de différencier selon des critères nationaux ou locaux? Il est curieux que les auteurs de l'art.

Particulatités locales dans le domaine d'application du droit des Communautés Européennes 79 189 ne se sont pas apperçu, semble-t-il, ce problème particulier. On dit que les "règlements" ont "une portée générale" et qu'ils sont directement applicables dans "tout Etat membre"; mais on dit tout de suite qu'une directive "lie tout Etat membre destinataire"; on pourrait donc croire que les règlements doivent être uniformes pour tout le territoire de la Communauté, mais que chaque "directive" doit désigner expressément un seul Etat ou plusieurs Etats membres comme ses destinataires. De fait la plupart des directives s'occupe de ce qu'on appelle l'harmonisation des lois des Etats membres, et ces directives envisagent nécessairement comme destinataires tous les Etats membres. Il semble donc que règlements et directives doivent être uniformes pour l'ensemble des territoires des Etats membres, mais que la création des règles communautaires spéciales pour certaines régions ou localités seules est permise surtout dans le but de préparer telles régions ou localités à l'application future de règles uniformes.

Mais il y a aussi d'autres raisons pour l'admission de règles particulières à certaines localités: La situation juridique préexistante et devenue "historique" est la raison pour laquelle la réglementation des pêcheries dans les eaux des pays de la Communauté tolère .encore des privilèges pour ceux qui avaient jusqu'alors un droit exclusif de pêcher dans certaines localités près des côtes; c'est une exception au traitement uniforme des citoyens communautaires valable dans le reste de la mer européenne. Lorsque le domaine d'application d'une règle du droit communautaire a été fixé par l'organe compétent de la Communauté il est certain qu'un Etat membre ne pourra pas, de sa part, diminuer ou agrandir ce domaine. Mais il existe certaines exceptions pour ainsi dire quasi "historiques": Bien que les taux des douanes à payer lors de l'importation de marchandises provenant d'un Etat tiers dans un Etat membre sont absolument uniformes, la ligne douanière peut être déterminée dans ses détails, p. ex. dans les gares douanières, par les divers Etats membres. Avec l'approbation expresse de la Commission la partie de la zone douanière qui est sous le contrôle des autorités allemandes comprend aussi quelques localités autrichiennes; sont exclus du domaine douanier de la Communauté quelques localités italiennes enclavées par la Suisse, et surtout l'île de Helgoland. C'est en respectant des traités conclus auparavant par la France et l'Italie que le territoire douanier de la Communauté comprend, d'autre part, aussi Monaco, San Marino et le Vatican.

+ Athos Library n AyLOpéLTLK~ BL~ÀL08~Kr]

80

Wilhelm Wengler

Particulatités locales dans le domaine d'application du droit des Communautés Européennes

81

Tandis que toute autre législation communautaire que celle qui se rapporte aux douanes régit le Helgoland dans sa qualité de partie de la République Fédérale d'Allemagne, cette autre législation n'est pas applicable à Monaco, au Vatican et aux autres localités incluses dans le territoire douanier de la Communauté, mais appartenant à des Etats tiers.

En fin de compte on pourra dire que, en principe, les objectifs de la CEE exigent l'application uniforme de la législation comunautaire dans l'ensemble des territoires des Etats membres, mais que des particularités locales ne sont pas tout à fait exclues. Seulement en ce qui concerne des droits de l'homme de telles particularités ne seront guère tolérables.

Lorsqu'un Etat membre cède une partie de son territoire à un Etat tiers qui de sa part ne fait pas partie de la Communauté cette localité cesse d'être l'objet de la législation communautaire; c'était le cas avec l'Algérie. Sans une telle cession un Etat membre ne peut pas, au moyen d'un traité conclu avec un Etat tiers, exclure une partie de son territoire de l'application des lois communautaires. Mais cela ne vaut pas lorsqu'un Etat membre a consenti par un traité ancien à ce que dans une certaine localité de son territoire la législation économique d'un Etat tiers est applicable à la place de la législation pertinente de cet Etat membre. De cette manière ùn traité germano-suisse de 1964, renouvelant et modifiant un traité de 1895, prévoit que le village allemand de Büsingen, entouré de la Suisse, fait non seulement partie du territoire douanier de la Suisse, mais est soumis aussi à la législation agraire suisse et à certaines autres lois économiques de la Suisse, ce qui exclut l'application de la législation pertinente de la Communauté. Sur d'autres points, par exemple le séjour des étrangers, ou les cartels, la législation communautaire est, du moins sur le papier, applicable aussi à Büsingen.

La déclaration commune concernant le Mont Athos devrait donc être considérée comme une nouvelle particularité dans le domaine d'application du droit communautaire européen, mais une particularité non sans précédents. A cette occasion je voudrais remarquer qu'on demande récemment en Italie, sur la base des dispositions constitutionnelles italiennes concernant l'autonomie de certaines régions, que la vallée d'Aoste (située aux frontières française et suisse de l'Italie) soit dotée, en ce qui concerne les douanes, des privilèges d'une zone franche, privilèges qui iraient bien au delà de ce qu'une directive de la Commission permet dans les zones franches des ports maritimes etc.2 .

Un Etat membre de la Communauté ne pourra certainement pas, sans le consentement des autres membres, contracter avec un Etat tiers, que le lerritoire de cet autre Etat (ou une certaine localité de cet Etat) soit traité comme soumis à la législation communautaire ou comme faisant partie du territoire communautaire. C'est aussi seulement sur la base d'une réserve expresse faite par la République fédérale d'Allemange, et approuvée tacitement par les autres membres et par les puissances occupant BerlinOuest, que Berlin-Ouest est traité dans la Communauté comme un territoire appartenant au territoire communautaire. Les règlements émanants des organes de la Communauté sont donc applicables à Berlin-Ouest, pourvu que la Kommandatura des Puissances occidentales occupantes ne s'y oppose pas. Un tel refus n'a jamais été prononcé. Les détails de cette particularité berlinoise du droit communautaire ont été traités par l'auteur dans l'annuaire français de droit international il y a quelques annéesl.

1 W. Wengler, "Berlin-Ouest et les Communautés européennes", Annuaire Français de droit international, 1978. 217 et s.

Ajoutons que la déclaration concernant le Mont Athos est valable aussi sur le territoire de Berlin-Ouest en vertu des articles 1 et 3 de l'acte d'adhésion de la Grèce, qui renvoient implicitement aux textes antérieurs qui concernent la position de Berlin-Ouest dans la Communauté économique, c'est à dire notamment à la déclaration allemande annexée au traité original sur cette Communauté. Et si jamais se posait la question de savoir si le domaine d'application du traité relatif à la Communauté du charbon et de l'acier s'étend à la fois à Berlin-Ouest comme pays assimilé à la République Fédérale et au Mont Athos comme une partie de la Grèce on constatera que cette question se trouve réglée expressément par une déclaration de la République Fédérale annexée aux actes sur l'adhésion de la Grèce aux Communautés. L' approbation tacite de cette déclaration par les autres Etats membres a créé un lien de droit international unissant aussi ces deux objets de particularités, particularités dont les raisons d'être sont certainement très différentes. J'espère qu'elles seront appréciées en tout cas au moins parmi les participants de ce colloque.

2 v. Rossolini, Riv. Dir. !nt. P. P., 1983.817 ss.

n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~l\lo8~Kr] +

Athos Library

Déclaration Commune relative au Mont Athos (Intervention) X. Yataganas J'au cru de mon devoir de contribuer au débat avec certains éléments de réflexion qui proviennent du fait de ma participation à la rédaction de la Déclaration Commune concernant le Mont-Athos, qui a été inserée dans l'acte d'adhésion de la Grèce aux Communautés Européennes. En effet, le choix entre un protocole ou une déclaration fut examiné par le Service Juridique de la Commission, lorsque le gouvernement hellénique a posé le problème de la sauvegarde du régime spéciale de la Montagne Sainte. Je note, en passant, que quand j'étais en train de rédiger les quelques lignes qui ont fait par après le contenu de cette déclaration, je n'osais point imaginer qu'elles seraient en mesure de susciter tant de rapports savants, comme ceux dont nous avons eu connaissance dans cette salle. A titre d'exemple, plusieurs rapports très intéressants ont traité du problème de la nature juridique et de la force obligatoire des déclarations communes en droit international; il a été soutenu que malgré le fait qu'elles ne constituent pas partie intégrante des traités auxquels elles sont annexées-au même titre que les protocoles-elles créent, par contre, des obligations pour les parties contractantes, dont l'étendu n'est pas pourtant définissable avec précision. Je souhaiterais faire remarquer que la préférence aussi bien du gouverment grec que de la Commission se portait au début à la forme du protocole. Le choix final d'une déclaration commune n'est pas due à des considérations de technique juridique mais d'opportunité politique. En effet, nous nous trouvons déjà à la fin 1978 et le gouvernement grec a expressement affirmé sa détermination de voir conclure les négotiations et signer le traité d'adhésion le plus vite possible, afin d'éviter tout danger de globalisation des ces négociations avec l'Espagne et le Portugal, idée

nAyLOpELTLK~ BL~l\lo8~Kr] +

Athos Library

84

X. Yataganas

très discutée à l'epoque. Il a été con~idéré comme évident que la rédaction éventuelle d'un protocole concernant le Mont-Athos, aurait automatiquement déclanché des reflexes du suspicion chez certaines délégations, qui, ne sachant la nature du régime spéciale, elles auraient eu peur-à juste titre-des dérogations de caractère extrêmement large (tax-free shops, zone franc, etc ... ). Il a été, par conséquent, estimé que le danger de ralentissement du rythme des négociations qui aurait pu en découler, il serait disproportionnellement plus grand que les avantages éventuels provenant de la valeur contraignante plus poussée du protocole par rapport à la déclaration commune. Il apparaît dès lors, qu'en substance les parties contractantes auraient pu règler ce problème par le biais d'un protocole, les raisons pratigues étant les seules qui ont conduit à l'adoption d'une déclaration. Je crois que cette approche historique de la genèse du texte que nous sommes en train d'examiner, vient s'ajouter aux arguments, déjà développés, p~ur sa valeur contraignante. Ce qui sera désormais intéressant, n'est pas seulement l'éclaircissement des dérogations prévues par la déclaration, mais les modalités concrêtes qui pourraient permettre aux institutions communautaires d'appuyer cette péninsule historique, dans le seul but de sa conservation dans l'autosuffisance et le plein respect de sa tradition millénaire. Je crois, par ailleurs, que c'est là qui réside l'espoir et la volonté qui animent tous les participants à ce colloque.

L'esprit œcuménique de l'Orthodoxie Bartholomaios Archondonis, Métropolite de Philadelphie Je considère de mon devoir d'exprimer mes remerciements chaleureux envers le Département d'études internationales de la Faculté de Droit de l'Université de Thessalonique et les Institutions scientifiques de cette ville qui collaborent avec lui pour l'organisation du présent colloque pour l'invitation qui m'honore d'y participer par mon rapport ayant po~~ thème: "L'esprit œcuménique de l'Orthodoxie". Je pense que le Comite d'organisation a invité à juste titre un conférencier du Patriarcat Oecuménique à ce colloque sur le Mont Athos, puisque ce dernier se trouve en communion eucharistique et administrative avec lui. Je me réjouis d'avoir été choisi pour cela et de parler dans le cadre d'un colloque consacré au Mont Athos qui "est un don de Dieu à Son Epouse l'Eglise Orthodoxe; et par elle à toute l'Oikoumene"l. ~ar con~éque~t toute l'Oikoumene doit s'intéresser au Mont Athos. Par consequent il est JUste et digne" que les Communautés Européennes aient signé une déclaration commune concernant le Mont Athos, dans laquelle elles reconnaissent son statut spécial et les raisons qui l'ont dicté et l'ont consacré; ceci il y a 5 ans lorsque la Grèce est entrée dans les Communautés Européennes. Aujourd'hui le Mont Athos n'est plus le Mont Athos d'il Y. a 15 ans lorsqu'on écrivait à son sujet: "L'Athos déconcerte souvent les Occ1dentaux. Aujourd'hui surtout que les circonstances politiques limitent à l'extrême son recrutement, on n'en voit que le pittoresque ou les ombres"2• Aujourd'hui l'Athos est un des rares lieux du monde qui inspire, objet de nostalgie et d'admiration générale.

1 Hiéro-moine Dionysios (Simonos-Petra), La prière du Mt Athos comme dot de ceux qui cherchent le Seigneur, Vienne 1981, p. 5 (texte polygraphié). 2 O. Clément, Dialogue avec le Patriarche Athénagoras, Paris 1969, p. 63.

nAyLOpELTLK~ BL~l\lo8~Kr] +

Athos Library

86

Bartholomaios Archondonis

Dans le Credo nous confessons que l'Eglise est Une - Sainte Catholique et Apostolique. Nous les Orthodoxes croyons que notre Eglise continue cette Eglise du Credo qui est aussi catholique. Naturellement cet adjectif se comprend ici selon sa signification écclésiologique propre et non pas strictement confessionnelle; comme cela est resté après le schisme entre l'Orient et l'Occident et après la Réforme en Occident. A proprement parler le terme catholique ne s'identifie pas à ce que nous appelons œcuménique dans la terminologie écclésiastico-théologique. Le premier est essentiel-qualitatif, le deuxième géographiquequantitatif. Le terme œcuménique se réfère à la dimension horizontale de l'Eglise dans. l'Oikoumene, la terre habitée, dont les limites pour les Byzantins s'identifiaient avec les frontières de l'Empire3. L'Eglise Orthodoxe pour être conséquente avec sa propre conscience catholique, doit prendre conscience de sa responsabilité envers l'Oikoumene, 'et transformer sa catholicité en œcuménicité. Et à cela elle est arrivée et arrive encore dans la mesure où elle ne cède pas à la tentation de s'identifier à la· Nation qu'elle sert en chaque lieu. L'Ethnicité en principe n'est pas à rejeter, mais n'est pas non plus "un attribut de l'Eglise en tant que telle", comme en donnent l'impression les chauvinistes 16rsqu'ils soulignent exagérément cet élément au lieu de mettre plutôt en valeur la catholicité de l'Eglise. L'ethnicité est "une condition dans laquelle s'insére la catholicité de l'Eglise. La tâche de l'Eglise n'est pas de supprimer l'ethnicité, mais de la dépasser et de la transfigurer en catholicité" 4 . Cela l'Orthodoxie n'est pas toujours arrivée à le réaliser. Spécialement au cours des deux derniers siècles, en particulier dans la région des Balkans, souvent les autocéphalies écclésiastiques se sont identifiées avec les églises nationales, cette exagération de l'ethnicité s'étant propagée aussi dans la diaspora orthodoxe. Tout cela est passé dans les faits bien que le Grand et Saint Synode de 1872, tenu à Constantinople ait condamné le phylétisme comme étant contraire à l'enseignement de l'Evangile et aux Saints Canons. Mais les échecs et les limitations historiques de l'Eglise aussi dans ce domaine n'obscurcissent pas et n'enlèvent pas sa catholicité et son esprit œcuménique: "Quoi donc? Si certains furent infidèles, leur infidélité va-telle annuler la fidélité de Dieu?"5. Nous avons de nombreux et éminents témoins de cet esprit œcuménique depuis l'Apôtre Paul, le Patriarche

3 Anasthasios Kallis, Orthodoxie- Was ist das?, Mainz 1979, p. 14-15. 4 Mgr Antonie Plamadeala, voir F. Bouwen, "Le deuxième Congrès des Facultés de Théologie Orthodoxe", P.O.C. 28 (1978) p. 288. 5 Rom. 3, 3.

L'esprit œcuménique de l'Orthodoxie

87

Photius et jusqu'à nos jours, l'idée de l'œcuménicité étant même considérée comme la caractéristique essentielle de l'Eglise t>rimitive. Cet esprit large existe depuis lors et jusqu'à aujourd'hui dans l'Eglise Orthodoxe. Celle-ci, malgré ses divisions administratives extérieures, et les problèmes qui parfois sont crées à cause de cela, a la conscience de constituer une seule Eglise, "l'Eglise catholique répandue dans l'Oikoumene". "Aujourd'hui l'Orthodoxie n'appartient à aucune nation, elle n'a pas de patrie; elle est le levain qui fait lever la pâte de la conscience religieuse universelle"6. Les particularités de chaque église orthodoxe locale n'enlève pas leur unité dans la foi. Unité et pluralité s'harmonisent très bien dans le large esprit œcuménique de l'Eglise Orthodoxe. En effet le Saint Esprit souffle où Il veut?, "pour démontrer que dans l'Orthodoxie n'ont pas de place le monophysitisme écclésiastique, le monisme, le conformisme, le rouleau compresseur aplanisseur de l'uniformité et les œillères de l'unilatéralité"s. L'Orthodoxie malgré la pluralité extérieure a une intégrité, unité et puissance intérieure parallèlement à ses structures écclésiastiques flexibles. Grâce à son ouverture d'esprit l'Eglise Orthodoxe a pu dès le début participer à la création du Mouvement œcuménique contemporain et à la fondation et évolution de son important instrument, c.a.d. le Conseil Oecuménique des Eglises. Il y a 20 ans, l'entrée de toutes les églises orthodoxes locales dans le C.O.E. à part entière a été accomplie. L'Eglise Orthodoxe dans son ensemble, en participant au Mouvement œcuménique croit qu'elle peut offrir aux chrétiens de l'Occident un témoignage précieux et essentiel de l'Eglise indivise par les trésors spirituels qu'elle possède, mais aussi d'accueillir humblement de ceux-ci toute valeur que le Seigneur leur a accordée à travers les siècles et qui n'a pas été développée dans l'Orient Orhtodoxe. La collaboration œcuménique actuelle augmente cette réciprocité et elle montre aussi à postériori l'utilité des relations et des contacts entre les chrétiens séparés dans l'esprit de l'Amour du Christ. "Donner et recevoir c'est l'histoire". Le premier siège de l'Orthodoxie, le Patriarcat Oecuménique, a été depuis toujours une Eglise d'avant-garde à tous niveaux. Il a été une institution qui a non seulement christianisé mais aussi civilisé des peuples

6 Anna Vassiliadis, Prologue de sa traduction de l'œuvre de Serge Boulgakoff: l'Orthodoxie. 7 Jean, 3, 7. 8 Evangelos D. Théodorou, Unité et pluralité dans l'Orthodoxie, Athènes 1983, p. 14.

n AyLOPELTLK~ BL~l\lo8~Kr] +

Athos Library

!''!'

