- A monastery on Mount Athos
- Monastery near Mount Athos
I never knew it existed until last night
I was watching it on 60 Minutes
Newsmakers have not been given permission to visit since 1981 until now
The monks believe they are closest to God here reading holy books and praying
They chant Lord Jesus, have mercy on me and they believe in prayer without distractions
They spend eight hours conversing with God each day
and spend only three hours sleeping
Their whole aim in life is to become closer to the Almighty
For a thousand years monks and pilgrims have come
to the monastery near the Aegean with St. Simon as its founder
It is built on rock and people are amazed that it hasn’t fallen into the sea
Men who want to stay there for life have three years to prove themselves
They can never leave and they must let go of memories of their past life
They pray St. Paul‘s prayer, the Jesus Prayer repeatedly
There are no newspapers or radios and few telephones
At 3 a.m. a bell rings to call them to start praying in the church
The monks eat two meals, each only ten minutes long
It takes only fifteen minutes to tour the monastery quickly
It has secret places where holy artifacts are kept under many keys and no one has all four of them
The monks do not consider the items holy relics or art-just part of their holy environment
The monastery was built to honor Mary, the mother of Christ and no other woman is allowed
The Germans wanted the rare paintings and other items but the lead monk intervened
It is a horrendous trip to get to the monasteries, which are all along the cliffs
There are many footpaths to be kept cleared and food is harvested there by monks
While they work the monks chant prayers to Jesus Christ nonstop
Map of the Aegean with place names
Credit to 60 Minutes for all the details about Mount Athos which so intrigued and inspired me
Excellent site about Mount Athos
Wikipedia write-up about Mount Athos
Passionate About Life 