Illustration copyright istock Image caption The Charter of Mount Athos was approved in 972 by the Byzantine Emperor John Tzimiskes

Russian President Vladimir Putin travels to the holy Mount Athos in Greece to celebrate the millennium of Russian monks on this mountain. The mountain, or rather peninsula, with an area of ​​335 square kilometers, is the largest place in the world where women and even female animals are prohibited from entering.

If you want to visit Mount Athos, the first step is to present a copy of your passport to the Pilgrim Bureau of Mount Athos. Every day, 100 Orthodox and 10 non-Orthodox male pilgrims come to the peninsula to spend three days in one of 20 monasteries.

Women are prohibited from entering. The men arrive at Mount Athos by ferry from one of the two nearest Greek ports.

Women were banned from entering more than a thousand years ago. They also cannot approach closer than half a kilometer to the coast of the peninsula.

According to Dr. Graham Speke, author of Mount Athos: Renewal in Paradise, the charter of Mount Athos, approved in 972 by the Byzantine emperor John Tzimisces, states that the presence of female animals on the peninsula is prohibited, but women are not mentioned, since in those days “everyone knew that women were forbidden to enter the monastery.”

According to him, it was the most in a simple way observe celibacy. The only thing that distinguishes Athos from other monasteries is that in this case the entire peninsula is considered one large monastery.

But there are other reasons for banning the entry of women - reasons related to the Orthodox tradition.

“According to one of the legends, the ship on which the Mother of God was sailing to Cyprus was caught in a storm, and it washed up on the shore of Mount Athos. The Mother of God liked this place so much that she asked her son to give it to her as an inheritance, and he agreed to this,” - says Speke.

“Athos is still called the “garden of the Virgin Mary,” and only she represents her gender on Mount Athos,” he adds.

All rules have exceptions, and cats live on Mount Athos.

“There are quite a lot of cats there, which is probably for the best, since they are good at catching mice. The monks don’t seem to pay attention to the fact that cats live on the peninsula,” says Speake.

Where else in the world are women banned?

• Sabarimala Temple in southwest India in the state of Kerala. Women from 10 to 50 years old, that is, those who may be menstruating, are prohibited from entering the temple. Opponents of the ban have petitioned the Supreme Court of India to overturn it.
• Mount Omine in Japan. The mountain is considered sacred by followers of Shugendo, a Japanese syncretic teaching that combines Buddhism, Shintoism and Taoism. On this mountain, male believers undergo difficult physical tests
• Herberstrasse in the Hamburg red light district of St. Pauli. There is a sign at the entrance to the area: “No minors or women allowed.”

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The ban means that dairy products and eggs have to be brought to Mount Athos.

"They [the monks] eat almost no dairy products. A little bit of cheese... They like cheese on their salad," says Speake.

"At Easter they eat eggs - chicken eggs which they paint red. But they also need to be imported - there are no chickens on the mountain."

An exception is also made for wild animals, since it is impossible to control their movements in practice.

As far as boys were concerned, practice varied.

"According to the rules, a man must be able to grow a beard in order to be allowed to visit Mount Athos. During the Byzantine period, boys and eunuchs were also prohibited from visiting Mount Athos," says Speke. The authorities feared that some woman might disguise herself as a boy or eunuch and sneak into the peninsula.

“Now boys often come to Athos, but only accompanied by an adult, usually a father. I have even seen ten-year-old boys there. The monks treat them very well.”

However, in the past women visited Mount Athos.

During the Greek Civil War of 1946-49, the monks on Mount Athos gave shelter to flocks of sheep and other livestock from neighboring villages, and when villagers raided for livestock, women and girls were among them.

In 1953, a certain Maria Poimenidu spent three days on Mount Athos, disguised as a man. After this, the Greek government passed a law prohibiting women from visiting Mount Athos. Violators face up to a year in prison.

In 2008, Ukrainian smugglers landed four women from Moldova on the Athos peninsula. They were briefly detained by police, but according to one police officer, the monks forgave them.

This is President Putin’s second visit to the St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos.

The first time he visited there was in 2005. Then most of the pilgrims were Greeks. Now, says Speke, almost half of the 40 thousand pilgrims who visit Mount Athos every year are from Russia. St. Panteleimon Monastery can accommodate 500 pilgrims.