88

Bartholomaios Archondonis

et des nations. Le grant événement de l'Eglise Sœur de Russie, qui se prépare intensément a célébrer son millénaire, est, à l'origine, une œuvre du P~triarc~t œc~m~nique et non sans relation avec cette ville qui nous accuellle auJourd hUI. Plus tard les Phanariotes ont transmis à l'Occident directement ou indirectement le patrimoine de l'esprit du Phanar, du Patriarcat œcuménique, et, plus généralement, une relation étroite a été développée entre ce throne et la civilisation occidentale. Dans notre siècle, par la formation des archevêchés et des métropoles et par l'envoi des évêques éclairés en Europe occidentale, en Amérique et en Australie, le Patriarcat œcuménique a continué son ouverture et ses relations avec ce monde et il a donné et il a reçu et il donne et il reçoit des éléments précieux. Les milliers d'Orthodoxes qui s'expatrient en Occident après les deux Guerres ~ondiales veulent, peuvent et doivent témoigner de leur foi. Et "l'essentiel , du témoignage que l'Eglise Orthodoxe entend porter aujourd'hui: 1.1:ne tradition vraiment 'catholique', la catholicité étant entendue au s~ns de vérité, de continuité et de plénitude, et non pas s~ulement au ~ens géogr~phi~ue" 9 (bien qu'on pourrait dire que par la diaspora orthodoxe 1 Eghse Orthodoxe est devenue aussi géographiquement œcuménique). La vérité catholique, dont les orthodoxes se s:z:ttent ~ort~urs, doit compor~er une réponse aux problèmes rèels que les chretiens d Occtdent se sont poses durant les siècles de séparation, ajoute le :ère Meyen_do~f. L'?rthodo~i~. da::s le monde contemporain ne doit pas etre une theone de typolatna meme pas une théorie, mais une vie, un élément vivant dans l'évolution historique du christianisme. C'est pour~uoi les orthodo~es doivent s'efforcer de penser et de prendre conscience. Paul Evdokimov est plus concret à ce sujet quand il dit qu' "il faut mettre en relief l'universalité de l'Orthodoxie ... ainsi sommes-nous co~trai~ts à s~~tir du provincialisme historique, à dépasser le nationahsme rehgieux (pseudo-religieux dirais-je) et la politique, pour ... ressentir la responsabilité (spirituelle) de l'Orthodoxie à l'égard du Christianisme dans son entier" 10 . Le témoignage ne se transmet pas sans efforts, sans peine et même sans sacrifices. L'œcuménicité de l'Orthodoxie est donc et doit être une caractéristique dynamique et non pas statique de notre écclésiologie qui mène à la sanctification de la plénitude de l'Eglise sans aucune discrimination raciale ou autre et à la réalisation de la volonté de Dieu sur

9

J. Meyendorff, L' Eglise Orhtodoxe hier et aujourd' hui, Paris 1960, p. 183. 10 P. Evdokimov, "Vers le Concile", Contacts, 23 (1971) 196.

L'esprit œcuménique de l'Orthodoxie

89

terre comme a~ ciel, dans cette réalisation étant comprise aussi la volonté divine "Que tous soient un". Dans le domaine spécifique du .mouvement œcuménique pour la réunification des chrétiens divisés, l'initiative du Patriarcat Oecuménique d'envoyer en 1920 une Encyclique "à toutes les Eglises du Christ" est bien connue; par celle-ci il les invitait à collaborer dans une koinonia d'Eglises. Plus tard cette même Eglise de Constantinople, dans la certitude que le mouvement œcuménique de notre ère n'est pas une répétition de la fameuse Sainte Alliance du siècle passé, a soutenu la participation pan-orthodoxe au C.O.E. lorsque lors de ses débuts d'autre Eglises orthodoxes le voyait soit comme une menace contre la pureté de l'Orthodoxie soit comme un instrument de l'impérialisme occidental. En outre est bien connu aussi le rôle que joue aujourd'hui le Patriarcat œcuménique en tant que centre coordinateur des activités de l'Orthodoxie dans les questions majeures qui la concerne, comme sont par ex. les dialogues théologiques avec les catholiques-romains, les vieux-catholiques, les anglicans, les luthériens et maintenant les réformés. Bref, "il ne serait point exagéré si nous disions que le Patriarcat œcuménique n'a jamais été autant œcuménique qu'aujourd'hui dans l'Orthodoxie" Il; œcuménique non seulement de nom, mais aussi de fait. Son œcuménicité n'est pas seulement forme mais substance. Si le Patriarcat œcuménique est un Patriarcat Grec, son hellénicité n'a aucune relation avec le sens d'espace géographique, ni elle ne s'enferme dans une conception phylétique, mais elle est liée aux valeurs suprêmes de l'esprit humain, aux attributs de la pensée et de la raison humaine et plus généralement à la sagesse de vision de l'homme et du monde qui ont constitué la manière propre aux éminents Pères et Docteurs de pensée hellénique de formuler l'enseignement chrétien et de structurer l'Eglise. Permettez-moi de conclure ce passage ayant rapport avec l'activité œcuménique de l'Orthodoxie et spécialement du Patriarcat œcuménique avec les paroles du théologien orthodoxe de notre temps, Père Georges Florovsky: "la catholicité est donnée à l'Eglise. La tâche de l'Eglise est d'atteindre la catholicité... Le Christ se révèle à nous pas dans notre isolement mais dans notre catholicité réciproque, dans notre union ... toute œuvre de solidarité et de concorde est une voie vers la réalisation de la plénitude catholique de l'Eglise"12.

11 Vasilios Moustakis, "L'unité panorthodoxe et le Patriarcat œcuménique", Orthodoxos Parousia, tom. A' (Athènes 1964), vol. 1-2, p. 7-12. 12 Georges Florovsky, Sainte Ecriture, Eglise, Tradition (traduit en grec par D. G. Tsamis), Thessalonique 1976, p. 76-77.

n AyLOpELHK~ BL~Àlo9~Kr] +

Athos Library

Bartholomaios Archondonis

90

Les Pères du Mont Athos vivent et luttent pour l'orthodoxie qui est porteuse de cet esprit œcuménique. ils sont par conséquent eux aussi porteurs du même esprit œcuménique et de la même conscience- œcuménique authentique, bien que vous ne soyez pas d'accord de premier abord. Ils le sont à leur façon. Ils incarnent la catholicité pan-chroniki et œcuménique de l'Eglise, comme ils proviennent de différentes nations et peuples, comme ils prient déjà plus de mille ans, pour l'"Eglise Sainte, Catholique et Apostolique, qui s'étend d'une extrémité à l'autre de la terre" 13; comme ils prient jour et nuit pour le monde entier. Il suffit de nous rappeler ici le fameux staretz Silouane, qui de son enfer, priait avec larmes, sans désespérer, pour le salut de tous. "Cet homme qui ne connaissait que l'Athos et un coin de province Russe portait l'humanité entière dans sa prière" 14 tout comme son compatriote Dostoyevsky disait que le chrétien se sent responsable pour tous et pour tout et pour le salut de tous. Et la tradition continue: un athonite contemporain remarque à juste titre que "chaque homm~ a une telle origine et destinée qu'il ne peut trouver ailleurs soi-même et soh salut que dans la paix du monde entier et dans le salut des âmes des tous s~s frères pour lesquels prie la Sainte Liturgie" 15. Ceci est la largesse liturgique. Le christianisme n'est pas une religion individualiste son but est œcuménique, il est le salut de tous les hommes. Le Christ est devenu homme et fut crucifié pour toute la race humaine. Donc, l'Eglise entière et le monde entier doivent de la reconnaissance au Mont Athos, mais en particulier l'Orthodoxie doit beaucoup au Mont Athos - au point qu'Olivier Clément ait pu écrire: "Dans un Orient chrétien qui n'a cessé de se diversifier par essaimage d'églises juridiquement indépendantes, l'Athos a exprimé au plus haut niveau l'unité et l'universalité de l'Orthodoxie" 16. Si l'Orthodoxie a survécu à l'Empire Byzantin et si elle a évité un drame de la réforme, elle le doit aussi au Mont Athos. Pour venir plus proche de notre époque et de sa coopération interorthodoxe et inter-chrétienne: c'est dans la cellule de Mylopotamos du Mt Athos que le grand Patriarche Joachim a eu l'inspiration et a publié un an après son départ de ces lieux, en 1902, son Encyclique pour le rapprochement de tous les chrétiens et pour la coopération régulière entre les Eglises Orthodoxes.

13

L'esprit œcuménique de l'Orthodoxie

91

Aujourd'hui encore le Mt Athos donne son témoignage œcuménique spirituel et nous qui vivons dans le monde, nous devons écouter et recevoir son message si nous voulons qu'il y ait la vraie Paix dans le monde et le vrai progrès divino-humain dans nos sociétés et non pas le progrès humaniste. Concluons avec un extrait du Message du Patriarche Athénagoras à l'occasion du millénaire du Mt Athos: "Si les hommes donnaient plus grande attention au message silencieux que les anachorètes du désert leur adressent par leur existence et par leur vie en Dieu, ... si ils attribuaient plus d'importance aux valeurs religieuses et morales, ils vivraient sans tourments et en paix, le respect mutuel unirait les peuples et les forces spirituelles et matérielles de l'humanité se dépenseraient afin. de construire et non détruire, de guérir les plaies, pour des œuvres de paiX et de grandeur humaine". Ca c'était le message du Patriarcat Oecuménique il y a plus de vingt ans. Ceci n'est-ce pas aujourd'hui encore l'idéal et le but? N'est-ce pas ce que recherche les Communautés Européennes, en particulier pour notre Continent? Mais, attention! L'unité et la coopération et la prospérité eurepéenne ne doit pas être le but en soi, ni le but définitif, mais un pas vers et une contribution à l'untité et la coopération et la prospérité universelle, contribution à la fraternité œcuménique. Nous les Européens nous ne sommes pas des gens privilégiés devant Dieu, nous sommes simplement des hommes, comme le sont les habitants de tous les autres pays et continents, et de toutes les époques. Et si nous avons réussi, nous les habitants de ce vieux continent, à avoir une plus grande unité et coopération et prospérité que les autres, ceci doit être un défï pour que nous travaillions aussi pour les autres. Pour St Jean Chrysostome, le Sacrement de l'autel n'a pas de sens s'il ne se prolonge en "Sacrement du frère".

Liturgie de St Basile.

14 O. Clément, op. cit., p. 63. l5 Archimandrite Vassileios, Chant d'Entrée (Eisodikon), Mt Athos 1974, p. 106-109. 16 Op. cit., p. 61 et 62.

+ Athos Library n AyLOpELnK~ BL~ÀL08~KJ']

Europe's Encounter with the Athonite Tradition Anthony-Emil N. Tachiaos People living at the end of the twentieth century, in a technologically advanced but much-disturbed world, usually view past history through the eyes of a visitor to a museum. However much interest is generated by the exhibits the museum contains, the visitor is often made acutely aware of how great the distance is which separates him from the ideas and inspiration which occasioned their creation. It is likely that the visitor will himself be a product of the very tradition which created the exhibits on view, and yet that he will now feel estranged from it and will feel no part of the animation of soul which the creators of the exhibits experienced. This is so because, in the course of the twentieth century, mankind has reached the stage of having almost created a worldwide technological culture, in which, however, the cultural features native to the various peoples are fading rapidly and disappearing. The Holy Mountain of Athos, to which the lines which follow are dedicated, is a vast museum, too. It is actually a long peninsula in Northem Greece inhabited solely by monks. This peninsula is full of religious, artistic, architectural and other cultural exhibits. The age range of the exhibits stretches from a few decades to ten whole centuries. The difference between this museum, as Athos is, and the other museums which exist in the world, lies in this: that here there are men, too, who are continuing to live with the same faith, the same inspiration and the same convictions as those men who began to create the exhibits in this vast museum ten centuries earlier. Athos is a museum which is alive, which breathes and thinks, and it is precisely this feature which makes it different from any other. The Holy Mountain is closely linked to the significance and mission of Orthodox monasticism in the contemporary world. The reason behind the connection of these two realities is quite clear to anyone who knows

nAyLOpELTlK~ BL~ÀL09~Kil +

Athos Library

94

Europe's Encounter with the Athonite Tradition

Anthony-Emil N. Tachiaos

the history of the monastic peninsula. After the decline of the great centres of antiquity in Egypt, Palestine and Asia Minor, the Holy MountaiD was left as the only great monastic location with a panOrthodox character. Almost all the forms of monasticism which had developed in ancient times survived on Mount Athos. And not only did these survive, but they were also able to cü-€xist within the same area, so that it is possible to speak of a completely new form of monasticism, that is, Athonite monasticism. The great monastic and spiritual centre has continued, over ten whole centuries, to inspire and nourish almost every Orthodox people with its spiritual force. In this way it has reached the point. where it is the stable and permanent model of the Orthodox spirituallife, and has been the purest and most decisive expression of Orthodox monasticism for a whole millenium. It follows that the determining factors which steer us inevitably towards the Holy Mountain as being the basis for any' discussion concerning the significance and mission of Orthodox moriasticism in the modem world are, first, the vitality down the centuries of;this unique Orthodox monastic centre and, second, its value . as a model of Orthodox monastic life. Settleme~t of the Holy Mountain by monks began in the 9th century. At fU:st th~y lived in small dwellings, and the kind of monasticism they prachsed 1s not known exactly. The real organisation of monastic life on Athos began in the year 963, when the monk Athanasios decided to build the monastery of the Lavra. Into this monastery, Athanasios introduced the coenobitic system. According to this system, the monk was under the ~~ecti?n of an abbot, t~e monks had no persona! wealth, and they ali JOIDed ID comrn.on prayer ID the monastery church, as weil as in the comrn.on meals in the refectory. The monastic rule (typikon) adopted by Athanasios had much in common with that of the Monastery of Studios in Const~tinople. Generally speaking, Athanasios introduced onto the Holy Mountam the type of the great monastery, which meant large buildings, a large church and therefore a large number of monks. Until the time of Athanasios, the monastic institutions which existed on Athos were small, both in terms of buildings and of numbers of monks. The information we have about the Athonite monks of his day from the Life of Athanasi~s gives us to understand that before he organised the coenobium, stricter: more ascetic forms of the monastic life where preserved on Athos, and that these resembled the ancient monasticism of Egypt. The coenobium, as organised by Athanasios, was a new element in Athonite r~ality, which is why many monks initially reacted against it. These reactions were overcome through the intervention of the Byzantine emperor, but much more effective in quelling them was the prestige of Athanasios himself, whose sanctity was recognised over the whole of Athos. It was he who laid the bases of Athonite coenobitic monasticism monasti~

1

95

an effort which found many to imitate it. The coenobium gradually became the organisational model for the other monasteries. Apart from this, however, it was the saintliness of Athanasios which made Athos a panOrthodox centre, too. In a very short space of time, Georgian, Armenian and Italian monks had gathered around him, quite apart from Greeks. Later on, Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian and Rumanian monks began to arrive on Athos. And so, in the 14th century, the pan-Orthodox character of this monastic centre had been established beyond question. In the same century, the number of great monasteries was made up to twenty and these are still in existence today. What greatly assisted the development of the Holy Mountain was the persona! interest in the monastic state evidenced by Byzantine emperors. From the moment that monasticism made its appearance on Athos until the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, the Orthodox emperors never ceased to provide it with moral support and economie aid. Their example was followed by Serbian and Bulgarian rulers, and, after the fall of Constantinople, by the Russian tsars and the rulers of the Rumanian Principalities. In this way, the diffusion of the spiritual influence of Athos to the Orthodox countries took on greater dimensions. On the Holy Mountain itself the basic;es of monastic life were formed, and these became the characteristic ex ression of Orthodox monasticism after the lOth century. After the 13th century, when the territorial truncation of Byzantium by the Franks and Turks began and when the monastic centres on the periphery underwent crises or disappeared, Athos remained the sole and most important monastic centre for the whole of Byzantium and the Orthodox world. During the course of the centuries, three basic types of monastic life were formed on Athos: the coenobium, the skete and the eremitic life. These three types have been preserved down to our own day, and are, at this time, the only ones extant in the whole of the Orthodox world. It is interesting to see, in brief, what each of them represents. The coenobitic form of life developed within Orthodox monasticism on the basis of the models which had been createq in the 4th century by the Blessed Pachomios, a monk in Egypt, and by Basil the Great in Asia Minor. Later, in the ninth century, St. Theodore the Studite gave new impetus to the coenobitic system by the way he organised the Monastery of Studios in Constantinople. The same principles as he followed were adopted by Athanasios, the founder of the Lavra of Athos. The basic characteristic of coenobium life, as has already been mentioned, is that the monks live un der common obedience, the nucleus of which is comrn.on worship and the comrn.on board. Let us now see how a monk lives in a coenobitic monastery on Athos. The twenty-four hour cycle does not begin for the monk in the moming, but

n AyLOpELHK~ Bl~Àlo8~KJ'] +

Athos Library

Europe's Encounter with the Athonite Tradition

96

97

Anthony-Emil N. Tachiaos

rather a little after midnight. About an hour after midnight, the "semandron" sounds. This is a long, thick plank of wood, suspended horizontally from its two ends, which is beaten rhythmically by a monk with a wooden hammer. The beat of the semandron will waken the monks, who will rise at once from their beds and will start to pray, each one in his cell. This private prayer takes place with the aid of a woollen chaplet or prayer-rope, at each knot of which the monk recites the prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me, a sinner". Private prayer lasts an hour. After this, the sound is heard again of the same wooden semandron, or an iron one this time, and the monk has to make ready for common prayer in the church of the monastery, which is known as the "katholikon". Within the church a redolent crepuscule obtains. Usually, the only illumination is the light given off by the hanging-lamps which bum continuously in front of the holy icons. The monks take their places in the prayer-stalls ranged along the length of the walls of the church and silently attend to the words of the 'r eader, who performs the midnight office (mesonyktikon). This is followèd by matins. The part of the service to be sung is chanted altemately by the two chairs, which are arranged in the two semi-circles sides of the church, before the altar. Matins is followed which are at the 1 by the reading of the Hours, by the end of which dawn will already have broken. This cycle of comm:on moming worship is rounded off with the Holy Liturgy, the beginning of which is announced by the pealing of the great belis of the monastery. On the days of the great feasts, the sound produced is really melodious. After the end of the Holy Liturgy, the monks are called to table. From an architectural standpoint, the refectory resembles a church, from which the iconostas is, however, missing. In the centre of the semi-circle, which corresponds to the apse of the sanctuary in an ordinary church, is the place of the abbot, who is flanked by priests and deacons in order of seniority. At the other tables, arranged to form a parallelogram, sit the monks who are not ordained, and who usually make up the greater number. The meal has a certain formality, but the food is very meagre: usually a soup and sorne vegetables. On great feasts and on Sundays there is also cheese, eggs and fish. The monk in a coenobium never eats meat. On the three fast days, that is Monday, Wednesday and Friday, he eats only once, in the aftemoon. On non-fast days, he eats twice. The monk is not allowed food in his cell unless he is ill, and even then permission has to be obtained from the abbot. In the monk's understanding, food is a concession to human weakness and necessity. For the monk, food is not a pleasure. This is why expressions such as "Enjoy your meal" are never heard on the lips of monastics. The interiors of the monastery refectories are covered with paintings. Dominant in these murais are the figures of the great ascetic fathers, the ladder of the virtues of St. Ioannes Scholastikos and

the Last Judgement. The monk should always be mindful of the fact that for hlm the struggle for the perfection of his soul and for his salvation is ali-important. Silence reigns during the meal. There is a pulpit in the refectory, from which a monk reads the Life of the saint of the day or sorne other ascetic text. When the meal is over, the abbot gives the sign for the prayer, and then the monks leave and disperse to the tasks which the monastery has assigned to each of them. Sorne will be responsible for cleaning the church, others will knead bread, while others will perform various manual or agricultural jobs. No-one is exempt from this common effort, not the priests, nor even the abbot himself. Everything in the monastery is common, so work is common, too. When the common duties have been completed, the monk finds time to take up intellectual tasks, always provided he has the ability and the inclination. In medieval times there were whole workshops for copying or also translating manuscripts. In the monasteries of the Lavra, Saint Paul's, Saint Panteleimon and Zographou the monks translated Greek writings into the Slavonie languages. In the monasteries of the Lavra and !veron a whole host of manuscripts were translated into Georgian. Nowadays, scholar-monks of Athos write their own books, which are distillations of their theological knowledge and their monastic experience. Needless to say, they did not become monks in arder to find the time to write books. The writings arase from a persona! or objective need. Athonites are not authors by profession. Saint Gregory Palamas (14th c.) who has bequeathed an enormous output of theological works, wrote when he was a monk on the Holy Mountain only because he had to defend Orthodox dogma. Had there been no provocation, he might never have written those superb works which belong to the Athonite period of his !ife. The same holds true for very many other authors, too, both ancient and contemporary. The purpose of the life of the true Athonite monk lies elsewhere, in ascetic struggle and prayer. When noon has passed, the coenobitic monk, by now exhausted after the vigil and his labour, will perhaps devote a little time to sleep and rest. Total wakefulness is very dangerous, espesially for monks who have little experience of the ascetic life. St. John of the Ladder stresses that continually doing without sleep can drive a monk insane. Slèep is another human necessity, which the monk, however, reduces to a minimum. When a monk reaches the heights of virtue, he knows then that the joy of his life lies in prayerful vigilance. When life is full of internai joy, one feels no need for sleep. Wakefulness extends the duration of this joy. For the monk, joy is continuous communion with God. A persan in love wants always to be in the presence of the beloved. So, too, the monk wants to be in constant conversation with Christ. He achieves this through prayerful

