Mount Athos Hosts One of the Oldest Monastic Communities on Earth
The Guardian newspaper embarked on a photographic journey to Mount Athos and visited the hermit monks living in the Katoounakia region.
Mount Athos is home to one of the oldest monastic communities in the world, inhabited since ancient times. It is renowned for its nearly 1,800 years of uninterrupted Christian presence and its long monastic traditions, which date back to at least the 9th century.
Within the monasteries, over two thousand monks live a life of asceticism, isolated from the outside world. But it's not just within the monasteries that one finds monks—at the Karoulia, the hermits live in a way that is almost beyond imagination.
Living Like Birds on the Cliff's Edge
In the Karoulia area, hermits live like birds perched on cliffs. They reside in makeshift homes precariously hanging on the edges of the rocks, without cultivating or storing anything. They survive on whatever they can find—whatever God provides for them.
Karoulia is a rugged mountain mass, and there, a handful of monks have built small cottages that seem to cling precariously to the side of the rock, with the waves crashing against the rocks just a few meters below. The wooden ladders nailed to the cliffs serve as their only means of ascending and descending the mountain.
A Life of Devotion and Simplicity
Some of these monks, particularly the elderly and frail, haven’t left the mountain in over 60 years. The bones of one monk who once lived in a particular cell are kept in a silver box, as it is customary for a monk to remain in the place where they lived even after their death.
This way of life serves as a stark contrast to our modern, fast-paced existence, reminding us of a simpler, more devoted way of living that is almost unimaginable in today's world.
Mount Athos: A Sacred Place of Monasticism
The hermits of Karoulia live lives dedicated entirely to faith and prayer, embodying a profound connection to the land and the divine. Their lifestyle is an offering to God, and their existence stands as a testament to the power of solitude, simplicity, and spiritual devotion.