Some church traditions that appeared many centuries ago today may raise the question - why should it be this way and not otherwise? The most discussed in this sense is the Athonite custom of not allowing women into the territory of Holy Mount Athos. In our age of gender equality, some call such a restriction real discrimination against the fairer sex. However, this is not at all true. Indeed, for more than a thousand years, women have not had the right to cross the borders of Athos, a special monastic state in northern Greece. The appearance of such a ban is associated with the church tradition that Holy Mount Athos is under the special protection of the Mother of God Mary. Back in the first century after the Nativity of Christ, the Mother of God visited Athos and, struck by the beauty of these places, asked God to make Athos Her earthly destiny. According to the covenant of the Mother of God, no woman except Her can set foot on the land of Athos. Officially, the tradition of not allowing women into the territory of Athos was enshrined in 1045 by a decree of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX Monomakh. The ban on women being on Athos existed even after the fall of Constantinople. Turkish sultans confirmed the right of the Athonites to live in accordance with their ancient principles. In modern times, the special status of Mount Athos was secured by a decree of the Greek President in 1953. According to him, a woman who deliberately violated ancient tradition and entering Mount Athos, may be subject to imprisonment for a term of two to twelve months. Of course, the ban on women visiting Mount Athos is not discrimination at all, but a protection of a form of life that is almost forgotten today. Women are not allowed on Mount Athos not because the Church has a desire to somehow infringe on them. But because Athos is a place of special prayer feats of male monks. And nothing and no one should distract monks from this feat. This is the meaning of the ancient custom. Historical facts testify to the fact that the Afonites have no disdain for women. For example, during Turkish captivity, as well as during the Greek Civil War of 1946–1949. the monks temporarily abolished the ancient custom and refugee women found refuge on the Holy Mountain. In addition, once a day a special boat sails from Ouranoupolis (the name of the pier from which ferries go to Athos). Almost exclusively women sit on it. This boat approaches each of the monastery piers in turn. On the pier, waiting for the boat, there are monks holding monastery shrines (relics and other relics). And passengers of a special boat can go out to the pier and bow to the shrines. When Greece joined the European Union in the early 2000s, the European Parliament tried to get the country’s authorities to abolish the ancient custom of Athos and tourists from all over the world could finally visit the Holy Mountain. This initiative did not materialize. After all, Athos, according to all documents, is only formally part of Greece; its lands are in the possession of Athos monasteries. Therefore, a change in the traditional way of life of the Holy Mountain is unlikely to be expected in the future.

Athos is a state within a state, a country with its own laws, traditions and customs. And among these traditions is a strange, at first glance, custom of not allowing females onto the Holy Mountain. Neither young girl, neither a venerable old woman nor a middle-aged wife are allowed to Athos. Why?

Tradition takes us to the 5th century, to a time when women could still visit the Holy Mountain. Placidia, the daughter of Emperor Theodosius, arrived on Athos to venerate its shrines. However, approaching the temple, she heard a voice Holy Mother of God, who ordered her to immediately leave the peninsula. “From now on, let no woman set foot on the ground of the Holy Mountain,” said the Most Pure One. From that time on, women were closed to Athos. The monks strictly respect this tradition and do not even take female animals for agricultural or construction work. Popular rumor says that on Mount Athos even birds do not build nests or raise chicks.

Thus, since at least the 5th century, even if a woman can end up on Mount Athos, it is by accident, as recently happened with four Moldavian women who illegally made their way from Greece to Turkey and got lost on the way. By the way, since 2005, a woman’s deliberate violation of the tradition of avaton (the ban on women being on the Athos peninsula) is punishable by a year in prison.

In the 9th century, Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos legislated this ban, and Constantine IX Monomakh contributed to the adoption of a special Charter for the Athosites, which specifically prohibited women from being on Athos. Maintaining this ban was one of the conditions for Greece's entry into the European Union. Of course, this is the reason for repeated attacks on Athos from all sorts of human rights organizations, but the Holy Mountain unshakably adheres to its traditions, without sacrificing them to please the corrupt world.

Placidia is not the only woman who was ordered to leave the Holy Mountain by a command from above. According to legend, in 1470, the Serbian princess Maro brought a rich donation for the monasteries to the Holy Mountain, but did not take even a few steps along the peninsula when she was stopped by the Angel of God, who told her that she must immediately return to the ship. And yet women have been to Mount Athos. Athonites more than once hosted refugee families during uprisings and hostilities. This happened in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. However, after the cessation of unrest, all those who arrived immediately left the Holy Mountain and the divinely established order was restored.