+ Athos Library n AyLOpELnK~ BL~ÀL08~KJ']

98

Anthony-Emil N. Tachiaos

attention, and it is thus entirely natural for him to want to reduce sleeping-time to a minimum. At about three in the aftemoon, the semandron will again call the monk to church, for vespers. After vespers the monks will again go to the refectory for the second of the two prescribed meals, provided it is not a fast day. After the meal, the monks usually spend a little time talking, or walking outside the monastery gates. When the sun starts to set and night begins to cover the earth, the semandron will again call the monks to church, for compline.Then the monastery gates are shut, and will not be opened again till dawn. Time is measured on the Holy Mountain from sunset, as was the case in Byzantium. In the Monastery of Iviron, however, the day begins at sunrise, according to the ancient practice of Georgia in the Caucasus, where the founders of the monastery originally came from. At night, the inonastery becomes an ark, sailing a boundless sea, an ark which, those within it believe with unswerving faith, will bring them to the haven of salvation. With the end of compline, talk and discussion between the monks cease. The more strict among them will not even drink water. Now th·~ monk will retire to his cell, accompanied by the total silence of the night. Enclosed in his cell, he will light a small kerosene or oillamp an-d will read, write or pray. These are hours of contemplation. With these hours, and the few remaining for sleep the twenty-four hour cycle of the life of the monastery cornes to a close. The monk will finally lay his weary body down on a wooden bed on which there is no mattress. Sleep usually cornes to him while his is praying. The ascetic monk sleeps in his under-cassock, without undoing his wide belt, just like a soldier awaiting the call to battle. He believes it likely that on that very night, death will come to him, the passing over into etemal life. That moment must find him spiritually prepared, at prayer. For the monk, the wild Athonite night becomes lambent through prayer. It is natural that night should bring with it the idea and the feeling of death, of the end of human life. Night and solitude breed fear in Man. The monk does not fear the evil that may befall him in the night, for in the love of Christ, he has conquered all fear. Life in the sketes is rather differently organised from that in the coenobetic monasteries. The skete resembles a small village. There are houses in it, in which dwell small communities of monks with the elder at the head. Each house (known as "huts" in the sketes) contains a chapel. For the skete as a whole, there is one large common church, known as the "kyriakon". Here the monks attend the Holy Liturgy and the long services on Sundays and great feasts. On ordinary days, the services are read or chanted in the chapel of the hut. As regards fasting, the monks of a skete basically follow the rule of the coenobitic monasteries, but they have a more restricted liturgical life, because they are forced to work more. The

Europe's Encounter with the Athonite Tràdition

99

monasteries have a permanent income from land-holdings and are not faced with particularly acute problems of survival. In the sketes, the monks live from their work. Every house in a skete has its own craft: iconography, weaving, making chaplets; incense, tailoring, wood-carving and so on. Here the monks' sole income is what they make from their work. The hours devoted to work are therefore more than in a coenobium. The institution of the skete developed on the Holy Mountain mainly in the 18th century, although its origins are very much older. It arose here for economie and spiritual reasons. The occupation of Athos by the Turks in the lSth century and the imposition of heavy taxes on the monks by the conquering power resulted in the decline and virtual dissolution of certain coenobia. Once their income had been lost, the coenobia were no longer able to support the monks. For this reason they were tumed into idiorrhythmic institutions, that is the post of abbot was abolished, as was the common board, and each monk lived by ensuring his own income by his own means. This situation led to the spiritual decline of the monasteries and the relaxation of internai discipline. And so the stricter monks, since they were in any case forced to eam their living by their own labour, preferred to quit the monasteries and form small ascetic groups outside. It was this abandonment of the great monasteries by the monks which led to the formation of sketes. Many outstanding monks lived in the sketes in the 18th and 19th centuries. The small monastic community in a hut in a skete represented a half-way house between the great monasteries and the eremitic life. Besides, persona! labour is something which the monk can arrange to suit his needs and he can allot his time to work and prayer accordingly. In a hut in a skete, the central role is played by the elder, that is the person who is spiritually the head. His own spirituality usually sets the tone for the small brotherhood he is in charge of, too. He is the model the ethers follow. It is he, in the end, who also arranges the time-table of work and prayer. The most difficult and highest expression of Athonite monasticism is the eremitic life, that is, a monk living with one or two spiritual brothers or entirely alone. The natural desert of Ancient Egypt has been replaced on the Holy Mountain by sheer, rocky slopes, or small flat outcrops on rocky mountains, the very sight of which is enough to inspire fear. The places where hermits live are inaccessible, reached by small paths which are both narrow and dangerous. It is, therefore, entirely natural that hermits should be few in number. Only a few ever reach perfection, but reach it they do, and so prove how far people can progress when they are united with God. The hermit restricts his material necessities to an astonishing minimum. When he needs to replace his clothing, it is given to him by ether monks. His normal food is vegetables, dry rusks and water. He takes just enough nourishment to stay alive. Only rarely does he work

n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~l\lo8~Kr] +

Athos Library

100

Anthony-Emil N. Tachiaos

to make money, because he does not need it. If he works at ali, he does so merely to occupy himself in the hours when his spirit is tired. He lives like the birds and the flowers, whose food is provided by God. The picture of the hermit is given to us by St. Symeon the New Theologian in one of his poems: Solitary, one who is untinged by the world and speaks unceasingly to God alone, seeing is seen, loving loved, · and becomes light ineffably lambent; glorified, he deems himself the poorer and pledged, continues as a stranger. 0 wonder inexpressible, foreign to all else! Through wealth unlimited, destitute am I and, much possessing, consider I have nought and say: "I thirst", through floods of waters and "Who will give me", though lavishly endowed, an~ "Where shall I find" Him Whom I see daily? "How shall I hold" Him Who is within me and outside the world, for He is not beheld at all? They who have ears to hear, let them hear Rightly divining the words of this illiterate.

The hermit lives with prayer and for prayer. The hermit has no liturgical life. Now and then he goes to the nearest monastery or skete to partake of the Holy Mysteries. Otherwise he worships God through unceasing prayer, which is the simplest and yet the deepest in meaning. This prayer contains within it ali the other prayers: "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon me, a sinner". This prayer, which exists only in the Orthodox Church, consists of the unceasing invocation of the name of Christ Jesus. It is practised by aU Orthodox monks, but is of special significance for the hermit. Within it is encompassed the whole of his life and his being. He has devoted his life entirely to contemplation, at which he arrives precisely through this prayer. There is a method for this prayer which is taught by the Fath~rs of the Church. It is impossible for anyone to understand this method, or to express it, if they have not lived within the tradition of Orthodox monasticism, and especially under the direction of a spiritual father. The person living in the world knows it only descriptively, and for this reason can only describe it extemally. In the initial stages, the prayer must be said aloud, with the mouth. Gradually, the words are imprinted on the mind, and then it begins to be recited mentally. At a later stage, this repetition is synchronised with the breathing and the beat of the heart. It is then

Europe's Encounter with the Athonite Tradition

101

that the prayer becomes unceasing, and is repeated of its own accord, without any effort on the part of the person praying, even during sleep. Then the name of Jesus Christ lives in the heart of the person praying and its grace fills the whole of their persoriality. When the monk prays in this way, his imagination is quite clear and free of any kind of image of material things. His mind flies completely outside the reality of the senses. Visions, as a pursuit and aim of contemplation, are unacceptable in Orthodox mysticism. A vision is usually the product of human imagination, and as such the Fathers of the Orthodox Church, especially St. Symeon the New Theologian, reject it as a deception and the action of demons. There is at this point a basic difference between Orthodox and Western spirituality. Mystics in the West are prone to visions, because their mysticism is intensely erotic in human terms. This kind of eroticism is absent from Orthodox mysticism. Human sentimentality is concerned with material things and human relationships. This sentimentality has no place within Orthodox monasticism and thus fades away. The difference between Orthodox and Western spirituality is also reflected in the ecclesiastical art of the East and West. In Orthodox iconography, there is an abstraction when corporeal features are portrayed. The aim of this art, whose imposing presence -is much felt in the life of Athos, is the depiction, not of the physical, but the spiritual form of the person. In Western art, on the other hand, there is a naturalistic depiction, not only of artistic dimensions but of sentiment, too. Western theology does not accept the uncreated energies of God, which is why the Western Christian neither understands them nor wishes to participate in them. For Orthodoxy, on the other hand, these energies are dogma and this is why mental prayer leàds the Orthodox to the vision of the Divine Light, which is precisely the uncreated energies of God, that same light that was seen by the Apostles at the Transfiguration of Christ. This vision of the Divine Light is the prize bestowed by mental prayer. One of the greatest Orthodox mystics, the Archbishop of Thessaloniki, Gregory Palamas speaks of precisely this light when he says: "Man being himself light, sees the light with the light; if he regards himself, he sees the light, and if he regards the object of his vision, he finds the light there again, and the means he employs for seeing is the light; and it is in this that union consists, for ali this is but one". This light, which is the uncreated energies of God, has shone in the minds and the souls of Athonite monks for centuries. The Holy Mountain is the treasure-house which keeps it burning and teaches how it can be reached. In this Divine Light, Man is deified and becomes identified with Christ, his Creator and God. St. Symeon the New Theologian speaks expressive!y of this human transfiguration in one of his finest poems:

n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~l\lo8~Kr] +

Athos Library

102

Anthony-Emil N. Tachiaos

Limbs of Christ do we become, as Christ becomes of us and Christ the hand and Christ the foot of me, the woebegone, and hand of Christ and foot of Christ am l, the hapless one. 1 move my hand, and Christ entire my hand is. - For sure it is that God's divinity is indivisible!! move my foot and, lo, it flashes as does He; Say not that 1 blaspheme, but welcome this and bow to Christ Who made you sol For should you wish, you will become a limb of His, an.d so all limbs of each and every one of us will limbs of Christ become, and Christ our Iimbs and everything uncomely lovely He shall make, adorning it with beauty and glory divine, and we shall gods become, consorting ali together with Gad.

Western tfteology understood dogma mainly through logic and reasoned thought. The Orthodox Fathers understood it through persona! mystical experience, and so it became apparent how closely dogma is bound up with the spirituallife. This is quite clear from the words of St. Maximus the Confesser, who has this to say on the subject: "When the mind is utterly freed from the passions then it proceeds beyond recall to the contemplation of the beings and to the knowledge of the Holy Trinity. The clear mind is to be found either in the subtle conception of human things, or in the contemplation of visible and invisible things, or in the light of the Holy Trinity". Similar affirmations are made by Gregory of Sinaï, a spiritual director of the Holy Mountain in the 14th century: "When, through the spirit, the feelings are united to the powers of the soul and become of a kind with each other, then, directly and essentially, they know the nature of divine and human things and clearly contemplate the cause of these things and the cause of ali things, i.e. in the measure of their capacity, they contemplate the Holy Trinity". And so the essence of the Holy Trinity is not, for the Orthodox mystic, a mere abstract philosophical form, but is a comprehensible, transcendental reality, which can be attained through his own mystical experience. This same is true also for the Light of the Transfiguration of Christ. And this is not merely a discovery which happened once and for all in the past, but is a discovery which is continually being repeated to those worthy of receiving it. In Western monasticism "Laborare est orare" has been held as axiomatic for centuries now. So we have almost an identification of labour with prayer. The road followed by Western monasticism is not unconnected with this saying. For the Orthodox monk, prayer is above any other

Europe's Encounter with the Athonite Tradition

103

action. The Orthodox Fathers talk about "working the prayer". Work is a human necessity and not the purpose of life. The purpose of life is union with Christ. Western culture, which has given priority to. work, has created technology, which is initially ·placed at the service of mankind but which eventually subordinates and enslaves him. Technology gradually estranges people from their moral values and creates intense stress, which arises precisely from the attempt to break free from the hell they themselves have created. The monks of Athos necessarily live within this technological culture and face almost the same problems as the rest of mankind. They can neither ignore nor abolish technological culture. That would, in any case, not lie within their own purposes. What remains for contemporary European society to ponder, is what the repository of Athonite monastic experience offers for this society to be able to survive in the world in which it lives. This thousand-year-old spiritual state, then, made up of so many variegated spiritual and religious elements, with citizens of such different national and cultural origins, a society so unaltered and unmodified by time, so unaffected by the changes which occur in the "world" which surrounds it, what can it say, in truth, or what can it impart to the Europe of today, of which it constitites a small part? The message we seek is perhaps to be traced to sorne singular elements which the spiritual life of Athos has preserved. These features are characteristic of Athonite life and mentality, because they, par excellence, make up the mosaic of its spirituality. We can separate a few of these, which stand out more prominently than the rest, and then assess its message accordingly. In life on the Holy Mountain, myth is widespread. By the term myth, I refer here to the concept of the historical event, and to the way in which it is absorbed into the categories of experience and life of the Athonite. What is historically true constitutes the core of the myth, but this is, however, imbued with additional meanings and symbols. This is connected to the removal of all those features which bind the historical truth, of necessity, to the terms of common logic. In this way, the truth is created which does not belong to sober reality but to the sphere where the present meets the beyond and where God acts within historical time. Myth in Hagiorite life is not opposed to reality, but is itself a reality. The categories of thought which arise from the objectivisation of God, from the expulsion of divine action from History, are non-existent here. The Holy Mountain lives in legend, in the world of miracles, of predictions and prophecies, and this world is, for the monk, just as real and true as everyday reality. Living the myth creates another dimension of experience in which the strands are woven by divine action, which functions unremittingly in history. Orthodox iconography, which, as has been said,

n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~l\lo8~Kr] +

Athos Library

104

Anthony-Emil N . Tachiaos

surrounds the monk and is constantly before him, constitutes precisely the tangible expression of abstraction and of the myth which fills his life. This myth, which is not unconnected with the dimension of reverie and poetry in human life, is precisely the feature which is rapidly disappearing in the contemporary European situation. This absence of myth reduces the function of abstraction in Man's imagination ali the more, with the result that it binds him absolutely to empirical reality and enslaves him to it. It finally strips him of a deeper joy and beauty of life, leaving him free to move only on the surface. The more one studies the role performed by myth in Athonite life, the more one will feel the effects of its absence in our daily lives. At the same time, however, one will be pleased to note the uniqueness of the Holy Mountain within the European context in preserving this myth. If, then, we ever feel the need to seek it again, to welcome it into our lives as a regenerative and rejuvenating impetus, we know that is bëing preserved by the Athonite world. Contemplation through quietude is also an ingredient of Athonite spirituality. Th~ constant remembrance of a world which is outside the conventional limits, is achieved initially by withdrawal from the world of corruption and noise. The rejection of the world "of this age" is witnessed extemally by retreat and departure from the sphere of worldly cares to that of quietude and silence. In reality, this renunciation of the "world", has a purely spiritual meaning. It is not the location but the attitude (oùx' 6 t6:n:oç, à/../..' 6 tQ6:rtoç) which is specifie to the kind of monastic state. The internai rejection of the world, not as flight but by choice (atQWLÇ ~tou) defines the condition of the heroic leap towards expatriation (è:n:L tnv 1;evntetav), in accordance with the commanding summons and the voice which cornes to the monk de profundis (èx ~a8érov). The monk, who has renounced the assumptions of the empirical, tangible world, goes on to know and live the truths of another world, which lies beyond what can be understood through the senses. Living contemplation and quietude as a princip le of life is in clear opposition· to the notions which obtain in modem everyday reality. Belief in only the empirical world and the values linked to it constituted the base on which the ideals of 20th century Europe were constructed. As the decades of our century have rolled by, one has been able to observe the disappearance and fading away, one after the other, of the systems which were based on humanistic values, precisely those, that is, on which in earlier times European thought had been constructed. With the forces of equilibrium lost, the European world has shown an increasingly one-sided tendency to reject or ignore these values, and, enchanted by its "economie miracle" and the unrestrained pleasures of its consumer economy, has overlooked the spiritual and moral cost of this inebriation. The Holy Mountain, which also forms part of Europe, remains the treasure-house of spiritual values

Europe's Encounter with the Athonite Tradition

105

and principles, which, without denying the importance of the economie factor in our lives, nevertheless gives priority of worth to the spirit and the soul of Man. With the turning of precisely these human functions towards internai quietude and contemplation, the being feels completed, just at the time when the material world, in which it has believed, leaves it naked and empty. The small Athonite society, apart from the religious and dogmatic fabric of its convictions, is also a witness and bearer of an experience, which has as its base archetypes which have been forgotten in the contemporary European situation. If the people of Europe ever miss this experience, they can be taught it in this small corner of the continent. The third basic characteristic of Athonite life is zeal. Unlike fanaticism, which is a sick expression of convictions, zeal is proof of the conscious (Èv È:JtLyvcboEL), forceful insistence on what is believed in. The objective truth of what is believed is not imposed axiomatically from the outside, but is witnessed and confirmed existentially. So whatever is within the sphere of Athonite convictions enjoys genuine and unfeigned acceptance, and any action a monk performs is an act of faith. Since his faith has existential confirmation, it creates in him a heightened insistence on it, that is, zeal. This feature, which is inextricably bound up with conservatism and attachment to the traditional, since for the Athonite these are inviolate and sacred, is also at odds with the conventional, the continuai change and the crisis of tradition which we are experiencing today. Zeal for the faith and for tradition, which burns Athonite souls to an intense degree, constitutes a unique phenomenon of a society vibrating with sorne ideal, heedless of any material recompense whatsoever, or of models of this world, or of justification within it. Zeal for tradition and respect for traditional values remain among the most fundamental characteristics of the Holy Mountain, since tradition is the permanent and inexhaustible source from which the Athonite draws the principles which form the structure of his internai world. When, in 1963, the millenium of the Holy Mountain was celebrated with ceremonies which brought to mind the glorious days of Byzantium, sorne observers, even Athonites, came to the doleful conclusion that in effect the majestic celebrations were nothing other than the funeral rites of the Athonite state. The number of monks, who were, by and large, elderly, had been reduced to such an extent, and the advent of young ones was so restricted, that it was believed by many that at the beginning of the seventies, many monasteries would be closing their gates for good. An atmosphere of devastation had begun to settle on the Holy Mountain. While the economie growth and technological progress of European life reached impressive levels, the thousand-year-old Hagiorite state, with its such intense, medieval tone, was drawing to its close in melancholy fashion. Many there were who believed that the messages of Athos had

