in a monastic republic.
In March 2008, our group of pilgrims from Vyborg went on a trip to Mount Athos. We flew to Thessaloniki, the capital of the Halkidiki peninsula, from there the bus took us to a small town on the Athos peninsula, called Ouranoupolis, or sometimes Ouranoupolis. The bus drove for about three hours, driven by a completely wild Greek driver, alternating "gas to the floor" with "brake to the floor. " As a result, upon arrival, many could not immediately move independently until they came to their senses. In general, the Greeks in Halkidiki are very emotional, hot, in disputes they often wave their hands in front of the opponent's face, but they never hit. They pronounce the name of their peninsula "Halkidiki" always with an emphasis on the last syllable and somehow joyfully and provocatively, loudly. Greek cuisine, Greek music carry notes of Turkish as a result of many years of Turkish yoke. Chalkidiki is a peninsula that looks like a palm with three fingers facing down on the map. These fingers - Kassandra, Sithonia and Athos are not similar to each other in nature, vegetation and even water temperature. Athos is the third "finger", most of which is occupied by the monastic republic of the same name. That's where we were headed. Ferries to the Holy Mountain depart from the Ouranoupolis pier in the morning, so we spent one night in the PYRGOS 2 * hotel, very decent, clean and quiet. In general, in Greece, 2 * and 3 * hotels do not cause shock when visiting, but please with cleanliness and kind attitude of the staff. Russians are loved, treated warmly and affably. The whole Ouranoupolis is focused on pilgrims, in the town there are many souvenir shops with church paraphernalia, icons, utensils, incense. Good taverns and fish restaurants with low prices and simply huge portions. They are prepared from fresh fish, which you can choose yourself before cooking and even see how it is cooked. Mind-blowing octopuses, cuttlefish and some other marine life, which I then did not eat anywhere else. Greeks relax in the evening in restaurants with large families, where baby carriages with babies stand next to the tables, old, old grandfathers and grannies sit and smoke right there, and young people sing songs and bawl loudly. It's delightful to look at. It is completely safe on the streets, tired children are sent home from the tavern, at the same time entrusting them with strollers with babies, and adults sing a little more and also go home. We also stayed up late, exhausted from delicious hearty food and new wine, only an early rise and departure to the Holy Mountain prompted us to return to the hotel. In the morning we had breakfast at the hotel with simple and tasty homemade food, no frills, but healthy and healthy, and went for an Athos visa. No mistake - if you have a Schengen visa, which allows you to travel not only to Greece, but to the whole of Europe, you need your own, separate visa to visit the monastic republic. It is called Diamonitirion and is a stamped Athos paper of A 4 format, on which the name, surname and religion of the visitor are indicated. This paper is checked at the entrance to the ferry, and without it you cannot enter the territory of the monastic state. Diamonitirion is issued only to men, upon prior request. . Pilgrims apply to the Ministry of Tourism, it is possible in Thessaloniki, or they contact the monastery they are going to by phone or e-mail, and a list comes from the monastery to the visa office, and before boarding the ferry, these diamonitirions are issued to the Athos visa office. For the clergy, these permits are free, for the laity they cost some little money. The ferry departs from the pier with an ancient tower, called in Greek Pyrgos, hence the name of our hotel - Pyrgos, then goes around the Athos Peninsula, mooring at the piers of the monasteries, where the monks unload food, building materials and pilgrims leave. There are no women on the ferry, neither on the Holy Mountain. None. So it is necessary according to the charter of this monastic state. It is believed that the only woman who visited Athos was the Most Holy Theotokos, and after Her, no woman has the right to visit Athos. . Many pilgrims - men come to Ouranoupolis with their wives, leave them in a hotel in the town, and go to the monasteries for 5 days, then return to Ouranoupolis and continue to rest together, staying in the town or traveling further around Greece. So, there are no women on the Holy Mountain, not only in human form, but also any female, for example, chickens or cows. This is the rule, and it has been observed for many centuries. Women can go on a sightseeing boat tour AROUND the monastic state without getting close to the shore. Even on the territory of the monastic republic you can not swim and sunbathe, in general, undress in public. Our stop was at the Russian monastery of St. Panteleimon. There are Russian monks, and in the pre-revolutionary years, 5 thousand (! ) Monks lived in the monastery during the most populated time. Now there are about seventy people. The territory of the monastery is huge, the temples amaze with their grandeur. There are 20 monasteries on Athos, all of them are united in a monastic republic, which is controlled from a center called Kareia. Our monastery is one of the largest. An old monk met us at the pier, gave us a tour of the monastery and led us to settle in. The monastery hotel is called in Greek Archondarik and is located outside the monastery walls, near the sea. All arriving pilgrims are greeted in the archondarika with a cup of coffee and a glass of aniseed vodka - Ouzo, smelling of medicine, pectussin. Such a tradition, despite the fact that the monks themselves do not drink vodka, but drink wine on major church holidays and a little on Sundays at dinner after the service. We were settled in cells, that is, rooms, for 4 people, and we began to comprehend the monastic life. Services in the monastery go almost continuously, interspersed only with a meal