Now it is difficult to say whether there was once a time when women were allowed to be on Mount Athos. The very first Typikon of the Holy Mountain forbade children, youths and eunuchs to set foot on the land of Athos. Women are not mentioned in this document. However, it should be said that Avaton is not an invention exclusively of Athos. According to Byzantine tradition, women are forbidden to enter any monastery, as well as men are prohibited from entering any monastery (except for the clergy serving in it). This tradition is still observed in Greece. Women are not allowed into most monasteries. So, most likely, this prohibition was observed until the 5th century. Now women are given the opportunity to sail by ship along the borders of the peninsula and admire the views of the Holy Mountain from afar, while their husbands, with backpacks on their shoulders, climb the rocky paths of Athos.

Mount Athos is a peninsula in Greece on which 20 large monasteries are located (not counting smaller monastic communities). Entrance to everything in Byzantium monasteries women were strictly prohibited. The Holy Mountain is considered an earthly destiny Mother of God- legend says that the Most Holy Theotokos and the Evangelist John set off on a sea voyage, but were caught in a storm along the way and lost their course, eventually landing at the foot of Mount Athos, in the place where the Iveron Monastery is now located. Struck by the beauty of these places, the Mother of God asked the Lord to make the Holy Mountain Her earthly inheritance. According to the covenant of the Mother of God, no woman except Her can set foot on the land of Athos. In 1045, with Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomakh adopted a charter for Athonites, officially prohibiting women and even female domestic animals from being on the territory of the Holy Mountain. A Greek Presidential Decree of 1953 provides for imprisonment of 2 to 12 months for women who violate the ban (it must be said that during the Greek Civil War of 1946-1949, refugee women found refuge on the Holy Mountain, as they did more than once during Turkish rule). Maintaining the ban was one of the conditions put forward by Greece for joining the European Union. Despite this, various EU bodies periodically try to challenge this point. Until now, this has not been possible, since Athos is formally in private ownership - the entire territory of the mountain is divided into twenty parts between the monasteries located here. It should be noted that the Byzantine ban on visiting monasteries by persons of the opposite sex in Greece is still observed quite strictly - not only on Athos, but in many monasteries women are not allowed, and men (except for serving clergy) are not allowed into most nunneries.

Women at Local Councils

Most church history The absence of women at church councils was determined by the words of the Apostle Paul: “Let your wives be silent in the churches, for they are not allowed to speak, but to be in subjection, as the law says. If they want to learn something, let them ask their husbands at home; for it is indecent for a woman to speak in church” (1 Cor. 14:34-35). The Russian Orthodox Church strictly observed this rule until the twentieth century. Even at the Local Council of 1917-1918, famous for the number of church innovations proposed at it, women (including monastics), although they could be present, did not have the right to vote. For the first time in the history of the Church, women took part in the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1971, when Patriarch Pimen was elected. Women also took part in the work of the Local Council in 1990, which elected Patriarch Alexy II.

According to the canons of the Church, only the successors of the apostles - bishops - are full members of Local Councils. There are no canons providing for the participation of clergy and laity in councils, although there were similar cases in the history of the Church, especially after the fall of the Byzantine Empire. In Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century, a wide debate arose about the participation of not only bishops in councils. As a result, members of the cathedral of 1917-1918. There were both clergy and laity. The current Charter of the Russian Orthodox Church, adopted in 2000, also provides for the participation of clergy and laity in the Local Council. However, the episcopate retains canonically justified control over the decisions of the Local Council: any decision can be made by the council only with the consent of the majority of the bishops present at it.

Why can't a woman be a priest?

Centuries-old Orthodox church tradition I have never known female “priests”; the practice of “ordaining” women to the priesthood and episcopal rank is not accepted by the Orthodox Church.
There are several arguments against the female priesthood. First, “the priest at the liturgy is the liturgical icon of Christ, and the altar is the room of the Last Supper. At this supper, it was Christ who took the cup and said: drink, this is My Blood. ...We partake of the Blood of Christ, which He Himself gave, which is why the priest must be a liturgical icon of Christ. ...Therefore, the priestly archetype (prototype) is male, not female” (Deacon Andrei Kuraev, “The Church in the World of People”).

Secondly, a priest is a shepherd, and a woman, created as a helper, herself needs support and advice and therefore cannot carry out pastoral service in its entirety. She is called to fulfill her calling in motherhood.