+ Athos Library n AyLOpéLTLK~ BL~ÀL08~Kr]

106

Anthony-Emil N. Tachiaos

lost their audience once and for all, and that the aged monastic state was being given the coup de grace by the spirit of the new age which was characteris:d··by belief in the omnipotence of material things. And yet, these sceptlcs have been proven wrong. The first years of ·the seventies, instead of signalling the end of the Holy Mountain, brought a renaissance, not only in terms of numbers but of quality, too. Those who received the messages ·of the Holy Mountain suddenly multiplied, and so today, apart from Greeks, Russians, Serbs, Bulgarians and Rumanians, there are also monks who come from countries of Western Europe and the Americas. In this way a new mosaic is being created with cultural and ethnie diversity and polypho~y, but at the same time the marriage of all these new featur~s i~ le~ding to a synthesis and harmony. The contemporary Athomte Situation shows how much our world needs the Holy Mountain, because there it finds, vital and renewed, those values which it is losing day by day. · Aristotle L!niversity of Thessaloniki

Le Mont Athos et le destin spirituel de l'Europe Placide Simonopétritis Les historiens de la civilisation occidentale ont souvent dit que les moines ont fait l'Europe. Sans doute songeaient-ils alors surtout à l'action civilisatrice et culturelle des premiers moines des Gaule, des moines celtes et anglo-saxons que évangélisèrent le nord-ouest de l'Europe aux VIIè et VIIIè siècles, des bénédictins et des cisterciens, qui exercèrent une influence considérable jusqu'à la fin du XTiè siècle. Mais toute cette activité extérieure procédait d'une source cachée, qui était la vie intérieure intense de ces moines: "Cherchez d'abord le Royame de Dieu, et tout le reste vous sera donné par surcroît" (Mt. 6, 33). Si les monastères ont eu un tel rayonnement, si l'Europe médiévale a constitué, grâce à eux, un prodigieux foyer de civilisation, imprégné des valeurs de l'Evangile, ce n'est pas d'abord parce que ces moines ont recopié des manuscrits de Virgile et d'Ovide, ouvert des écoles, édifié des basiliques romanes et ciselé d'admirables pièces d'orfèvrerie. C'est parce que, dans d'innombrables monastères, des hommes ont cherché à maîtriser leurs passions, à se pénétrer de l'esprit des Béatitudes, et ont atteint cette mystérieuse paix du cœur qu'aucune technique ni aucune science ne peuvent procurer. "Etablis ton âme dans la paix, et .des milliers autour de toi seront sauvés", disait un grand moine du siècle dernier. Ceci peut nous aider à comprendre la place et le rôle qui reviennent au Mont Athos dans l'Europe qui se construit aujourd'hui. Ce serait se méprendre complètement sur la signification et l'importance de la Sainte Montagne que de n'y voir qu'un admirable conservatoire de la civilisation byzantine, un musée prestigieux évoquant un passé mort. Le Mont Athos est avant tout, par le nombre de ses monastères, par la vie qui y renaît de toutes parts, par la fidéité de ses moines à garder vivante une tradition

nAyLOpELHK~ Bl~Àlo8~Kil +

Athos Library

108

Placide Simonopétritis

plus que millénaire, par la sainteté éminente de plusieurs d'entre eux, le centre spirituelle plus important de l'Europe. . , , . Au co~rs des siècles pass~s, le rayonnement de la Sairite Montagne s et~lt e~erce ~ur~out sur la Greee et sur les pays balkaniques et slaves. Mais auJourd hm, dans une Europe où les frontières deviennent plus perméables, beaucoup d'occidentaux découvrent que la tradition spirituelle du Mont Athos est substantiellement identique à celle dont vivaient leurs Pèr~s, en partic~e: ~ous le~ an~iens moines d'Occident, à une époque où les schismes et les diVISions n avaient pas encore meurtri l'unité spirituelle de l'Europe. . En venant ~n pèlerins au Mont Athos, en entendant son message, ils les racmes de leur propre culture et de leur propre civilisation. ils y redecouvrent les valeurs qui seules pourront redonner un élan créateur à ~e Eur~pe _qui pr~d tragiguement conscience de l'immense vide spirituel ou 1 ont laiSsee ~ developpement technologique et économique que, trop souvent,. n'orientait aucune finalité transcendante. Si l'Europe ne retrouvait pas ces valeurs, elle serait inéluctablement menacée d'une dé~omposit~on ih~ern~ ~ui la l~isserait démunie devant l'avenir, incapable de}~uer le role qm dOit etre le sien dans un monde où seul son rayonnement spi~tuel et culturel pourra compenser son infériorité démographique crOissante. retrouve~t

.En particulier,. le ~o~t Athos peut contribuer à rendre l'Europe plus de ce qm d01~ etre son apport particulier au sein des grandes CIVilisations du monde, a savoir le sens dt la personne et la conception d'une société personnaliste. En effet, les sociétés humaines oscillent généralement aujourd'hui entre deux modèles également fallacieux. Tantôt règne un libéralisme où la poursuite de l'intérêt propre des individus et des collectivités ne connaît d'autres limites que celles qu'impose la crainte de voir cet intérêt luimême c~mpromis s'il ::ie,nt.à heurter les intérêts d'individus ou de groupes pl~s pmssru:ts; la societe nsq':e, alors de se transformer en une jungle où prevaut la l01 du plus fort, et ou 1abondance des biens de consommation en l'absence. de .tout idé~l supérieur, a~ph~x~e les âmes. Ailleurs s'est im~osé un totahtansme qm soumet les mdividus, par voie d'autorité et de co~trainte, à un ordre dont les exigences ne sont pas assumées par chacun et qm, pour parvenir à ses fins, n'hésite pas à fouler aux pieds les droits de la personne; et ceci crée un monde encore plus inhumain que le précédent. c?~s~Ie~te

Le Mont Athos et le destin spirituel de l'Europe

109

humain ne saurait échapper, des cités harmonieuses où l'unité de la collectivité ne porte pas atteinte à l'intégrité et à l'authentique épanouissement des personnes qui la composent. La stabilité de pareilles sociétés à travers les siècles, leur capacité de renaissance après des périodes de déclin que l'on aurait pu croire mortelles, nous interrogent d'autant plus que les facteurs de dissolution - différence d'âge, de culture, d'origine et de race- n'y manquent pas. Le Mont Athos ne nous offre pas . seulement la promesse d'un monde nouveau et d'une autre société; il n'en fait pas seulement la théorie. Il nous en livre l'expérience vécue. Il nous manifeste qu'un changement réel dans les rapports humains peut s'accomplir, si nous laissons agir l'Esprit-Saint, qui rend toutes choses nouvelles. La clé de cette réussite est sans doute que le moine athonite a appris de l'Evangile et de ses maîtres spirituels - Saint Basile le Grand, saint Théodore Studite, saint Athanase l'Athonite, saint Gégoire Palamas que ce qui assure l'intégrité de la personne, ce n'est pas la satisfaction de l'intérêt propre et la poursuite de ce qui plaît à chacun. Au contraire, parce que la personne humaine est à l'image de Dieu, qui est Amour (I Jn. 4,8), elle ne peut trouver ce bonheur que dans le don d'elle-même et dans le renoncement libre et joyeux à tout individualisme, afin d'entrer en communion avec autrui et de s'épanouir dans tout ce qw unit. Le moine sait que le renoncement à ses goûts, à ses préférences propres, à son intérêt individuel, ne sont qu'une mort vivifiante qui ouvre aux joies de la communion des personnes, de la koinônia rétablie entre tous, en Dieu. Ceci nous enseigne que l'instauration d'une société juste, fraternelle et heureuse ne repose pas d'abord sur des réformes de structures et sur la maîtrise des processus économiques. Elle dépend avant tout de ce que l'Evangile appelle métanoia, changement d'esprit, transformation intérieure. Elle exige que chacun lutte chaque jour, avec l'aide de Dieu, jusque dans les circonstances les plus humbles et les plus ordinaires de son existence, contre son égoïsme, contre sa soif de jouissance, contre ses tendances individualistes, en se mettant à l'écoute de la voix intérieure qui lui murmure que là seulement se trouve la vraie joie, - cette joie qui est si perceptible à quiconque visite aujourd'hui les monastères athonites. Il faut encore que l'autorité et les institutions respectent la légitime diversité des personnes, qui ont chacun leur manière propre de vivre l'idéal commun, et renoncent à imposer un pouvoir centralisateur et tyrannique. Alors peut se réaliser la parole du psalmiste: "Voyez comme il est bon, comme il est doux, d'habiter en frères tous ensemble!" (Ps. 132,1).

, Le pèlerin qui visite les grands monastères de la Sainte Montagne y decouvre, malgré les tensions et les difficultés auxquelles aucun groupe

+ Athos Library n AyLOpELnK~ BL~ÀL08~KJ1

110

Placide Simonopétritis

Mais le pélerin qui suit aujourd'hui les sentiers rocailleux de la Sainte Montagne, à travers une nature vierge embaumée de la senteur des genêts et émaillée de toutes les fleurs du printemps, ne découvre pas seulement sur sa route de grands monastères cénobitiques. Il lui arrivera peut-être d'entrevoir quelque calyve solitaire où un ermite, seul avec le Seul, intercède avec larmes pour le monde entier. Qui dira la force et la puissance de cette prière? De tels hommes ne sont-ils pas les colonnes de l'Europe et de l'univers?

Le Mont Athos et le destin spirituel de l'Europe

111

sans lien avec eux, - est la présence en son sein du peuple grec, avec ses valeurs propres, que les moines du Mont Athos l'ont aidé à préserver à travers toutes les vicissitudes tragiques de son histoire: les sens .inné de la liberté, le respect de la personne humaine, et l'immense force spirituelle que représente la foi orthodoxe, qui est toujours demeurée inébranlée dans ses couches les plus profondes.

L'existence de l'ermite ne contredit d'ailleurs pas le sens communautair,e. La solitude n'est pas le fruit de l'individualisme et de la misanthropie. Pour aller vers Dieu, et en même temps accéder à la cellule la plus intérieure de son âme, l'homme a besoin de silence et de solitude. Ce sont là deux éléments indispensanbles de la conception personnaliste de la société, qui esbà l'opposé du grégarisme. En accédant à l'essentiel, en se rapprochant du Centre, le solitaire se rapproche en même temps de tout ce qui converge vers ce Centre. Et c'est pourquoi le cœur de l'ermite déborde d'un tel amour, d'une telle compassion envers tous. Quelle leÇon pour notre Europe, où ces valeurs de silence et de solitude sont si souvent méconnues et oubliées! Et quel exemple, quel soutien aussi pour tant d'hommes aujourd'hui, que leur refus du mensonge et des compromissions accule, dans le monde contemporain, à une tragique solitude extérieure,- quand ce n'est pas à la solitude des prisons, de l'exil ou des camps, - sans autre soutien que la force intérieure qui leur est donnée. C'est ainsi que la Sainte Montagne, dans l'Europe d'aujourd'hui, peut contribuer à ce que, aux problèmes nouveaux de notre époque, il soit répondu non par des improvisations hâtives ou des innovations aux conséquences imprévisibles, mais par des solutions inspirées par une fidélité créatrice aux valeurs chrétiennes de notre culture. Cela ne justifie-t-il pas suffisamment l'intérêt que les nations européennes doivent lui porter, et doivent porter aussi à la sauvegarde du statut privilégié que l'Empire byzantin, puis l'Empire ottoman, et enfin l'Etat hellénique lui ont toujours reconnu, pour lui permettre de porter plus efficacement son témoignage? On nous rappelé hier que certaines nations européenes avaient songé à la faveur des traités de paix, à reconnaître au Mont Athos une véritable autonomie. Il n'était pas dans les desseins de Dieu que ce projet se réalise. Pour ma part je crois que l'intégration de la sainte Montagne dans la Grèce contemporaine n'est pas sans signification. C'est en effet ma conviction intime que l'un des principaux gages d'espérance pour l'Europe de demain,au-delà des problèmes économiques, juridiques et politiques, mais non pas

+ Athos Library n AyLOpELnK~ BL~ÀL08~KJ1

Mount Athos Community

and

the

European

Abbot George Kapsanis Barbarian raicis have long since wiped out the numerous ancient monastic communities of Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, and Constantinople. Only on the Holy Mountain of Athos have the ancient monastic tradition and .c ommunity continued uninterruptedly to exist for a thousand years and more. It is perfectly understandable, therefore, that not only Greeks and Orthodox Christians, but anyone with the slightest concern for spiritual matters, should take an interest in the Athonite monastic state. This conference is the fruit of that interest. There is rouch to be said about the history, art, and spirituallife of Mount Athos. Much, too, has been written on these subjects in many languages. But Athonite life is fundamentally a Mystery, which defies any description. Our eyes must be opened if we are to behold the Mystery. We must be initiated into the Mystery. Initiation does not spring from rational understanding alone, it is a question of spiritual ascent. As Man ascends and God descends, it is at the point where they meet that the Mystery is celebrated. It is this Mystery which makes Athos not merely a mountain, but a Holy Mountain. The Mystery is open to anyone, whether Athonite or not, who wishes to approach it. The approach, however, means ascent; ascent requires abstraction; and abstraction demands courage. The way !ife is organised on Athos, the architecture, painting, nature, cobblestones, belis, the wooden sounding boards striking day and night, the hospitality, the prayers - all of these express something of this Mys.tery. It is in them ali and at the same time beyond them all. Whatever expresses the Mystery may pe described up to a certain point, yet at the same time its core remahl.s undescribed. Being undescribed it is offered in communion of life.

+ Athos Library n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~ÀL09~Kt'J

114

George Kapsanis

At this conference, I have elected to describe something which Mount Athos shares with every community of peoples and nations, including the European Community: that is, its communal character. Mount Athos has functioned as a community ever since its founda- . tion. In 963 St Athanasius the Athonite founded his Lavra with the help of the Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus Phocas. Many years before, ascetics had been living in tiny hermitages scattered about the Athos Peninsula. But their austere and reclusive way of life also had a certain communal function for they would come together from time to time to decide on matters which affected them aU. Thus, despite their outward isolation, the common ~pirit was revealed, the common faith which fundamentaUy united th~m. The informai and unorganised communal aspect which manifested itself on occasion bore witness to the essential and profound common bond between them. St Athanasius's Lavra functioned as a coenobium. The monks had everything in common: they ate together, wore the same clothes, had no private possessions, money, or persona! property. St Athanasius's coenobium was a c'p ntinuation of Our Lord's coenobium with his Twelve Disciples and , the Apostles coenobium with the first Chris tians in Jerusalem, às it is described so beautifully in the Acts of the Apostles. It was Basil the Great who drew up the rules and regulations of the Christian monastic coenobia. Allow me to read you his account of the relations between the monks in a coenobium, for it typifies the spirit of genuine love to which the coenobium aspires: "What can compare with this way of life? What is more sublime? What is more true than bonding and unity? What is more gracious than the commingling of characters and souls? Men have set forth from divers races and lands and come together with such precision into one, so that they may be deemed one soul in many bodies, and many bodies may seem as the instruments of one mind. In his body the invalid has many who suffer by good will with him; he who is sick and weak in spirit has many to heal and restore him. Each is the servant of the other, each is the master of the other, and with invincible freedom do they emulate each other to see who shall demonstrate the most precise servitude, which is not occasioned by sorne compeUing misfortune arousing much disquiet in those whom it possesses, but is joyfully created by freedom of mind; for love subordinates the free to each other, and ensures freedom by the individual choice of each one. Thus did Gad wish us to be from the start and to this end did he create us. They restore the ancient good, for they caver the sin of our forefather Adam. For division and dissension and war would not have existed amongst men if had sin not divided nature. They, then closely imitate the Saviour and his incarnate life. Which is to say that He, when He gathered together the group of His disciples, made everything in common for His Apostles,

Mount Athos and the European Community

115

even Himself. So tao, obedient to their Superior, do all those who observe the correctness of this life precisely imitate the life of the Apostles and Our Lord" (taken from 'Aaxnnxal L\tara;etç 18, 2, Gr. trans. K. Karakolis, publ. E.TI.E., vol. 9, pp. 479-81). The purpose of the internai functioning and organisation of a coenobium is to transcend bath individualism and mass aspect of people. But how can we achieve a form of society in which people can live a communallife without being levelled into a faceless mass, and in which, tao, people can stand out as separate personalities without falling into egotistic and antisocial individualism? I believe that in an Orthodox coenobium, whose members live ali for one and cach one for aU, as described by Basil the Great, this form of society is achieved. An Orthodox coenobium is rooted in the Holy Trinity, in Whom the three persans - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit - are one substance, while at the same time distinct and unconfused persans. The Orthodox conception is of the whole Church as the revelation of the Mystery of the Holy Trinity to the world. This is why, furthermore, its synodical organisation is so important to the Orthodox Church. After the Lavra, other monasteries were founded, ali of them coenobia. During the time of pirate and barbarian raids and conquests, sorne of the monasteries were compelied to become idiorhythmic. Today nineteen from the twenty monasteries are coenobitic and only one idiorhythmic, and it seems likely that this tao will eventually change to the coenobitic way of life. The whole of the Athonite Peninsula is divided between the twenty monasteries. Even those monks who live outside the monasteries in various sketes, cells, and hermitages are under the authority of and dependent on a monastery. The twenty monasteries compose the Holy Community of Mount Athos. Their headquarters is in Karyes, where their representatives meet twice a week to make decisions relating to Mount Athos. There are other bodies tao, such as the Biannual Holy Assembly, which is the supreme legislative and judicial body of Mount Athos and convenes twice a year; and the Extraordinary Dual Holy Assembly, which is composed by the twenty regular and twenty irregular representatives and convenes whenever there is a serious matter to be resolved. The Holy Community's executive body is the Holy Epistasia, which is composed of the four epistates. The monasteries assume the Holy Epistasia on a rotational basis, changing every five years. Each monastery is self-administered. More general issues are settled by the Holy Community, whose decisions the monasteries must accept. We have then, a union of equal-ranking monasteries. As I am sure you know, the monks of Athos are not only Greeks, but also come from other

n AyLOpELHK~ Bl~Àlo8~Kil +

Athos Library

116

George Kapsanis

countries with Orthodox tradition: Russia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and at one time there were also monks from Georgia. Sorne of the monks too are from other European countries, North and South America, Asia, and Australia. They are all united by their common Orthodox faith, which . prevails over any national differences or occasional conflicts. All Orthodox peoples regard Mount Athos as their own, as they consider the Holy Land their own too, where the God-man Christ once walked. On Mount Athos we find an exalted form of society of men, with a great variety of distinct endowments, characters, ages, levels of education, social background, and national differences. Both within a single coenobium and throughout the Athonite State, diversity and unity are wonderfully combined. Ali are united by a deep spiritual bond, and at the same time ali are free to express themselves and attain completion in the grace ofGod. · The monks live their monastic life and their faith personally, but not individualistically. No-one is the same as anyone else. There is no stereotyped moral standard. At the same time, no-one wishes to live enclosed within 1:\imself, autonomously, egocentrically, spiritually isolated from his brothers. Each one contributes his particular gifts and the special function assigned to him to the structure of the brotherhood and the whole Church. Mount Athos is also known as the Garden of the Mother of God. In this garden, each plant which is animated by the grace of God and the blessing of the Mother of God is special. They are all in the same garden and all grow by the same uncreated grace .of God; it is the diversity of plants which makes the garden interesting and beautiful. Unity in diversity is the spirit and the ethos of Mount Athos. It is what each monk is struggling to attain. We must not forget that monks are human beings too, who carry within themselves the sickness of human nature-egotism, which is illogicallove of self. But each monk's struggle aspires to replace egotism with love of God and humankind; a love which the more itenters deeply within us the more self-love and egotism recede. The tenet of Athonite monasticism is: whosoever comforts his brother comforts his God. The monk lives in arder to comfort his God and his brother with his love. When he comforts his God he comforts his brother too; and when he comforts his brother he comforts his God too. The monk wants to comfort his neighbour, his fellow ascetic, his guest, everyone he meets. Every person is the image of God and therefore deserving of respect and love. God's embrace is wide enough to include the whole world. The Orthodox representation of the Church is the icon of Pentecost, in which the Apostles form an open semicircle, not a closed circle. The Church is open to everyone. So too does Mount Athos receive and welcome everyone,