or rest. All pilgrims participate in services on an equal basis with other monks. Every night, the service begins at about 2 a. m. and ends at 6 a. m. , then rest (you can sleep), breakfast, service again, a short rest, dinner, then obedience, that is, housework. Monk - the storekeeper gives out work clothes, and everyone works, both monks and pilgrims. Work in the garden, in the kitchen, elementary - peeling potatoes or fish, as in the army (by the way, they don’t eat meat at all in the monastery). Services on the first day are perceived wildly for us, the laity, who are accustomed to sleep sweetly and eat deliciously, but surprisingly, you quickly begin to get used to the monastic routine as something natural. Even the time in the monastery is special. It differs from ours not by an hour or two, but EVERY DAY by a different number of minutes. Sunset means midnight, 12 o'clock at night. Every evening, a monk adjusts the hands on the huge clock on the main temple of the monastery, and time shifts. This time is called Byzantine and is also perceived quite naturally. I immediately compared it with the current jerks from summer to winter and appreciated the advantages of Byzantine time. The monastery has a huge Ossuary, or ossuary. It was opened and shown to us. These are large shelves with skulls and bones of the monks who lived here in all the years. There is an inscription on the wall: "You look at us - we look at you. We were like you - you will become like us. " The skulls are signed, for example: "Simeon, the fisherman", or "Theodore, the doctor", i. e. . name and position in the monastery. The tradition of the monks is this: the deceased is buried in the ground, after a few years the bones are dug up, washed with wine during prayer and remembering the merits of the deceased (hence the expression "wash the bones") and put in the ossuary, or ossuary. If the flesh has not decayed and the bones have not been exposed, they bury them again and begin to pray fervently, apologizing for the sins of the deceased, since the uncorrupted flesh indicates that the deceased did not lead a very righteous life. We digress. At night, the duty officer of the archondarik raises the pilgrims to the service by ringing a bell. In principle, you don’t have to go, no one drives you by force, but we all went, there were guys from Moscow, there were some cool men from Krasnodar, who somehow became humble and quiet all at once. Apparently, a general atmosphere is at work and one thinks not about the vain, but about the eternal. . . One day, the abbot of the monastery, who was 92 (! ) years old during our trip, while he himself conducted services and managed the activities of the monastery, provided us with a car for a trip to the monasteries - neighbors. It was a Mercedes shift, a powerful passable truck with a kung, the most suitable vehicle for traveling along the Athos serpentines. We traveled almost all the monasteries and sketes, the spirit of antiquity and grace permeated everything on Athos. We also visited the Vatopedi Monastery, where the belt of the Most Holy Theotokos is kept, which She dropped while on Athos, they brought it to us for worship. In any monastery you can stay for the night, the monks will provide accommodation and food. Many people travel around Mount Athos on their own, from monastery to monastery. The Greek monasteries on Mount Athos look like fortresses because of the frequent raids of pirates from the sea, who ravaged the monasteries and killed the monks. The Russian monastery of St. Panteleimon was built later, when there were no more pirate raids, and therefore it is all directed upwards and does not look like Greek ones. We stopped at the capital of the monastic state - Karey, this is a small city where the power of the monastic republic is concentrated. Shops, post office, Athos police and even customs, designed to protect church antiquities from export. It was funny to see cans of Coca-Cola in the cafe of Carey, the personification of the western godless spirit. After staying in the monastery for 4 days, we went by ferry back to Ouranoupolis, spent the night in the same Pyrgos, spent the whole evening in a wonderful fish restaurant, sang songs with the Greeks, and they enthusiastically treated us to wine. At parting, the owner of the restaurant wrapped us with a huge portion of fried local fish - red mullet, which at night the meanest way he pulled from the balcony and ate an impudent Greek cat, and was not even going to run away after that. Insolent red muzzle. After the monastery, it was undignified and petty to deal with him, and we forgave him. In the afternoon we took a bus to Thessaloniki, where we stayed for one more night in a small hotel ORESTIAS KASTORIAS 2 *, near the main city church of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica, the patron saint of Thessaloniki. We walked around the city, went to work in the evening. Surprisingly, there are few Greeks at the services, although the Greeks have many icons at home and each family has its own stories about miracles, about saints, their own family heavenly patrons. Women at services stand without headscarves, not like ours. It turns out that it is also a tradition, during the uprising against the Turks, the Greeks so distinguished their women from the Turkish women, who are all in headscarves. There are absolutely no mosques in Thessaloniki, no Muslims, in general Greece is a mono-ethnic and mono-religious country, this is closer and more understandable to me than the tolerance being imposed now. There are many temples in Thessaloniki, there are plenty of ancient monuments. In stores, goods are inexpensive, but simple and not famous brands, local clothes are of high quality and solid. Eating at cafes and restaurants is inexpensive and tasty. The hotel ORESTIAS KASTORIAS 2* is cozy, homey and clean. The next day we flew to Moscow, from where we took a train to my Vyborg. This is how we plunged into the monastic life a little, just a little.