An equally weighty argument is the absence of the very idea of ​​a female priesthood in Church Tradition. " Sacred Tradition“This is not just a tradition,” explained to us the professor of the Moscow Theological Academy, Doctor of Theology A.I. Osipov. — It is important to be able to distinguish random traditions from traditions that have deep religious roots. There are strong arguments that the absence of a female priesthood is an essential tradition. In the history of the Church, the first century is called the century of extraordinary gifts. Simultaneously with baptism, people received gifts, some of them several at once: prophecy, the gift of tongues, the gift of healing diseases, casting out demons... Gifts obvious to everyone amazed the pagans, convincing them of the significance and power of Christianity. In this age we see a different attitude towards the Jewish Law, from which Christianity historically (but not ontologically) emerged. In particular, a different attitude towards women. Among the saints of that time there are Equal to the Apostles Mary Magdalene, Thekla - women who, in their talents, were on the same level as the apostles, did the same thing - preaching Christianity. But nowhere and never was the level of their church veneration connected with the granting of the priesthood to them.

Moreover, when in the II-III centuries. A female priesthood appeared in the Marcionite sect; this caused a strong protest from a number of revered saints and teachers of the Church.
The Mother of God, revered above the Angels, was not a priest.

The issue of the inadmissibility of the female priesthood is not covered in detail in theological literature: there are only isolated statements on this matter. But the fact is that in science a new theory is accepted only when there are new facts that confirm it, and fundamental shortcomings inherent in the previous theory. Theology is also a science. So, according to a principle common to all sciences, theological arguments should be presented not by opponents of the female priesthood, but by its defenders. These arguments can only come from two sources - Holy Scripture and the teachings of the holy fathers. “Neither in Scripture nor in patristic literature is there a single fact confirming the possibility of a female priesthood.”

For reference: the first female “priest” in the history of Christianity appeared in one of the churches of the Anglican Commonwealth (an association of Anglican churches around the world). Her name was Florence Lee Tim Oy (1907-1992). In 1941, after receiving her theological training, she became a deaconess and served the Chinese refugee community in Macau. When the Japanese occupation of China left the Macau congregation without a priest, the Anglican bishop of Hong Kong ordained her to the priesthood. It was a forced step. Because this was 30 years before any Anglican Church officially allowed female priesthood, Dr. Lee Tim Oi ceased priestly ministry immediately after the end of World War II. She died in 1992 in Toronto; By this time, the female “priesthood” had been introduced in most Anglican churches; the further, the more they deviated from the apostolic institutions, not only in this matter. “Why do Protestants dare to introduce female priests? There is internal contradiction, says Fr. Job (Gumerov), teacher of Sacred History Old Testament Moscow Sretensky Seminary. - After all, in disputes with Orthodox Protestants, almost, they say: “Where does it say this in the Bible?” But on the issue of the female priesthood, they act in exactly the opposite way. Reasoning that if the Bible does not say “no”, then it is possible is formalism, deceit and a refusal to perceive the true spirit of Holy Scripture.”

Late Metropolitan Sourozhsky Anthony believed that from a theological point of view, the question of a woman’s vocation had yet to be worked out. “I am convinced that we must think about this problem with all the strength of our minds, with full knowledge of Scripture and Tradition, and find an answer” (“ Orthodox Church And women's question", Bulletin of the RSHD, II-2002). The Bishop wrote about the height and responsibility of the priestly calling: “The priesthood is a state filled with such fear that it is impossible to desire it. It can be accepted almost with sacred awe, with horror, and, therefore, the priesthood is not a matter of status, unless we reduce the priesthood to the level of unskilled public work and preaching and a kind of “Christian social service».

The words of the Apostolic Epistles about all believers are well known: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light” (1 Pet. 2:9). How to understand these words? Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh explains this idea this way: “It seems to me that we can answer that the universal priesthood consists in the calling of all those who belong to Christ Himself, who through baptism have become Christ’s... to sanctify this world, to make it sacred and holy, to offer it as a gift to God . This service consists, first of all, of offering one’s own soul and body to God as a living sacrifice, and in this offering of oneself, offering everything that is ours: not only feelings, and soul, and thoughts, and will, and the whole body, but everything we do, everything we touch, everything that belongs to us, everything that we can free with our power from slavery to Satan is through the act of our own faithfulness to God.”