Mount Athos and the European Community

117

both Christians and non-Christians, Orthodox and non-Orthodox, Greeks and non-Greeks. This is the reason for the hospitality which Mount Athos selflessly extends to aU. As far as I know, it is only on Mount Athos that such all-embracing hospitality is offered, despite the difficulties created by the increasing numbers of pilgrims and visitors. Even at the expense of their monastic schedule and silence, the fathers strive to keep their traditional hospitality alive. It is thus that they express their love for humankind; and they express the same love and opening up to the world through their ceaseless prayer for everyone who has need of the grace of God. Mount Athos, then, is a community and a unity, but an open unity, which does not exist for its own sake, but for God and the world. This, I think, is why everyone on Mount Athos feels at ease, feels blessed and joyful. Though this unity is indeed oecumenical, it is based not on indifference to each faith, but on the common Orthodox faith and theology, which regards everyone as the image of God. Since its centre and axis is Jesus Christ, this unity is not merely human, but, like Christ, simultaneously human and divine; the fruit of God's gift and human collaboration. It is true to say that, like Orthodox theology and the Orthodox life, so too does Mount Athos proceed in an antinomie and paradoxical way. In Orthodox theology, God is Trinity and at the same time One. He exists and at the same time does not exist (because He is beyond all meaning, even the meaning of existence). He is approachable (through His energies) and at the same time unapproachable (in His essence). Christ gives life to the world by being crucified and crushed. The Christian and the monk die in arder to live. The monk in particular leaves society in order to find society. He chooses 'nothing' in arder to gain everything. He mocks the world in order to take it seriously. He does not accept women on Mount Athos, because he truly loves women: all women are absent from Mount Athos, yet at the same time they are genuinely present in the persan of the Mother of God. It must be said that worldly logic stumbles against the logic of the Church and of Mount Athos. This is why no-one can comprehend the Church or Mount Athos without repentance, which is to say, without a change of mind. The Christian Byzantine state respected this 'logic' of the monks' unconcemed Hesychast spirit. It had the spiritual insight to recognise the value of the monk's death as a precondition for life. It thus legislated for Mount Athos to live its monastic life as it wished, so that the Mystery of the monastic state might be celebrated without obstacle or hindrance. It is a divine blessing that the subsequent conquerors and suzerains of Mount Athos wished to continue the Byzantine emperors' policy and thus struck Athos no fatal blow.

+ Athos Library n AyLOpéLTLK~ BL~ÀL08~Kr]

George Kapsanis

118

Today Mount Athos continues its Hesychastic life under the spiritual jurisdiction and blessing of the Oecumenical Patriarchate and the discreet protection of the Hellenic State. It is remarkable that the European Community respects the uniqueness of Mount Athos and has . acknowledged it in the Joint Declaration Concerning Mount Athos in the Final Act of the Agreement Concerning the Accession of the Hellenic Republic to the European Economie Community (1979). As an Athonite, I do not feel a stranger to Europe. I feel that the active primitive Christianity of Mount Athos meets the hidden common and primitive Christianity of Europe; the Christianity of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, the Christianity of the Catacombs in Rome, the Christianity of St. Irenaeus of Lyons, where his martyrdom is, the Christianity of the mosaics of Ravenna, the Christianity of the Orthodox monks of England, Scotland, and Ireland. I humbly believe that the spiritually homeless present-day European would be able to find his own spiritural home on Mount Athos, and that the European Community would be able to find, above and beyond the concurrence,of interests, something more profound and more intrinsic in the spiritual he~tage of the Holy Community of Mount Athos. I place these thoughts before you who approach Mount Athos with understanding. Thank you for your kind attention to my humble contribution. Gregoriou Monastery Mount Athos

La Communauté Européenne et le Mont Athos Nicos Scandamis Je ne saurais introduire cette brève intervention sans évoquer un trait psychologique qui semble hanter le rapprochement historique entre la Communauté du Mont Athos et la Communauté Européenne, suite à l'adhésion de la Grèce à cette dernière. Il s'agit bien d'un sentiment de perplexité. Face à l'hétérogène: le spirituel d'une Communauté d'anachorètes et le temporel d'une Communauté interétatique visiblement économique. Face aussi à l'hétérochronisme: une communauté tournée vers le passé, sinon vers l'atemporel, face à une communauté résolument ancrée dans le présent, au plus dans un avenir palpable. Cette perplexité n'est pas celle du penseur qui tenterait un rapprochement noétique entre les deux entités. Elle est bien réelle. Elle fut politiquement ressentie par les négociateurs lors de l'adhésion; elle fut politiquement enregistrée dans les textes qui en sont sortis. Parmi les mille et une questions d'ordre technique de cette adhésion il y a en eu une qui, pour avoir été complexe par son originalité, a été remise à plus tard. Une microadhésion qui reste encore à achever. Celle précisement de la Communauté du Mont Athos à la Communauté Européenne. En effet, la Déclaration commune sur le Mont Athos, annexée à l'Acte d'Adhésion de la République Hellénique, atteste l'exceptionnel et l'érige en principe pour l'avenir: le caractère spirituel de l'acquis monastique nuance et oriente l'acquis communautaire-celui du passé et celui de l'aveneir-lors de son application en territoire hagiorite. Notre propos aujourd'hui est donc de rationaliser ce sentiment d'embarras politique, de tenter même de le dissiper en regardant de plus près cette micro-adhésion.

nAyLOpELHK~ Bl~Àlo8~Kil +

Athos Library

120

Nicos Scandamis

Et d'abord, le terme même de micro-adhésion ne pourrait être maintenu que sous une réserve. S'il est vrai que la Déclaration commune instaure un système d'ajustement mutuel de l'acquis des deux communautés, il ne peut s'agir d'une adhésion qui serait autonome par rapport à celle de la République Hellénique. Qu'il soit rappelé que le Mont Athos, à la différence du Vatican ou de la principauté de Monaco, ne dispose de dimension internationale autre que spirituelle, qu'il demeure à cet égard partie intégrante de l'Etat grec, ne jouissant d'après les lois de ce dernier que d'une autonomie administrative valant pour le seul droit interne. Par conséquent, l'idée d'une micro-adhésion ne concerne en fait que l'approche particulière adoptée pour l'application du droit communautaire sur le terriroire athonite. Selon les termes mêmes de la Déclaration, la Communauté Européenne tiendra compte, lors de l'élaboration ou l'application de ses règles, notamment dans les domaines douanier, fiscal ·et de libre établissement, des raisons spirituelles qui soustendent le régim~ spécial du Mont Athos. Quelle est donc l'approche de la Déclaration commune? D'abord infléchir, non pas seulement le droit grec dans un sens communautairecomme c'est d'ailleurs, l'effet général de l'adhésion-, mais aussi le droit communutaire dans un sens proprement hagiorite. Une adaptation en sens inverse vient donc en parallèle avec celle, normale, de l'adhérant. Seul critère pour départager le touchable de l'intouchable: l'économie spirituelle de la micro-société athonite. Critère éminemment fluide et dont l'application concrète exige un dialogue continu au sein du système institutionnel communautaire: au niveau aussi bien de la Commission, organe d'action initiateur, que du Conseil, organe décideur. Ce travail est en cours pour la partie de l'acquis communautaire, dont l'application au Mont Athos n'appellerait pas pour les raisons évoquées un fléchissement de la règle communautaire. Le dispositif législatif mis sur pied par la République Hellénique pour simplifier l'entrée en vigueur du droit communautaire semble y suffir. Par contre, pour ce qui est des dispositions communautaires susceptibles de heurter ce qui est propre à la structure monastique, il incombe aux instances communautaires d'aborder avec l'Etat membre interessé, la Grèce, le détail ·de l'exercice. Pour être plus concret et en anticipation de cette exercice, essayons de voir quelles seraient en fait ces incompatibilités entre la norme hagiorite et la norme communautaire. Considérons d'abord les cas où la législation

La Communauté Européenne et le Mont Athos

121

propre au Mont Athos s'avèrerait incompatible avec les obligations communautaires. En effet, une série de dispositions athonites introduisent des restrictions qui auraient comme effet de compromettre le droit communautaire relatif à la liberté d'établissement, la libre circUlation des travailleurs ou la libre prestation des services. Toute personne non-orthodoxe se verra refuser le droit de s'établir sur le Mont Athos; les femmes sont de façon générale interdites de séjour; des procédures de visa circonscrivent à plusieurs titres le séjour des personnes qui ne seraient pas résidentes. Par ailleurs, n'ont droit de propriété sur les immeubles situés sur ce territoire que les vingt monastères du Mont Athos. S'établir ou circuler en vue d'exercer une activité économique ne va pas sans difficultés, entraves qui trouvent toutes, il faut le dire, leur raison d'être dans les impératifs de l'organisation monastique. Il en va de même pour la libre circulation des marchandises, car le commerce n'est permis dans l'enceinte athonite que pour les produits nécessaires à ses fonctions. Nombre de ces restrictions pourraient être maintenues, en recherchant l'appui juridique nécessaire dans les mécanismes communautaires exceptionnels-c'est bien le cas, il me semble, pour la clause de sauvegarde de l'article 36 du Traité CEE, relative aux limitations à l'importation pour des raisons de moralité publique ou d'ordre public ... Pour d'autres par contre, des négociations sur base de la Déclaration commune devraient être engagées pour apporter aux textes communautaires les modifications nécessaires. Et je pense, par exemple, à la Directive 64/221 qui en précisant la notion d'exception d'ordre public, lors de l'exercise du droit d'établissement, n'admet que les interdictions individualisées en écartant toute interdiction de caractère général, comme c'est le cas pour le Mont Athos. Pour compléter ce tour rapide des écueils possibles, j'ajouterais que les exemptions de droits de douane, dont bénéficient les monastères pour certains produits, me semblent compatibles avec le droit communautaire, étant de nature d'exonérations subjectives à des buts non-économiques. Enfin, dans le domaine fiscal on relève le seul point que les négociateurs d'adhésion ont considéré dans le détail en stipulant une dérogation permanente au droit communautaire, inscrite, d'ailleurs, dans le texte même de l'Acte d'adhésion: Ainsi l'obligation d'intoduire la taxe sur la valeur ajoutée ne pèse pas sur l'économie athonite.

+ Athos n AyLOpELTlK~ BL~ÀL09~Kil Library

122

Nicos Scandamis

Mais leif difficultés dues au particularisme athonite ne surgissent pas au seul titre des obligations communautaires. Elles se posent aussi, lorsqu'il s'agit d'exercer des droits ou des privilèges du fait de l'appartenance à la Communauté. Il en sera ainsi, lorsque le moment viendra de réclamer le soutien financier des Fonds et des autres instruments communautaires, lorsque, dans les orientations actuellement en vigueur dans la Communauté, il faudrait inclure les préoccupations proprement hagiorites. Et c'est bien là, où la Déclaration commune montre toute son utilité, en ouvrant par ses mécanismes des perspectives opérationnelles allant au delà de la simple résorption d'incompatibilités purement juridiques.

La Communauté Européenne et le Mont Athos

123

de signification communes, un code culturel propre auquel l'apport chrétien est décisif. L'embarras que pourrait susciter le rapprochement . des deux communautés est seulement apparent et provisoire. L'expérience de l'intégration européenne n'est pleinement légitimée que lorsqu'elle est ressentie comme globale, l'économique, le temporel n'étant qu'un de ses aspects.

En effet, les modèles économiques, dont s'inspirent les deux communautés, ne sont pas, ne peuvent pas être les mêmes. L'industrialisa.tion ou la concurrence commerciale sont des objectifs étrangers à la; société monastique. L'économie de développement que poursuit la Communauté Européenne se différencie nettement de l'économie de subsistence qui anime la communauté athonite. Celle-ci recherche le maintien et la' conservation beaucoup plus que le développement. Conservation 4u patrimoine historique mis à l'épreuve du tempsmonastéres, monuments et manuscripts-, maintien des activités artisanales traditionnelles-iconographie, confection des vêtements sacerdotaux-, maintien enfin d'une autarcie économique que pourraient lui assurer certaines activités agricoles. Plusieurs notions servant de critères d'éligibilité aux sources financières communautaires, celle par exemple de chômeur pour le Fonds Social, lorsqu'il s'agit de financer des programmes de formation, professionnelle, perdraient de leur pertinence, si l'on devait les appliquer à tout prix aux besoins propres de la micro-économie athonite. En effet, la volonté politique d'infléchir la règle communautaire, afin de prendre en compte le particularisme de la presqu'île sacrée, ne devrait pas être entendue comme une concession motivée par le desintérêt, comme une décommunautarisation de cette région. Elle traduit, par contre, le respect de cette diversité qui fait la richesse de l'Europe et qui devrait être à ce titre préservée. L'Europe est mal comprise sous le sigle d'une harmonisation à tous vents. Il y a une diversification au sein même de l'Europe qui est preuve d'unité, d'histoire commune, d'origines communes, et qui ne peut être perçue comme telle que si on l'oppose à ce qui n'est pas européen. C'est alors que l'expérience de l'intégration européenne cesse de paraître seulement économique, qu'elle commence à révéler des structures

+ Athos Library n AyLOpELHK~ BL~ÀL09~Kr]

11\1'1'

·.,

~ ~~ '

Vulnerable physical manifestations of a spiritual tradition: The Dilemma in the Preservation of Mount Athos' Heritage of Manuscripts, Printed Books and Related Material Guy Petherbridge

,,

It is surely redundant to emphasize the importance, both to Christianity and scholarship-and not !east as a major component of the patrimony of the Greek and Balkan Orthodox peoples-of the spiritual world of the Mount Athos peninsula and its creations. Much has been written about its special !ife, its history and its function as a source of inspiration, solace and reflection. Images of its natural splendour, its unique buildings and its devotional works of art as represented by frescoes, carvings, icons, manuscripts and their miniature paintings now form part of the common pan-European visual vocabulary. However, large areas of material witness to his monastic culture in dire need of attention remain little known to the general education person. While since the Renaissance the existence of sorne 12,000 manuscript codices in the 20 major and myriad dependent libraries of the Holy Mountain has been a source of envy to Western European scholars, the importance of their holdings of more than 100,000 Greek, Balkan and Slavic printed books has been relatively overlooked until quite recently. The scale and variety of the precious Byzantine, post-Byzantine and later Greek archives are also only within the general cognisance of specialists. While these categories have all become the subject of systematic cataloguing and study to a grea ter or lesser degree, there ·remàin other significant groups of material which are very neglected. Among these are the large numbers of late 19th and early zoth century photographs and negatives scattered in libraries, monastic cells and storerooms (occupied and abandoned). While predominantly records of formai official occasions

+ Athos Library n AyLOpELTLK~ Bl~ÀL08~KJ']

126

Guy Petherbridge

and portraits, they also include important information about architecture, its usage and daily life and its accessories. Many archives also house hand-drawn maps, often of surprisingly minute and vivid detail, of monastery properties, both within and outside the boundaries of Mount · Athos. Besides their importance for the history of indigenous Greek cartography, they provide rouch data about agricultural and forestry practices, land usage, economie matters, toponymy, etc. Another neglected group of artifacts of major significance for the history of art and popular religious customs in Mount Athos, Greece and the Orthodox Balkans, Asia Minor and the eastern Mediterranean generally are the. marvellous woodcuts and engravings (often brightly inpainted) of monasteries, their patron saints and major feasts and ceremonies. These were produced in Mount Athos and Slavic workshops and also were occasionally printed in European centres such as Vienna. Often printed' on unsubstantial paper, the prints were pious gifts of souvenirs of pilgrimage which were tacked on walls or pasted to wooden panels as a cl;leap popular substitute for the traditional icon. Once produced in :substantial numbers, their ephemeral nature and vulnerability to the depredations of insects, microbiological attack and moisture has r~sulted in their becoming quite a rarity, except in a few monasteries of the Holy Mountain (a number of the original metal plates and woodblocks also survive). While all the above would be considered without question as part of the Greek heritage, there are other records which have received insufficient attention until recently because of unwelcome historical associations or plain ethnocentricity. There are substantial numbers of Turkish Serbian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Russian, Georgian, Venetian and Lati~ documents in the Greek archives and libraries of the peninsula which merit equality of consideration. . Of course, Mount Ath~s for many centuries has not been exclusively a provmce of Greek culture. Smce the middle ages the Serbian monastery of Chilandari has been a major Orthodox monastic community with an outstanding library and archive. Other Slavic foundations have flourished culminating in the Russian expansion in the second half of last cen~ry ~.d t~e e.arly fears of the present, leaving physical testimony to theu achvlty m hbranes such as that of Aghios Panteleimonos and the dependent Russian sketes and hermitages of Greek monasteries. Together all these works on paper, parchment and related materials encompass over a thousand years of history, devotion and creative activity. They constitute the largest surviving accumulation of Orthodoxy's heritage in a single locality and must be considered one of Europe's principal zones of special historical and cultural importance.

