Page 4 - AIT1017_Athos

SERIEN EIN WOCHENENDE IN ... • WEEKEND IN ...

Kloster Agiou Pavlou (4) Kloster-Rangfolge 14, 10. Jahrhundert An- und Abreise erfolgen per Boot. • Arrival and departure are by boat.

I n a world full of budget airlines, making a pilgrimage here. Halfway up the mountain, the path to the Osios Day 3: Tolerated guest within old walls
is definitely in. You go to a monastery on retreat or you
Grigorios (2) monastery branches off, our destination of
hike till you drop just to finally feel something again: today. Next to St Nicholas Church painted oxblood-red are The last leg after a short night leads to the Agiou Pavlou St
aching muscles and blistered feet included. But how does the dining hall with its elaborate frescoes and the kitchen. Paul’s monastery. Holy Mass, enveloped in candlelight
one feel on the Holy Mountain of Athos, as an infidel Dinner in a tin bowl consists of porridge, white bread and and incense, feels archaic. The faithful are caressing icons,
among nothing but the orthodox? pitch-black olives. There is water and red wine. Silence we are standing silently beside them. The Agiou Pavlou
reigns during dinner while a monk reads from the bible. (4) monastery ranks 14th. Its history goes back to the 10th
Day 1: Journey into an unknown world His singsong fills the room and mixes with the clattering century. After serpentines and a stuffy forest of shrubbery
of cutlery. The pilgrims eat hastily since dinner can be and boulders, we are greeted by a resounding noise. On
It is stuffy below deck. 200 men, Rumanians, Bulgarians, over at any moment. When the abbot rises, we have to both flanks of the wide valley in which the monastery
Serbs and Russians, take the ferry from Ouranoupoli to leave as well. We stand on a wooden veranda and look spreads, construction workers with heavy equipment are
Dafni, the harbour of the Athos monastic state. The Greek into the light. Four storeys below us is the Mediterranean, busy building new roads. Even the old pilgrim path has
flag is fluttering in the wind. Seagulls are sailing above the a landscape of liquid lead into which right now a ripe been torn up. This monastery is trying out change. A dust
wake. Georgios is our Greek mountain guide and to him orange dips, the sun. It is warm here. And windless. We road now leads to the monastery entrance. Quite cheerful
we owe the diamonitrion, the entrance permit required. open our eyes wide and watch. And watch. It could hardly grounds with wide arcades await us there. After maybe 40
There are only ten visas issued per day for infidels such as be any more beautiful on an ocean liner. Serenity sets in. minutes, we are welcomed. There is tea and rahat lokum.
us. Per day. We, that is Raoul who works in Berlin as a Everything is very simple, immediate and uncomplicated. The tray is immediately empty. In the evening, we are
lawyer, Bob, a Scottish psychoanalyst from Lesbos, former It could remain like this. separated from the orthodox. As if we were lepers. An
Lehman banker James, passionate mountaineer Georgios interesting experience.
and I. We have a common goal. Within the next 96 hours, Day 2: Monastic life and deprivation
we want to hike to three monasteries at the foot of the Day 4: A farewell rich in insights
Holy Mountain and immerse ourselves in the world of Today’s destination is the Dionysiou (3) monastery which
orthodoxy. For 96 hours, no non-Orthodox person is allo- was founded by Dionysios of Koryssos in the middle of the Although the hikes were not much more than walks, we
wed to stay longer on Athos. Approximately 2,000 monks 14th century. The path climbs steeply and crosses deep are in good spirits, as if we had achieved something great.
are living in the 20 monasteries and the countless hermi- gorges. Lush green alternates with stony sections. We take On the ferry, Bob brings out a toast. Espresso and a story
tages protected by the Holy Mountain which dominates a rest in the shade of a large boulder. Georgios explains go with it: Just recently, he tells us, a manager came to see
the extreme tip of the promontory with its altitude of 2,033 that Moní Dionysíou ranks fifth in the hierarchy of the him in his practice and asked for a guided meditation.
metres. Athos is, after all, a world of rules and regulations: Athos monasteries and is administered by approximately Bob took the workaholic across alpine meadows all the
cover your arms at service. Do not cross your legs. Remain 50 monks. A last, steep descent and then the way to the top of a mountain where a being with extrasen-
silent during dinner. And do not make the Catholic sign of Mediterranean gurgles against a peaceful bay. Bathing sory powers was said to reside. It would be able to have
the cross. The most important rule, however, is the avaton prohibited. Around the corner lies the monastery on a answers for the manager. The saint had really shown him-
of 1060, the ban on women on the Holy Mountain. spur which merges into a ring of walls 80 metres high. The self. Dramatic pause. He had simply stuck out his tongue.
monastery complex is surrounded by balconies and galle- “Pffft”. Liberating laugher. Was that it? The lesson of
In search of enlightenment ries which hang over the abyss at several levels. Athos? Everyone had better find his or her own way?
Everything is focused on the catholicon whose magnifi- Enlightenment scratched. Strange. The monks no longer
When the second ferry discharges us after more than two cent frescoes from 1547 are attributed to Zorzi from Crete. seem so far away from our own world. They own cell pho-
hours, Simonos Petras (1), the holy monastery of the rock Here ancient philosophers are burning in the hell fire; nes and ride speedboats. On the Chalkidikí peninsula, to
of Simon, towers 200 metres above us. Strange. Tibetan. there one proceeds towards redemption with hosts of which Athos belongs, there is a saying: “If you are looking
A late-medieval skyscraper. Founded, as legend has it, in angels and saints. This is a fortress disguised as a mona- for a wife, go to Kassxxxandra. If you have a wife, go to
the 13th century by Simon the Athonite and expanded in stery, with a keep and ramparts. The gates reinforced with Sithonia. And if your wife has left you, go to Athos.” The
1364 by the Serbian despot Jovan Ugljesa, it ranks thir- iron are to keep looters away also from the library with its further we get away, the more the Holy Mountain moves
teens in the hierarchy of Athos. The ranking, of course, is reputed 804 manuscripts and its 4,000 printed books. We into sight. A colossus of blue mist and scattered
according to the date of the foundation. Age is still of value do not get to look at them. snowfields.

042 • AIT 10.2017