Protopresbyter Nikolai Afanasyev in its famous work The “Church of the Holy Spirit” separates the ministry of the royal priesthood - common to all the faithful, and the ministry of government - shepherding or “special”, hierarchical priesthood. The royal priesthood is understood in only one way - as the co-service of the entire church community in the celebration of the Eucharist. But the assembly of the faithful cannot exist without a primate, a shepherd who has received special gifts of governance. “Government belongs only to those specially called, and not to the entire people, whose members have not received the gifts of government, and without grace-filled gifts there can be no service in the Church. Therefore, the ministry of shepherds is different from the ministry of God’s people.” It is precisely this kind of pastoral service (presbyterian and episcopal), according to Tradition, that women are not allowed to serve.

Have women always been excluded from the altar?

Widows, virgins or nuns after 40 years can become an altar server - that is, clean the altar, serve the censer, read, go out with candles. In the Holy Land, in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, any pilgrim or pilgrim can enter the Edicule - the cave where Christ was resurrected and which serves as the altar of the temple - and venerate the deathbed of the Savior, that is, St. to the throne. Many are confused by the fact that at Baptism, boys are brought into the altar, but girls are not. However, it is known that until the 14th century, all children on the fortieth day after birth were churched (“fortiethly”) - brought into the altar. Moreover, both boys and girls were applied to St. to the throne. Children were baptized at about three years old, and infants only in case of danger. Later, after children began to be baptized earlier, the rite of churching began to be performed not before, but immediately after Baptism, and then girls were no longer brought to the altar, and boys were no longer brought to the Holy Cross. to the throne.

Where did the deaconesses go?

Deaconesses as a special female church ministry appeared around the 4th century after the Nativity of Christ (although Deaconess Thebes is mentioned in the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans, historians believe that at that time the rite of becoming a deaconess had not yet been established). In the subsequent Byzantine tradition, unmarried women over 50 years of age could become deaconesses: widows, virgins, and also nuns. The order of the rites of ordination of a deaconess and a deacon was almost the same (but the prayers of ordination, of course, were different) - at the end of the ordination the deacon was given the Chalice, and he went to give communion to the believers, and the deaconess put the Chalice back on the Holy. throne. This expressed the fact that the deaconess had no liturgical duties (the only known independent role of deaconesses in worship was related to maintaining decency during the Baptism of women: after the bishop or priest poured holy oil on the forehead of the baptized person, the rest of the body was anointed by the deaconess). Deaconesses performed administrative functions in charitable institutions and led women's communities. In Byzantium, deaconesses existed until the 11th century (by this time only schema-nuns could become deaconesses); in the West, they disappeared about half a millennium earlier - largely due to the destruction of that social structure, within which they were required. In Byzantium, the need for deaconesses disappeared for similar reasons - social charitable institutions no longer needed them. Later, the institution of deaconesses was not restored, since there was no need for them. True, several deaconesses were ordained by St. Nektarios of Aegina (1846-1920), the founder convent on the Greek island of Aegina, but this experience did not continue. There have never been deaconesses in Russia - in the oldest Slavic manuscript of the rites of ordination (bishop's Trebnik RNL. Sof. 1056, 14th century) the rite of ordination of a deaconess is absent.

Why do men and women stand separately in some temples?

According to a tradition dating back to early Christian times, men and women stand separately in the church. This division corresponded to ancient ideas about piety. The conventional division of the temple into male and female halves is still preserved, for example, among the Copts. In Byzantium, many churches had choirs (second floors running along the perimeter of the temple), where women stood during services.

Just a rib or the whole half?

According to one interpretation of the Bible, God created woman not from the man Adam, but from the man Adam, dividing him into two halves: male and female. Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh comments on this passage: “Translations of the Bible often say that God took Adam’s rib (Gen. 2:21). The Hebrew text offers other translations, one of which speaks of a side rather than an edge. God did not separate the rib, but separated two sides, two halves, female and male. Indeed, when you read the text in Hebrew, it becomes clear what Adam is saying when he comes face to face with Eve. He exclaims: She is a wife, because I am a husband (Gen. 2:23). In Hebrew it sounds: ish and isha, the same word in the masculine and feminine. Together they make up a person, and they see each other in a new richness, in a new opportunity to grow what is already given into a new fullness.