Vulnerable physical manifestations of a spiritual tradition

127

Nevertheless, these holdings, of inestimable value from any point of view, continue in imminent peril to mould and decay with no specifie comprehensive programme or funding for their preservation of conservation. As early as Saint Pachomius, model of the eremetic discipline, we have recommendations that the physical care of holy texts be considered a monkly responsibility. During earlier historical periods preceding the domination of mechanical mass production techniques in the last 150 years, when manuscript production was a common occupation in monastic centres such as those of Athos, the care, repair and rebinding of books was an accepted functîon of maintaining precious aids for use in the liturgy, education and private devotion. Archives were protected to the extent that they were quarantors of the historical prestige, eccles~astical legitimacy, property and other rights owed or granted the commun1ty concemed. Preservation of holy and treasured texts from the aspect of security has, during most periods of Mount Athos' history, been a na~ral responsibility of monastic communities and this concern is reflected m more a?gressive times in the protective placing of books and document~ m strongholds, such as the fortified towers so much. a part of ~e archlt~c­ tural mass and silhouette of Mount Athos monastenes. Protection from flre has been less well foreseen. In the buildings of the Holy Mountain, where wood plays such an important role in construction to the prese~t day, fire has frequently ravaged monastic libraries, not to ment10~ whole complexes. In periods of social and economie pressure and the decline of the monastic communities, reverence for the message of sacred texts notwithstanding, ignorance, indifference or the lack of adequate personnel to care for libraries and archives has also contributed to their decay and sometimes to their destruction. Human-related factors aside, the climate of the region can be very severe with substantial diurnal. and se~sonal changes. High Relative Humidity levels (both in the au and m the surrounding walls) present a major problem in most libraries-one of the most obvious phenomena being fungal outbreaks in both parchment and paper promoted during high summer temperatures. . With the renewed interest in the cataloguing, study and collectiOn of Greek manuscripts and archivai records in the 19th and 2oth centuries, there developed an increased consciousness of both their scholarly and commercial value. Certain monasteries over the past century have made well-intentioned efforts to rehouse their holdings in ordered, protected rooms or special buildings, e.g., the libraries of Iviror:, La~ra, Chilandari and Simonos Petras, but unfortunately visual and taxmom1cal arder d~es not necessarily solve the problems of climate and pollution control wh1ch

n AyLOpElllK~ Bl~ÀL08~Kil +

Athos Library

128

Guy Petherbridge

come within the province of the modem discipline of conservation science and museology. However, with the revitalisation of sorne of the brotherhoods, such as those of Stavronikita, Philotheou and Simonos Petras, in the past decade or so by monks with a background of tertiary academie achievement in the sciences and humanities, concern, at least from a small section of the Mount Athos community, is increasingly being expressed about the state of preservation of library and archive materials and religious graphies. Work has begun on the conservation of sorne important buildings, on their wall paintings and painted icons and woodwork and publications emanating from Mount Athos itself have begun to appear recording the art treasures of individual monasteries. But in the field of the conservation of books and archives and related material, which constitute numerically by far the largest proportion of the Holy Mountain's heritage and a very substantial proportion of Greek manuscripts and early printings extant in the world, almost nothing has been done in the sense of a systematic, allembracing progfamme. AU one can really cite are the efforts to assure preservation frqm theft and illegal export from the peninsula; the provision of fire. extinguishing systems in sorne monasteries and mobile fire-fighting units; the brief programme carried out over a decade ago at Chilandari by a team from Dumbarton Oaks (the Byzantine stuçl.ies centre of Harvard University); the recently initiated but isolated project to attempt an economical solution to the difficult problem of the preservation boxing of manuscript codices by the Archaeological Service under the aegis of the recently formed Centre for the Preservation of Mount Athos' Heritage (Kb.AK); consultancies by Guy Petherbridge of the Institute of Paper Conservation, specialist in Greek manuscript conservation, over the last ten years (laterly under the aegis of the Mount Athos community of Simonos Petras); and limited efforts to provide a minimal introduction to library science to a small group of monastic librarians by the National library of Greece. How can an effective solution be engineered to cope with the massive preservation and conservation problem of 20 autonomous libraries and many dependent holdings scattered in ancient buildings in a difficult terrain with minimal communications and modern services-and which respects the character of the communities which are their creator, user, proprietor and guardian? By nature, an isolated eremitic community such as Mount Athos will be c.onservative .and resistru:t to change and the intervision of concepts ~ore1gn to the _Pr~ary pursm~ and goal of monastic existence, particularly m ~ealms wh1ch It feels are Its own-in this case the custody of textes wh1ch represent its past or are basic to its devotional and educational practices. These texts will tend to be treasured more for their message than

Vulnerable physical manifestations of a spiritual tradition

129

their form. A monastic community intent on its own spiritual welfare and material sustenance may understandably not wish to devote agonising preoccupation to conservation problems and may not welcome the intrusion of foreign elements who wish to usurp ·their rights to decision-making or control over their holdings. There are positive and negative sides to this intrinsic conservatism depending on the point of view of the individuals or institutions concerned-with resulting past and potential conflict and distrust between individual Mount Athos communities, central monastic government and Greek state agencies. Much effort and understanding need to be exercised to negotiate these problems. To have a meaningful effect on the future preservation and conservation of Mount Athos library and archive holdings in their entirety, programmes must not be applied piecemeal. A total long-term strategy

with a secure political commitment and massive funding must be evolved and adhered to. Every effort should be made to make it understood to leaders and the body politic that the conservation problems of Mount Athos as a whole are as immense and their solution as urgent as those, for example, of the Aswan Dam archeological rescue project, the conservation of the massive temple of Borobudur in Java and the yet unexecuted salvation programme for Venice. It is both a national and international cultural duty. There must be a sympathetic and respectful effort to provide educational information to the Mount Athos population, orientating the fathers regarding the problems and possible solutions in the context of their own as weil as wider interests, before an understanding can be reached. PRESERVATION, the care of collections in correct storage, environmental and handling conditions, must be accorded the same priority as CONSERVATION, which implies varying degrees of physical and chemical intervention in an object. For example, it would be illogical to carefully spend time and financial resources repairing a manuscript damaged by age, use and an unfavourable climate only to return it to the same unfavourable environment and uninformed handling practices. Suitable housing must be provided within each major monastic complex (this applies also to other holdings, e.g., textiles, paintings, etc.) and this must be considered an integral and indispensable part of the conservation effort (one would not like to see funding for a new library building of suitable traditional features denied by a state agency because the latter's responsibility was narrowly interpreted as being restricted to 'restoration' or 'reconstruction'- as has been reported recently). A peninsula-wide electrical grid would greatly facilitate the provision of controlled climatic storage, exhibition and access areas, but given the particular problems of both traditional architectural forms and the longstanding unwillingness of the majority of Mount Athos inhabitants

n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~l\lo8~Kr] +

Athos Library

rn·

lf ]f

130

Guy Petherbridge

to allow the introduction of modern system which would disrupt their traditional patterns of life and their external environment, this is unlikely for sorne time (Electricity is available in the vicinity of Karyes and Simonos Petras has its own water-generated supply). Consequently, very · innovative systems need to be designed to provide 'encapsulated' areas with special energy facilities. As weil as providing climatically controlled environments, libraries, archives and treasuries (manuscript codices, such as copies of the Gospels bound in precious materials, and liturgical rolls are sometimes housed in the church treasuries) must be adequately protected from fire and flooding with appropriate detection and warning systems. Extinguishing systems must be compatible with the materials used in the make-up of books, documents and other historical and artistic works. If new storage facilities are constructed the likelihood of earthquake effects must be takeri into account. Of major importance-and something that should be instituted immediately-is the organisation of a disaster preparedness programme so that expert relief and salvage teams can arrive as quickly and work as efficiently as possible. While preservation alone presents an enormous (but certainly not insurmountable~ problem, it is an essential priority that steps be taken in this direction to halt the present rate and conditions of degradation, thus providing a holding situation until necessary conservation treatments can be undertaken. Besides proving secure environments, a preservation system would include a preservation box-making and artifact enclosure programme correctly designed to suit the often unique characteristics of Greek materials. Equally formidable a task is the provision of conservation facilities to service the thousands of artifacts requiring more than just protection. A symptom of the increasing awareness of preservation and conservation realities which indicates that we may be entering a new phase in the protection of Mount Athos 'heritage is the recent establishment of the Centre for the Preservation of Mount Athos' Heritage. Though this may appear a time for optimism we must proceed extremely cautiously and learn from the experience of other large scale conservation projects and institutions in other countries. So often enthusiasm has caused the entry of conservators and techniques not fully adapted to the particular needs of unique historical artifacts with resulting destruction of subtle material and structural evidence in the guise of conservation or restoration. Greek manuscript codices in particular possess very unique features with Mount Athos providing us with the greatest number of untouched examples and it would be a cultural crime of an irreversible nature if non-specialist treatment unwittingly destroyed such codicological features.

Vulnerable physical manifestations of a spiritual tradition

131

Not only should we be cautions about actual preservation and conservation treatments but about the effects of parallel innovations into the traditional life of Mount Athos. There is, for example, the threat posed the libraries and archives by the recent trend towards the installation of wood-fired central steam heating systems in monastery complexes. While these undoubtedly make life more comfortable and release monks from drudgery, allowing them more time to dedicate to their spiritual salvation and while they do dirninish the fire risk previously presented by the myriad of wood stoves and rickety chimneys, it must be understood that what is a good environment for the human may not be at ali so for books, documents and art on paper. Infinite experience in Western European and North American librades and archive repositories has demonstrated to many a collection's loss that heating pipes can and do fracture or burst and cause grievous flooding. On Mount Athos the raising of interior temperatures in the winter season of high humidities can be expected to encourage the congregation of insects in the warm areas adjacent to radiators. With the wealth of organic foodstuffs, such as leather, parchment, paper, sizes, cloth, wood, etc, so close at hand insect and microbiological infestation is likely to occur. Conversely, when interior heating is high and ambient Relative Humidity is low the danger is ever present of books drying out accompanied by tremendous stresses on their materials and structures leading to the splitting and breakdown of bookblocks, wooden boards and covering materials. Fire extinguishing installations of the wrong kind can also destroy the materials and structures of books, documents and other graphie materials in the process of 'saving' them. Thus dry chemical, foam and water extinguishing agents must be avoided in favour of the consideration of carbon dioxide or halogenated systems. Air conditioning systems not engineered for the specifie needs of the museum and library can also cause havoc. Unsupervised microfilming and facsimile-making of much-soughtafter manuscripts can also be disastrous if the materials are not manipulated with extreme care and otherwise respected. Microfilming has often been proposed as a preservation measure as it reduces the frequency of direct access to vunerable works. Unfortunately, the advantages hardly outweigh the potential disadvantages if an unviolate, archivally processed master copy is not made and securely stored. Microfilms do not last very long if improperly housed, frequently used and badly stored. This means a refilming of the artifact again with a repeat of the original risks. It is thus essential that ali elements of a conservation programme for the libraries, archives and treasuries of Mount Athos be minutely researched, planned, executed and maintained with full consultation and

n AyLOpELHK~ Bl~Àlo8~Kil +

Athos Library

132

Guy Petherbridge

collaboration with expert conservation and museological personnel in all ancillary areas where conservation interests might be jeopardised. But will we ever have such a conservation programme at all? The problems are certainly there and are only going to get worse. New factors little operative at the present can be expected to grow in severity. For example, as the Greek population grows and it and surrounding countries become more industrialised aerial pollution will become an increasing danger to the holdings of the Holy Mountain as they have clone elsewhere. The temptation, of course, to those with a political stake in the allocation of funding is to concentrate on the more dramatically and visually evident architectural decay of Mount Athos and thus placate public opinion. We will, however, certainly be condemned by future generations if we neglect to conscientiously address a problem for which we now have a solution and of which friends and inhabitants of Mount Athos have been long aware to varying degrees. A courageous and responsible decision must be made at high levels of national and international leadership to procure funds internally: or externally to ensure realistic and secure support for a venture which must continue indefinitely into the future. The preset;tt writer, as scientific advisor to the Ministry of Research and Technologyi Hellenic Republic, is currently preparing extensive recommendations in these respects, in the context of a national strategy for the conservation of libraries and archives and the training of personnel, which should be transmitted for consideration by the appropriate government and intergovernmental organisations such as the European Economie Community.

La peinture byzantine au Mont-Athos Panayotis L. Vocotopoulos Le Mont-Athos n'est pas seulement un haut lieu du monasticisme orthodoxe; c'est aussi un vrai musée de l'art byzantin et postbyzantin. Nous nous efforcerons de présenter dans ce bref exposé un aperçu de la peinture monumentale - mosaïques et fresques -, des icones et des manuscrits enluminés datés de la période byzantine et conservés sur la Sainte • Montagne 1•

1 Abbréviations utilisées: Chilandar=D. Bogdanovié, V. Djurié, D. Medakovié, Chilandar, Belgrade, 1978.

Djurié, "Fresques" =V. Djurié, "Fresques médiévales à Chilandar", in: Actes du XIIe Congrès International d'Etudes Byzantines, III, Belgrade, 1964, p. 59-98. Djurié, "Peinture" =V. Djurié, "La peinture de Chilandar à l'époque du roi Milutin", in: Hilandarski Zbornik, 4, 1978, p. 31-61. L1XAE=&J..r:iov r:fiç X(?tanavtxiiç :4-exawJ..oytxfiç ·Er:at(?Eiaç.

Millet, Athos = G. Millet, Monuments de l'Athos, I. Les peintures, Paris, 1927.

Monchsland Athos=F. Dôlger, E. Weigand, A. Deindl, Monchsland Athos, Munich, 1943. Treasures I, II=S. Pélékanidis, P. Christou, Ch. Tsioumi, S. Kadas, The Treasures of Mount Athos. Illuminated Manuscripts, I-II, Athènes, 1974-1975. Thesauroi III=S. Pélékanidis, P. Christou, Ch. Mavropoulou-Tsioumi, S. Kadas, A. Katsarou, Qi enaav(?oi r:ov ·A yiov ~O(?OVÇ. Elxovoyeacpnf.léva XEt(?6YQacpa, III, Athènes, 1979. Thesauroi IV=P. Christau, Ch. Mavropoulou-Tsioumi, S. Kadas, A. Kalamartzi-Katsarou, Ol enaaV(?Oi r:ov •Ayiov ~OQPVÇ. Elxovoy(lacpnf..léVa XEtf?6y(?acpa, IV, Athènes, 1991. Weitzmann, Bibliotheken=K. Weitzmann, Aus den Bibliotheken des Athos, Hambourg, 1963. Xyngopoulos, "Mosaïques et fresques" = A. Xyngopoulos, "Mosaïques et fresques de l'Athos", in: Le millénaire du Mont Athos 963-1963, II, Venise, 1964, p. 247-262.

+ Athos Library n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~ÀL09~Ktl

134

La peinture byzantine au Mont-Athos

Panayotis L. Vocotopoulos

1. Peinture monumentale Les plus anciens vestiges de peinture monumentale conservés au Mont-Athos sont les mosaïques du catholicon - l'église principale - du monastère de Vatopédi2 . L'Annonciation à la Vierge debout, qui figure sur les murs séparant le chœur de la prothésis et du diaconicon, présente certaines affinités avec les mosaïques de la Néa Moni de Chios et date du milieu ou du troisième quart du lle siècle. Sur le tympan de la porte conduisant de l'exonarthex à l'esonarthex figurent la Vierge et saint JeanBaptiste intercédant auprès du Christ en trône. Cette mosaïque, qui date de la fin du lle siècle3, appartient au même courant anticlassique que les ensembles plus anciens de quelques décennies du monastère de Saint-Luc près de Delphes et de Sainte-Sophie de Kiev. Les contours sont accentués, le volume est à; peine indiqué, le drapé est schématisé. Les yeux grands ouverts qui reflètent une vie intérieure intense sont typiques de ce style, qui a été caractérisé à tort d'oriental et de monastique. De part et d'autre de la porte conduisan~ à l'esonarthex est figurée une deuxième Annonciation, avec la Vierge a~sise, qui date de la fin du 13e siècle4. Elle est exécutée dans un style be~ucoup plus libre, où le sens plastique l'emporte sur la ligne (fig. 1-2). Au dessus de l'entrée à la chapelle de Saint-Nicolas est représenté ce saint en buste, mal conservé, qui daterait du 13e ou du 14e siècle. Les mosaïques pariétales de Vatopédi sont les seules conservées au Mont-Athoss. On estime que les fresques décorant les églises et les réfectoires de la Sainte Montagne couvrent une surface d'environ 100.000 mètres carrés. La grosse majorité date de la période postbyzantine. Les fresques antérieures à la prise de Constantinople par les Turcs sont pourtant assez nombreuses et certains ensembles, comme celui du Protaton, comptent parmi les chefsd'œuvre de la peinture byzantine. Les plus anciennes fresques conservées sur la Sainte Montagne sont probablement deux fragments provenant vraisemblablement de la

2 Millet, Athos , pl. 1, 2, 4.1, 81.2. Monchsland Athos, p. 124-125. Xyngopoulos, "Mosaïques et fresques", p. 248-250. 3 Une inscription autour de la Déisis mentionne un higoumène du nom de Ioannikios, qui est attesté à cette époque. 4 Millet, Athos, pl. 3, 4-2-3· Monchsland Athos, p. 120-123. Xyngopoulos, "Mosaïques et fresques", p. 250. 5 Les icones en mosaïque du monastère de Xénophon étaient peut-être à l'origine des mosaïques murales. Voir infra, p. 139.

135

décoration du réfectoire de Vatopédi, qui date de 1197-986 • Les apôtres Pierre et Paul en pied et une croix fleuronnée, conservés au kellion de Ravdouchou, dateraient des environs de 12007 (fig. 3). Les fragments de Vatopédi et de Ravdouchou, à la stylisation linéaire très poussée et au modelé vigoureux, présentent des affinités frappantes avec des œuvres de la fin du 12e siècle, comme les fresques de l'Ermitage de Saint Néophyte à Chypre, de 1196, ou celles d'Arkafi et de Neredica en Russie, également de la fin du 12e siècle. La chapelle de la Transfiguration, aux environs du monastère de Hilandar, fut décorée vers 1260 par un artiste de valeur au style plastique et expressif, qui modèle les visages avec des tonalités roses et vert amandes. Seule une partie du décor de l'abside subsiste, où étaient représentés la Sainte Vierge, flanquée de deux anges, qui tient un médaillon avec l'effigie du Christ et, en dessous, des pères de l'église en position frontale. Les peintures de la chapelle de la tour de Saint Georges à Hilandar, de qualité inférieure, mais extrêmement intéressantes du point de vue iconographique - elles illustrent entre autres le canon aux agonisants - sont attribuables à la même époque9. Une fresque détachée, avec la Vierge à l'Enfant entre les archanges Michel et Gabriel, probablement de la seconde moitié du 13e siècle, est conservée à Vatopédi; son emplacement initial n'est pas connu 10. L'ensemble le plus important de l'Athos est sans doute le décor du Protaton - la cathédrale, peut-on dire, de la Sainte Montagne -, exécuté vers 1300, que des sources postérieures attribuent au peintre Manuel Pansélinos de Salonique11 . Cette attribution à un atelier de la capitale de

6 Millet, Athos, pl. 98. 1 . Sv. Radoj6é, "Die Meister der altserbischen Malerei vom Ende des XII. bis zur Mitte des XV. Jahrhunderts", in: llm~ay!J.ÉVa Toii B' ..1te8voiiç Bv~avnvoÀoytxoii Ivve6~iov, I, Athènes, 1955, p. 434, pl. 102.2. 7 Millet, Athos, pl. 97.2-4· 8 Djurié, "Fresques", p. 61--65, fig. 2-5. Chilandar, p. 60--61, fig. 38. 9 Djurié, "Fresques", p. 65-71, fig. 7-15. Chilandar, p. 62, fig. 40-42. 10 E. Tsigaridas, in: ~~xatoÀoytxàv ..1EÀTiov, 31, 1976, II. 2,p. 279-280, pl.

22243. 11 Millet, Athos, pl. 5-56. A. Xyngopoulos, Thessalonique et la peinture macédonienne, Athènes, 1955, p. 3, 5, 12, 22, 29-33, 41-44. Id., Manuel Pansélinos, · Athènes, 1956. P. Miljkovié-Pepek, Deloto na zografite Mihailo i Eutihij, Skopje, 1967, passim. M. Sotiriou, "'H !l
n

D. Mouriki, "Stylistic Trends in Monumental Painting of Greece at the Beginning

+ Athos Library n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~ÀL09~Ktl

i : 1'

136

Panayotis L. Vocotopoulos

la Macédoine est ,confirmée par la grande ressemblance de ces peintures à celles de la chapelle de Saint-Euthyme annexée à la basilique de SaintDémétrios de Salonique, qui sont datées par une inscription en 1303. Certains chercheurs ont voulu attribuer les fresques du Protaton aux peintres Michel Astrapas et Eutychios, originaires eux aussi de Salonique, qui ont travaillé surtout à Ohrid et aux environs de Skopje. Les décors qu'ils ont exécuté présentent des affinités avec les fresques du Protaton, mais celles-ci différent par leur coloris plus clair et lumineux et par leur qualité supérieure. Le décor s'étale sur quatre registres. Dans le premier et le quatrième des dizaines de saints en pied constituent une galerie impressionante ~ Parmi eux, les saints militaires et les jeunes martyrs ont des visages pleins de candeur, tandis que les prophètes et les ascètes âgés, au regard perçant et à l'air quelquefois maussade, reflétent une vie intérieure intense (fig. 6). Le troisième registre est occupé par des scènes de l'évangile peint~s l'une à la suite de l'autre, sans cadre intermédiaire (fig. 5). Les peintures du Protaton, au caractère monumental et aux couleurs claires et fraîches, sont un des principaux témoins du style "cubique" ou "volumineux" en yogue vers la fin du 13e siècle. Un fragment de fresque avec la tête d'un saint, probablement saint Nicolas, conserv~ à la Grande Lavra et provenant sans doute de la décoration plus ancienne de son catholicon, peut être attribué au même atelier 12 . Deux autres églises parmi les plus importantes de l'Athos - les catholica de Vatopédi et de Hilandar - ont été décorées vers la même époque mais repeintes presque totalement au début du 19e siècle. Les fresques de Vatopédi datent de 1312 13; celles du narthex sont presque exemptes de repeints. Il y manque l'intensité expressive des figures de Pansélinos. On y décèle une recherche de réalisme, surtout dans les visages presque vulgaires, au regard perçant. Le drapé est compliqué, avec des plis qui s'amoncellent d'une façon irrationnelle (fig. 4). Les couleurs claires et terreuses prédominent. A Hilandar sont représentés des saints isolés, un ample cycle christologique, des scènes de la vie de la Vierge, des visions des prophètes

of the Fourteenth Century'', in: L'art byzantin au début du XIVe siècle. Symposium de Gracanica, 1973, Belgrade, 1978, p. 64--65, fig. 14, 16. 12 A. Xyngop9ulos, "Nouveaux témoignages de l'activité des peintres macédoniens au Mont-Athos", in: Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 52, 1959, p. 62-64, pl. IX. 13 Millet, Athos, pL 81-94. E. Tsigaridas, in: 'Aexawloytxàv L1ekriov, 31, 1976, II. 2, p. 279-280, pl. 22213. D. Mouriki, op. cit., p. 66, fig. 18-19.

La peinture byzantine au Mont-Athos

137

et des scènes de la vie de différents saints 14 (fig. 7). Les visages sont ici pleins de grâce, le modelé, qu'on peut voir dans certains visages exem~ts de repeints, est mou, les couleurs préd~minantes sont le_ blet;- et le rouge v~. Cet ensemble, datable vers 1319, a éte sans doute execute par un ateher de Salonique. Les fresques du catholicon de Hilandar ont. été attri~uées ~ Georges Kalliergis, qui peignit en 1315 l'église du Chnst à Vena, ou a l'atelier qui décora vers la même époque Saint-Nicolas Orphanos à Salonique; cette attribution paraît la plus convaincante. Quelques restes du décor initial du réfectoire de Hilandar (trois scènes de la vie d'Abraham) et de l'église de son cimetière sont de la même époque mais de qualité inférieure~s (fig. 8). Les f~esques pre~_que ~etalement repeintes de l'église de Saint-Bas1le dans le fortin de HruslJa, dependance 16 de Hilandar, datent probablement du deuxième quart du 14e siècle . Le catholicon du monastère du Pantocrator, fondé en 1363, a été décoré à cette époque de fresques monumentales qui ont été malheureusement repeintes en 185417. Les chapelles des Saints-Anargyres à Vatopédi et des SaintsArchanges à Hilandar conservent des fresques de la même époque, elles aussi repeintes presque totalement 18. Celles des Saints-Anargyres ~nt ~té comparées aux fresques de l'église de Saint-Elie à Salonique et at:nbuees à un atelier de cette ville (fig. 9). Les fresques de la chapelle de Hilandar, sans force expressive, sont des œuvres médiocres. Des restes de fresques de l'époque paléologue tardive ont été récemment découverts dans une chapelle de l'ancien catholicon du monastère de Xénophon 19. Les fresques de la Vierge à l'Enfant décorant quatre tombes de Hilandar datent de la deuxième moitié du 14e et du début

14 Millet, Athos, pl. 59, 60.2-3 1 61-80. Djurié, "Fresques", p. 71-83, fig. 17-31. Idem, "Peinture", p. 31-41, fig. 1-10. Chilandar, p. 81-86, 92, fig. 53, 59-65. 15 Djurié, "Fresques", p. 88-92, fig. 66-69. Idem, "Peinture", p . 41-61, fig. 1133. Chilandar, p. 88-92, fig. 66-69. 16 Djurié, "Fresques", p. 83-86, fig. 37-38. 17 E. Tsigaridas, "TmxoyQacpi.EÇ xaL ELx6veç ti\Ç Movi\ç IlavtOXQéltOQOÇ 'Ayi.ov ~oQovç", in: MaxEoovtxa, 18, 1978, p. 186-191, pl. 5-10. 18 Sur la chapelle de Vatopédi voir V. Djurié, "Les fres~ues de la c~a~e.lle du despote Jovan Uglje!§a à Vatopédi et leur valeur ~our 1étude ~e 1 ongme thessalonicienne de la peinture de Resava", in: Zborntk Radova V:zantoloskog Instituta, 7, 1961, p. 125-136 (en serbe; résumé français p. 137-38); sur celle des Saints-Archanges à Hilandar cf. Djurié, "Fresques", p. 86-91, fig. 40-53. Chilandar, p. 106, 128, fig. 78. 19 Communication orale du Prof. E. Tsigaridas.

n AyLOpELnK~ BL~ÀL08~KJ1 +

Athos Library

Panayotis L. Vocotopoulos

138

du 15e siècle20. Un fragment représentant probablement saint Athanase l'Athonite, à la stylisation très poussée, conservé au monastère de SaintPaul, est le seul vestige de la décoration de l'ancien catholicon de ce monastère, construit en 1447 et démoli en 183921 . Des fresque.s du 15e siècle ont aussi été signalées dans la chapelle de la Dormition de la Vierge du monastère du Pantocrator22 . Une conque se trouvant sous le réfectoire de Dochiariou, qui appartenait sans doute à un réfectoire plus ancien, conserve la partie inférieure d'une série de figures en pied, datables de la période byzantine23. · En conclusion, on constate que pas une seule mosaïque ou fresque ne subsiste de la deuxième moitié du 10e siècle et du début du lle,l'époque de fondation des premiers grands monastères athonites: Lavra, Vatopédi et Iviron. Le siècle d'or de la peinture monumentale de l'Athos fut le 14e siècle, et surtout son premier quart. Les mosaïques et les fresques byzantines de la Sainte Mo~tagne ne sont pas l'œuvre d'ateliers locaux mais d'artistes appelés d'aille~rs, surtout de la ville voisine de Salonique, qui était un centre artistique de première importance pendant le 14e siècle. On constate d'ailleurs le même phénomène au 16e siècle, époque d'activité artistique intense au Mont-Athos, lorsque de nombreux catholica, comme ceux de Lavra, Koutloun\.ousi, Dionysiou, Stavronikita, Dochiariou, Iviron, furent décorés par des peintres crétois. Ce n'est qu'au 18e siècle que le Mont-Athos acquiert une école de peinture propre.

La peinture byzantine au Mont-Athos

139

importantes sont celles de la Grande Lavra et des monastères de Vatopédi, Hilandar et Pantocrator. Les icones conservées à la Sainte Montagne ne remontent guère au· delà du 12e siècle. Des textes anciens nous informent pourtant sur des donations et des inventaires d'icones du lle siècle25 . Un nombre très important d'icones anciennes a donc péri au cours des siècles. Signalons pour commencer que les monastères athonites possèdent un nombre important d'icones en mosaïque: neuf sur 45 exemplaires connus26 . Cinq d'entre elles appartiennent à la catégorie des icones-miniatures, de très petites dimensions (en moyenne 18xll cm.), formées de tessons dont les dimensions ne dépassent pas souvent celles d'une tête d'épingle. Elles datent toutes de la période paléologue. Le meilleur exemple est fourni par l'icone de saint Jean l'Evangéliste de la Grande Lavra, qui conserve aussi son cadre orné d'émaux27 (fig. ~0). Les icones de la Vierge à l'Enfant de Hilandar, de la fin du 12e siècle (57x38 cm.) et de saint Nicolas à Stavronikita, du début du 14e (42,5x34 cm.) font partie du groupe de dimensions moyennes (fig. 11). Celle de Hilandar a été peut-être offerte au monastère par saint Sava et saint Syméon Nemanja28 . Les icones des saints Georges et Démétrios en pied et tournés vers le Christ en buste, au monastère de Xénophon, encore plus grandes (1,25x0,60 m.), étaient peutêtre à l'origine des mosaïques pariétales. Elles datent du 12e siècle29 .

II. Icones Environ 20.000 icones sont conservées au Mont-Athos. Bien que la grosse majorité ne date que de la période postbyzantine et moderne, les icones datant avant 1453 forment un des plus imposants ensembles d'icones · byzantines dans le monde. Cet ensemble est mal connu. Peu nombreuses sont les icones qui ont été nettoyées et publiées de façon adéquate, et il n'existe pas de catalogue scientifique par monastère2 4 . Les collections les plus

20 Djurié, "Fresques", p. 91-98, fig. 56-60. Chilandar, p. 120, 130, fig. 97. 21 A. Xyngopoulos, article cité note 12, p. 64-67, pl. XI.1. 22 E. Tsigaridas, op. cit. (note 17), p. 184, pl. 4. 23 Pl. Théocharidis, J. Tavlakis, nvEQE1JVEÇ ati}v :rtaÀLà 'tQU:rtE~a tfiç M. ô.OXELaQL01! 'Aytou VOgovç", in: X{}UJrtavtxiJ 'A{}XatoÀoytxiJ 'Er:at{}eia . .1eVTE{}O 2vtm6ato Bv~avnvfiç xai Merafjv~avnviiç à{}Xato.A.oyiaç xai réxVTJç. IIQ6yQapp.a xai 1rEQtÀiiV'etç àvaxotvwaewv, Athènes, 1982, p. 29.

24 Un choix des meilleures icones du monastère de Stavronikita a été publié, mais elles sont, à une exception près, postbyzantines: Ch. Patrinelis, A.

Karakatsani, M. Théochari, MoviJ 2TaV(}OVtxnra, Athènes, 1974 (publié aussi en anglais). 25 Voir M. Chatzidakis, "XgovoÀOYTJf!ÉVTl ()v~avn vi} Ei.x6va ati} Movn MEytatnç Aavgaç", in: Bv~avnov. 'Aq;té{}Wf.W aràv 'AVDQéa N. 2r{}aro, 1, Athènes, 1986, p. 225-226. 26 I. Furlan, Le icone bizantine a mosaico, Milan, 1979, Nos 7, 18, 24, 25, 27, 35, 36. Furlan n'inclut pas les icones du monastère de Xénophon (voir ci-dessous). Une dixième icone, représentant saint Jean Chrysostome, jadis à Vatopédi, fait maintenant partie de la collection de Dumbarton Oaks: O. Demus, "Two Palaeologan Mosaic leons in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection", in: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 14, 1960, p. 110-119. 27 M. Chatzidakis, "Une icône en mosaïque de Lavra", in: Jahrbuch der Osterreichischen Byzantinistik, 21, 1972, p. 73-81. 28 V. Djurié, "Icone en mosaïque de la Vierge Hodigitria du monastère de Chilandari", in Zograf, 1, 1966, p. 16-20 (en serbe, avec résumé français p. 47). Sur l'icone de Stavronikita cf. Ch. Patrinelis et al., op. cit. (note 24), p. 138-140. 29 S. Bettini, "Appunti per lo studio dei mosaici portatili bizantini", in: Felix Ravenna, 46, 1938, p. 37, fig. 17-19. Xyngopoulos, "Mosaïques et fresques", p. 250.

n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~l\lo8~Kr] +

Athos Library

140

La peinture byzantine au Mont-Athos

Panayotis L. Vocotopoulos

Les icones athonites datables au 12e siècle sont peu nombreuses. Elles se trouvent à la l.avra (Cinq martyrs de Sébaste, saint Pantéléimon) et au Protaton (saint Pierre)30 (fig. 12). Les monastères de la Grande Lavra et de Vatopédi possèdent les plus anciennes icones d'architrave de templon connues en dehors du Sinaï31. Celle de Vatopédi comportait à l'origine cinq pièces et représentait sous des arcs en relief la Grande Déisis et des scènes de la vie de la Vierge et du Christ. Quatre scènes seulement subsistent du dodécaorton de Lavra, dont deux appartiennent à l'Ermitage de Leningrad. Ces deux exemples datent du début du 13e siècle. Deux icones provenant d'un autre dodécaorton de Lavra, du 12e siècle, ne se trouvent plus à l'Athos. Parmi les séries d'icones de la Grande Déisis comprenant les douze apôtres (les "apostolika"), la plus connue est celle de Hilandar, datant du troisième_quart du 14e·siècie32 (fig. 13). C'est du 14e siècle également que datent de belles portes d'iconostase rept;ésentant l'Annonciation, conservées à la Grande Lavra33. Les icone11 du 13e siècle et de la période des Paléologues sont nombreuses. La majorité représente le Christ, la Vierge et des saints isolés. Les icones de la sainte Vierge sont particulièrement nombreuses, et plusieurs, considérées souvent comme miraculeuses, ont différentes épithètes. QuelquE?s-unes de ces icones sont processionnelles, peintes sur les deux faces3 4. Parmi les icones comportant des scènes, il y en a qui ont des sujets fort rares, comme une grande icone de très haute qualité de la Grande

30 M. Chatzidakis, article cité note 25, p. 226-240. Idem in: K. Weitzmann et al., Frühe Ikonen, Vienne-Munich, 1965, p. xxiv, 41, 42. 31 M. Chatzidakis, "Ei.x6veç È3tLotuÀLou èm:6 t6 "Aytov YÜQOÇ", in: L1XAE, pér. IV, 4, 1964-1965, p. 377-400, pl. 77-91 (résumé français p. 401-403). Idem, "L'évolution de l'icone aux 11e-13e siècles et la transformation du templon", in: Actes du XVe Congrès International d'Etudes Byzantines, I, Athènes, 1979, p. 343347, pl. XXXVIII-XL. . 32 V. Djurié, "Über den Cin von Chilandar", in: Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 53, 1960, p. 333-351. . 33 M. Chatzidakis, "L'icône byzantine", in: Saggi e memorie di storia dell'arte, 2, 1959, p. 32-33, fig. 21. 34 Pour ne citer qu'un seul monastère, il existe à Hilandar des icones de la Vierge Eleousa, Popska (avec la Présentation de la Vierge au temple au revers), Avramiotissa (avec, au revers, saint Elie), TQLXEQO"ÜOa (avec saint Nicolas au revers) et Kosinitsa (avec, au revers, la Crucifixion); voir Chilandar, p. 86, 108, 110112, 120, fig. 71, 88, 92, 93, 95. Sur les icones bilatérales voir D. Pallas, Passion und Bestattung Christi in Byzanz, Munich, 1965, p. 308-332.

141

Lavra, où sont représentées les trois inventions de la tête de saint JeanBaptiste35 (fig. 14). Notons pour terminer qu'une douzaine d'icones (y compris quelques mosaïques portatives) ont des revêtements en argent qui couvrent le fond et le cadre ou le cadre seuP6 (fig. 10, 17).

III. Miniatures Les bibliothèques des monastères athonites possèdent plus de 12.000 manuscrits grecs, dont 800 environ sont décorés de miniatures. Plusieurs manuscrits furent copiés au Mont-Athos; il n'est pas certain qu'ils y étaient aussi enluminés, au moins avant le 14e siècle. Les collections les plus importantes de manuscrits enluminés se trouvent aux monastères de Lavra, de Vatopédi, d'Iviron et de Dionysiou. Plusieurs manuscrits illustrés furent volés ou vendus au cours des siècles et se trouvent aujourd'hui dans des bibliothèques de l'Union Soviétique, de l'Europe Occidentale et des Etats Unis, comme le psautier Chludov (Moscou, Musée Historique, gr. 129)37, le psautier et Nouveau Testament Pantocrator 49 (Washington, Dumbarton Oaks, gr. 3)38 et le tétraévangile Dionysiou 8 (Malibu, Paul Getty Museum)39. Les manuscrits enluminés de la skite de Saint-André, achetés dans l'entre deux guerres par le collectionneur américain Garrett, ont été légués par lui à la Bibliothèque de l'Université de Princeton40 . Le plus important est le tétraévangile Garrett 6, dont les miniatures datent de la seconde moitié du 9e siècle. La quasi-totalité des manuscrits enluminés du Mont-Athos est de sujet religieux. Les plus nombreux sont les évangiles. Chaque évangile est d'habitude orné au commencement d'un portrait de l'évangéliste, soit en pleine page, soit, plus rarement, dans un en-tête. Les évangélistes sont presque toujours représentés assis. Parmi les exceptions, où ils sont peints en

35 M. Chatzidakis, "Une icône avec les trois inventions de la tête du Prodrome à Lavra", in: Cahiers Archéologiques, 36, 1988, p. 85-97. 36 A. Grabar, Les revêtements en or et en argent des icones byzantines du Moyen Age, Venise, 1975, Nos 21-23,25-27,32,33,38-40. 37 M. Scepkina, Miniatjury Hludovskoj psaltyri, Moscou, 1977. 38 S. Der Nersessian, "A Psalter and New Testament Manuscript at Dumbarton Oaks", in: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 19, 1965, p. 153-183. 39 R. S. Nelson, "Tli.eoktistos and Associates in Twelfth-Century Constantinople: An Illustrated New Testament of A.D. 1133", in: J. Paul Getty Museum Journal, 15, 1987, p. 53-78. 40 Byzantium at Princeton, Princeton, 1986, Nos 168-170, 175, 177-180.

+ Athos n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~l\lo8~Kr] Library

142

Panayotis L. Vocotopoulos

pied, citons le ~étraévangile Iviron 247, du 9e-10e siècle41. Dans les lectionnaires les quatre évangélistes sont parfois réunis sur une seule miniature, comme dans le cod. Dionysiou 13, de la fin du 14e siècle, où ils occupent les coins du frontispice, tandis que le centre est orné de la Descente aux Limbes42. Peu sont les évangiles illustrés de scènes évangéliques. Le plus important parmi eux est le lectionnaire Dionysiou 587, daté d 'habitude de 1059 et attribuable au scriptorium impérial43. Il contient 75 miniatures, étalées aux marges, entre les colonnes ou intercalées dans le texte. Le manuscrit contient en outre un frontispice avec l'évangéliste Jean en pleine page dictant à son disciple Prochore, et de délicates initiales illustrées de scènes évangéliques ou de figures isolées (fig. 15). Le célèbre lectionnaire du Trésor de la Grande Lavra, daté probablement du lle siècle, bien que selon la tradition il s'agisse d'un don de l'empereur Nicéphore Phocas, ne contient que trois scènes en pleine page, mais est orné en plus d'exquis entêtes rappelant des émaux cloisonnés44 (fig. 16). Le lectionnaire Iviron 1, du milieu du lle siècle, contient six miniatures 45, tandis que selui No 2 du monastère de Saint~Pantéléimon est orné de 17 miniatures en pleine page qui, excepté la première, occupent le recto et le verso du même folio46. Le tétraévangile Iviron:5, un des plus beaux manuscrits du Mont-Athos, est le chef de file d 'un important groupe de manuscrits enluminés s'échelonnant entre le deuxième quart du 13e siècle et le début du 14e47. Ecrit et décoré sans doute à Constantinople, il contient, outre les portraits en pleine page des évangélistes et les en-tête, 32 scènes évangéliques intercalées dans le texte. Notons en outre les tétraévangiles A76 de Lavra, du 14e siècle, orné

41 Treasures, II, p. 331, fig. 168-171. 42 Treasures, 1, p. 399, fig. 38. 43 Treasures, 1, p. 434-446, fig. 189-277. La date proposée par K. Weitzmann, "An Imperial Lectionary in the Monastery of Dionysiou on Mount Athos. Its Origin and Its Wanderings", in: Revue des Etudes Sud-Est Européennes, 7, 1969, p. 239-253, a été mise en doute par Ch. Walter, "The Date and Content of the Dionysiou Lectionary", in: L1XAE, pér. IV, 13, 1985-1986, p. 181-189, qui préfère la fin du lle siècle. 44 K. Weitzmann, "Das Evangelium im Skevophylakion zu Lawra", in: Seminarium Kondakovianum, 8, 1936, p. 83-98, pl. II-IV. Thesauroi, III, p. 217-219, fig. 1-8. 45 Treasures, II, p. 293-295, fig. 1-6. 46 Treasures, II, p . 347-351, fig. 272-295. 47 Treasures, II, p. 296-303, fig. 11-40.

La peinture byzantine au Mont-Athos

143

de gouaches sans encadrement48 , et 937 de Vatopédi, du 14e siècle également, avec douze miniatures en pleine page, dont neuf précédent le texte de Matthieu, tandis que les autres trois sont placées avant les évangiles de Luc et de Jean49. · Les Actes et les Lettres des apôtres sont parfois ornés des portraits de leurs auteurs, comme dans le cod. Pantocrator 234, du 12e siècle, où Luc et les auteurs les Lettres figurent au début des textes correspondants 50 (fig. 18). L'Ancien Testament était trop long pour pouvoir être contenu dans un seul codex. Ses livres qui furent illustrés le plus fréquemment furent, à part le psautier, l'Octateuque et le Livre de Job. Les miniatures de l'octateuque Vatopédi 602, du 13e siècle, sont inspirées du même modèle que celles du Vat. gr. 746, du 12e siècleS!. L'iconographie du Livre de Job ne présente pas d'importantes variantes. Dans la plupart des miniatures Job est représenté en train de discuter, comme dans le Vatopédi 590 (olim 503), du 12e siècle, et le Lavra B100, du 13e52. Le psautier n'était pas utilisé seulement pendant les services; c'était en même temps une des lectures préférées des byzantins. Le texte était d'habitude suivi de neuf odes, tirées de l'Ancien et du Nouveau Testament. On distingue deux groupes de psautiers enluminés: ceux à miniatures en pleine page ou intercalées dans le texte et ceux où les miniatures, sans cadre, sont peintes sur la marge. Dans le monastère du Pantocrator est conservé un des plus importants psautiers à illustration marginale: le cod. 61, écrit et décoré à Constantinople au 9e siècle. Apparenté au psautier Chludov, provenant du même monastère, et au Par. gr. 20, le Pantocrator 61 contient une centaine de miniatures aux couleurs claires et aux contours accentués, remarquables pour leurs détails réalistes et pour leurs tendances iconophiles très marquées53 (fig. 25). Des 58 psautiers appartenant au

48 K. Weitzmann, "A Fourteenth-Century Greek Gospel Book with Washdrawings", in: Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 62, 1963, p. 91-108. Thesauroi, III, p. 230-231, fig. 43-45. 49 Tlzesauroi, IV, p. 304-308, fig. 249-267. 50 Thesauroi, III, p. 283-286, fig. 245-251. 51 P. Huber, Bild and Botschaft, Zurich-Fribourg, 1973, p. 33-108. J. Lowden, "The Production of the Vatopedi Octateuch", in: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 36, 1982, p. 115-126. Thesauroi, IV, p. 253-286,fig. 47-187. 52 Monchsland Athos, p. 184-185. Thesauroi, III, p . 242-246, fig. 81-104; IV, p. 249-253, fig. 29-46. 53 S. Dufrenne; L'illustration des psautiers grecs du Moyen Age, 1, Paris, 1966, p. 13-37, pl. 1-33. Thesauroi, III, p. 265-280, fig. 180-237.

+ Athos Library n AyLOpéLTLK~ BL~ÀL08~Kr]

rr

144

Panayotis L. Vocotopoulos

premier groupe, dit "aristocratique", treize se trouvent dans des bibliothèques athonites 54 . Le texte de la divine liturgie - qui était écrit à Byzance sur des rouleaux et non pas dans des livres - était rarement enluminé. Le rouleau 105 de Dionysiou, du 13e siècle, est orné d'un en-tête représentant saint Basile sous un ciborium, et de nombreuses initiales zoomorphes55 (fig. 19). Le rouleau No 2 de la Grande Lavra, du 14e siècle, contient, outre les initiales richement ornées, treize miniatures qui illustrent le texte56. D'autres livres utilisés pendant les offices étaient également enluminés. Le stichérarion (collection d'hymnes avec notes) Koutloumousiou 412, qui date du 14e siècle, est illustré d'environ 130 miniatures -bustes dans des médaillons ou scènes de la vie du Christ et de la Sainte Vierge _57. Les figures dans les médaillons rappellent des modèles du 6e et du 9e siècle (mosaïques de Ravenne et du Sinaï, Ascension de la coupole de Sainte-Sophie de Salonique) (fig. 20). Les horologhia du 15e siècle sont déÇorés de quelques figures de saints évêques et d'ascètes exécutés à la gouache, sans fond coloré et sans cadre, comme dans les manuscrits Dionysi\Ju 471 et Koutloumousiou 19358 . Parmi les textes des pères de l'église, ceux qui furent le plus souvent illustrés à Byzance~ sont le recueil de seize homélies de saint Grégoire de Nazianze. Huit parmi les 36 manuscrits enluminés de ce recueil se trouvent au Mont-Athos59. Les plus importants sont les manuscrits Dionysiou 61 et Saint-Pantéléimon 6, du lle-12e siècle, où chaque sermon est précédé d'un en-tête contenant une scène illustrant le texte qui suit (fig. 21). Le deuxième manuscrit contient en outre un commentaire sur les allusions mythologiques contenues dans les homélies, qui est illustré de miniatures occupant une des colonnes du texte60. Parmi les manuscrits contenant la Scala Paradisi de saint Jean Climaque, ascète du 7e siècle qui fut higoumène du monastère du Sinaï, il convient de citer celui de Stavronikita qui porte la cote 50, décoré au 14e

54 A. Cutler, The Aristocratie Psalters in Byzantium, Paris, 1984, p. 20-31, 103-110, Nos 6-16,53-54. 55 Treasures, I, p. 426-427, fig. 150-158. 56 L. Bréhier, "Les peintures du rouleau liturgique No 2 du monastère de Lavra", in : Seminarium Kondakovianum, 11, 1940, p. 1-19. Thesauroi, III, p. 259261, fig. 166-170. 57 Treasures, I, p. 465-468, fig. 377-384. 58 Treasures, I, p. 431,459, fig. 169-172,342-344. 59 G. Galavaris, The Illustrations of the Liturgical Homilies of Gregory Nazianzenus, Princeton, 1969, p. 205-218, Nos 3-10. 60 Treasures, I, p. 415-418, fig. 104-117; II, p. 352-358, fig. 296-322.

La peinture byzantine au Mont-Athos

145

siècle de deux miniatures en pleine page de l'auteur et de moines en train d'escalader l'échelle du Paradis, ainsi que de 37 miniatures de dimensions plus petites et de sujet analogué 1. Ces miniatures s'inspirent de la décoration du cod. Vat. gr. 394, du lle siède. Deux importants ménologes enluminés sont conservés aux monastères d'Esphigménou et de Dochiariou. Le ménologe Esphigménou 14, de la seconde moitié du lle siècle, contient 14 miniatures en pleine page peintes sur les deux faces de feuillets pourpres, des en-têtes à décor animal et végétal, ainsi qu'une soixantaine de miniatures contenant parfois plusieures épisodes, qui illustrent l'Homélie sur la Nativité du Christ de Jean d'Eubée, jadis attribuée à saint Jean Damascène62. Le cod. Dochiariou 5, un peu plus tardif, est illustré de quatre scènes de la vie de l'apôtre Philippe et de dix portraits de saints. Les miniatures occupent la largeur d'une colonne du texte63. Les manuscrits contenant la Vie d'un seul saint étaient rarement enluminés. Parmi les exceptions citons le manuscritE 194 de la Grande Lavra (15e siècle), contenant la Vie de saint Athanase l'Athonite, où le saint est figuré en pied64 (fig. 22). Les typica des monastères étaient en général également dépourvus de miniatures. Pourtant le manuscrit 1199 de Vatopédi, contenant le typicon du monastère de Saint-Eugène à Trébizonde, est orné de portraits des saints Jean Damascène et Sabbas au début et Eugène à la fin, tandis que le texte concernant chaque mois est précédé d'une miniature y faisant allusion; le · mois d'août est par exemple personnifié par un vieillard couché à l'ombre d'un arbre, auquel une jeune fille offre à boire65. Le monastère d'Iviron possède le plus beau manuscrit enluminé du Roman de Barlaam et Joasaph, récit édifiant inspiré de la vie de Bouddha, dont la version grecque avait été attribuée à tort à saint Jean Damascène. Le manuscrit, qui porte la cote 463 et date de la première moitié du 12e siècle, est orné d'une miniature en pleine page de saint Jean Damascène et de 78 miniatures en bandeaux occupant toute la largeur de la page, intercalées dans le texte et contenant jusqu'a trois scènes, de sorte que le nombre des épisodes illustrés atteint deux cent66. . 61 J. R. Martin, The Illustration of the Heavenly Ladder of John Climacus, Princeton, 1954, passim (p. 163, s.v.), fig. 133-171. Thesauroi, IV, p. 340-344~ fig ..362392. 62 Treasures, II, p. 365-383, fig. 327-408. 63 Thesauroi, III, p. 289-291, fig. 258-268. 64 Thesauroi, III, p. 253-254, fig. 128. 65 Thesauroi, IV, p. 322-324, fig. 313-324. 66 S. Der Nersessian, L'illustration du roman de Barlaam et Joasaph, Paris, 1937, p. 23-25 et passim (p. 235, s. v.), pl. l-XXI. Treasures, II, p. 306-322, fig. 53-132.

+ Athos Library n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~ÀL09~Ktl

146

Panayotis L. Vocotopoulos

Un des rares documents impériaux enluminés conservés à nos jours est le chrysobulle de l'empereur de Trébizonde Alexis III (1349-1390) en faveur du monastère de Dionysiou, qui est écrit sur papier et date de 137467. Saint Jean le Précurseur, auquel est dédié le monastère, bénit Aléxis et l'impératrice Théodora, vêtus des somptueux habits impériaux, qui tiennent ensemble le chrysobulle (fig. 23). Parmi les rares manuscrits scientifiques illustrés des bibliothèques athonites il convient de mentionner le cod. Q 75 de la Grande Lavra, qui contient le traité De materia medica de Dioscoride. Il date du 12e siècle et comprend de nombreuses représentations d'herbes médicinales68 (fig. 24). Les manu~crits athonites offrent un intéressant panorama des divers courants stylistiques de la peinture byzantine à partir du 9e siècle. Le psautier Pantocrator 61 par exemple est caractérisé par une exécution sommaire, aux figures courtes et aux coloris clairs, tandis que les évangiles Stavronikita 43 (fig. 26) et Philothéou 33 représentent les tendances antiquisantes de fa renaissance macédonienne69 . Le lectionnaire Dionysiou 587 est un des me~lleurs témoins du style mignon de la deuxième moitié du 11e siècle, tandi's que le tétraévangile 25 du monastère de SaintPantéléimon appartient au groupe de la première moitié du 12e siècle, dont les meilleurs exemples sont fournis par le codex Ebnerianus d'Oxford et par les manuscrits des Homélies du moine Jacques de Kokkinobaphos de Paris et du Vatican70. De nombreux manuscrits (Dochiariou 39, Esphigménou 64, Lavra A 9, A 32, A 66, B 26, Karakallou 37 et plusieurs autres) font partie du groupe nombreux mais de qualité médiocre de la deuxième moitié du 12e siècle qui a pour têtes de file le Nouveau Testament Rockfeller MacCormick de Chicago et l'évangile de Karahissar à Leningrad71. L'évangile Iviron 55 représente un groupe apparenté, un peu plus tardif, où sont manifestes les tendances maniéristes des deux dernières décennies du 12e siècle72. Le manuscrit de plus haute qualité de ce groupe, le

67 Monchsland Athos, p. 96-97. Treasures, I, p. 36, 40. 68 Thesauroi, III, p. 258-259, fig. 147-165. 69 K: Weitzmann, Studies in Classical and Byzantine Manuscript Illumination, Chicago-Londres, 1971, p. 341, s.v. Thesauroi, III, p. 307-308, fig. 305; IV, p. 334-337, fig. 339-356. 70 Treasures, II, p. 362, fig. 323-326. 71 Voir par ex. les manuscrits Esphigménou 64 (Monchsland Athos, p. 196197), Lavra B 26, Dochiariou 39 ou Karakallou 37 (Thesauroi, III, p. 239-242, 292-293, 298, fig. 69-80,271-273, 284-285). 72 Treasures, II, p. 305, fig. 46-50. H. Buchthal, "Studies in Byzantine Illumination of the Thirteenth Century'', in : Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen, N.S., 25, 1983, passim, fig. 61-66,68-69, 72-73,76-77, 80-81.

La peinture byzantine au Mont-Athos

147

tétraévangile Dionysiou 4, a été récemment attribué par Buchthal à un scriptorium de Nicée et daté de 1205-122073 (fig. 27). Un autre groupe, dont les représentants s'échelonnent entre le deuxième quart du 13e et le début du 14e siècle, est caractérisé par des figures monumentales et un drapé, où la transition graduelle de la lumière à l'ombre est combinée avec des faisceaux de plis accentués. Le manuscrit le plus beau de ce groupe, qui s'éloigne du maniérisme de la fin du 12e siècle et s'inspire de modèles du 10e quant au style et à l'iconographie, est le tétraévangile Iviron 574 . Cinq manuscrits athonites (Dionysiou 5, Iviron 30, Lavra A 2, Stavronikita 27 et 46) appartiennent au groupe de manuscrits constantinopolitains de luxe de la fin du 13e siècle connu comme groupe de la Paléologine75 . Le décor du lectionnaire Koutloumousiou 62, du troisième quart du 14e siècle (fig. 28), typique du style paléologue tardif, est peut-être l'œuvre du miniaturiste qui enlumina le célèbre manuscrit des œuvres théologiques de Jean VI Cantacuzène Par. gr. 124276. Signalons pour terminer que le dernier manuscrit illustré daté avec miniatures provenant des ateliers de la capitale se trouve au Mont-Athos. C'est le tétraévangile Iviron 548, qui fut écrit et décoré en 1433, vingt ans avant la chute de Constantinople77 .

73 Treasures, I, p. 393-396, fig. 14-27. H. Buchthal, op. cit., passim, fig. 1-4, 10-13, 18-25. 7 4 Sur ce groupe voir en dernier lieu H. Buchthal, The Musterbuch of Wolfenbüttel and its Position in the Art of the Thirteenth Century, Vienne, 1979. 75 H. Buchthal, H. Belting, Patronage in Thirteenth Century Constantinople. An Atelier of Late Byzantine Book Illumination and Calligraphy, Washington, 1978, p. 105-109, Nos 1-5. 76 H. Buchthal, "Toward a History of Palaeologan Illumination", in: K. Weitzmann et al., The Place of Book Illumination in Byzantine Art, Princeton, 1975, p. 166-167, 169, 172, fig. 34. Treasures, I, p. 453, fig. 305-310. 77 Treasures, II, p. 324-325, fig. 133-136.

n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~l\lo8~Kr] +

Athos Library

148

Panayotis L. Vocotopoulos

Fig. 1-2. Vatopédi. Annonciation. Mosaïque du 13e siècle.

Ft;;; 3. Ravdouciwu . Saint

P~t·rr.:

nAyLOpELTLK~ BL~l\lo8~Kil +

Athos Library

1:')

15()

n AytapELHK~ BL~Àl09~Kr'J +

Athos Library

1~2

l•1ft'llllllrt' 111/::tllllm,·

.ltr

:\f,J!/1-A/1:,,."

n AytapELHK~ BL~Àl09~Kr'J +

Athos Library

155

··~-·"io

•

n AytapELHK~ BL~Àl09~Kr'J +

Athos Library

157

n AytapELHK~ BL~Àl09~Kr'J +

Athos Library

15ll

----

Fi~

,,

Il

12. Prnta!Ot! . Snint Pil:rn:

n AylOpELHK~ Bt~Àl09~Kr"J +

Athos Library

L1

~·einturc byzantmc a<~ Monf-Afiu>.<

'

.

161

+

~ eKToYKATAIIDAH HHN

+ Athos Library n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~ÀL08~Kil

16~

Fig . 17. VatopM1 Vrergt Had('\rh"m (détail).

-

-

... . . ..

..

.

,

•..-

•

•

•

•

•

:..:.. . ~.:-

-

.,.

-

-

.. .

,..

• :

.~,

"'

•

1 ..

.,._

nAylOpELHK~ BL~ÀL08~ KI) +

At h os Li bra r y

-;,.,

.

~~

--

1-:;.:. 20.

Koutlmmwusit'U 411, f. 30!<. Tr;>i,;

Sli.:Jrérarù~ll

~ai11t.'

.

•

!.•t~4 ...ü

' "·"-nic,;......;;., "?•

- y•: "').."" . ". ........ •!- .

Fr.~-

:!'1

-

..,

._

..

... ...

~·..,,N~,..,

.

-·

,,

, ...,.,:-~

·~

,

~rru

.,,4. '1.

.

i l!>mdrt'~ dt· 5am! Gre;.:mre d,· Na:::um:, Vl!'am d'Hahi("UL.

Dll'ld/"l•'ll t• / , j

~t

nAylOpELHK~ Bt~Àl09~Kr'J +

Athos Library

l.:1 .pcùiturc

11)6

bvzantine :;u ;\-!onl-.t\!ho' .

1'

,. 1 f1 j

.. "

(

...

1

• i ' ~

+ Athos Library n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~ÀL08~Kil

u

~- ··

..... J'

l ,. .... ~ •. --:-~ .: ::

r

·.'.:~ ...... 1~·

......

;:

~::::..,\·......

-

..... ,,

#~-&

....

. "l-' .

"'{

r ~

<:n'ti • ..:

...... 'i""t )-.

r•...,. pt1.

l'~ f "cro

j~··~' "i ;/~ 0

U..\.TTlJI ..... '

y M:...ï<;.; ~et~.~~ crn!.l!' •

;;

~·

't

.... 2\·

,;t <-~~,;

~~~.,~ ;-"":'.. '

·~

•

~"T."t"

!•~tv

,.. ..

.., ...

+ Athos Library n AyLOpELTlK~ BL~ÀL08~Kil

lïl

170

•

t •

"

-- 1

~··. +

.

+ Athos Library n AyLOpELTLK~ BL~ÀL09~Kil