The horrors of Domostroy are exaggerated

For some reason it is believed that all the horrors of traditional family life are described in “Domostroy” - a Russian family charter of the 16th century (the famous priest Sylvester was the author of only one of the editions of “Domostroy”). However, in this book we find only one quote that can be interpreted as encouraging Physical punishment for women: “If the husband sees that his wife is not in order and that the servants are not as well as in this book, he would be able to instruct and teach his wife useful advice; if she understands, then let her do everything like that, and respect her and favor her, but if the wife is such a science, does not follow the instructions and does not fulfill it (as is said in this book), and she herself does not know any of this, and the servants do not teaches, a husband must punish his wife, admonish her with fear in private, and having punished her, forgive and reproach, and gently instruct, and teach, but at the same time neither the husband should be offended by his wife, nor the wife by her husband - always live in love and harmony.”

Is no one offended?

How widespread is dissatisfaction among church women with the place the Church assigns them? We asked several prominent Orthodox women. Let’s be honest: when we started our survey of Orthodox compatriots, we expected that the successful, professionally accomplished women who had fulfilled their calling, who we had chosen, felt more keenly than others and were better able to express the women’s resentment that was heard in the letter from the Church Abroad. To our surprise, there was not a single offended person among our interlocutors!

Maybe the fact is that in the Church any conversation from the position of “I have the right” is completely unfruitful? None of us - men or women, it doesn’t matter - can demand anything “for ourselves” - because love does not seek its own. You can only demand from yourself. How good it is that it is easier for the feminine, softer and more compliant nature to understand this!

What should those who are still offended do: men won’t let them say a word? I think there is some consolation. If you really have something to say, and the content of your soul and your words is really important, you don’t have to be afraid, you will be heard. How the holy women were heard - so much so that the memory of them and their words were preserved through the centuries.

The topic “woman in the Church” cannot be limited to one issue. About what is the true calling of women and whether it is the same for everyone, why active social or church activities are dangerous for her, whether her life is detrimental if she is not married, why it is now so difficult to find a “other half” - read this in the following room of Neskuchny Garden.

Athos is the only place on Earth where women are officially prohibited from being. However, it is this Holy Mountain that is considered the earthly inheritance of the Mother of God.

1. Athos was considered a sacred place even in pre-Christian times. There were temples of Apollo and Zeus here. Athos was the name of one of the titans, who, during the war with the gods, threw a large stone. Having fallen, he became a mountain, which was given the name of titan.

2. Athos is formally considered Greek territory, but in fact it is the only independent monastic republic in the world. This is approved by Article 105 of the Greek Constitution. The supreme power here belongs to the Holy Kinot, which consists of representatives of Athonite monasteries delegated to it. The executive branch is represented by the Sacred Epistasy. The Holy Kinot and the Holy Epistasia are located in Karyes (Kareya), the capital of the monastic republic.

3. Secular power, however, is also represented on Mount Athos. There is a governor, police officers, postal workers, merchants, artisans, staff from a medical center and a newly opened bank branch. The governor is appointed by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is responsible for security and order on Mount Athos.

4. The first large monastery on Mount Athos was founded in 963 by Saint Athanasius of Mount Athos, who is considered the founder of the entire way of monastic life adopted on the Holy Mountain. Today the monastery of St. Athanasius is known as the Great Lavra.

5. Athos is the earthly Destiny of the Mother of God. According to legend, in 48 the Most Holy Theotokos, having received the grace of the Holy Spirit, went to Cyprus, but the ship was caught in a storm and washed up on Mount Athos. After her sermons, local pagans believed in Jesus and adopted Christianity. Since then, the Most Holy Theotokos herself has been considered the patroness of the Athonite monastic community.

6. The cathedral church of the “capital of Athos” Kareya - the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - is the oldest on Athos. According to legend, it was founded in 335 by Constantine the Great.

7. Byzantine times are still preserved on Mount Athos. A new day begins at sunset, so Athonite time differs from Greek time - from 3 hours in summer to 7 hours in winter.

8. During its heyday, Holy Athos included 180 Orthodox monasteries. The first monastic hermitages appeared here in the 8th century. The republic received autonomy status under the auspices of the Byzantine Empire in 972.

9. Currently there are 20 on Athos active monasteries, in which about two thousand brothers live.

10. The Russian monastery (Xylurgu) was founded before 1016; in 1169, the monastery of Panteleimon was transferred to it, which then became the center of Russian monks on Athos. The number of Athonite monasteries, in addition to the Greek ones, includes the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery, Bulgarian and Serbian monasteries, as well as the Romanian monastery, which enjoy the right of self-government.

11. Most high point Athos Peninsula (2033 m) – the peak of Mount Athos. Here is a temple in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord, built, according to legend, by the Monk Athanasius of Athos in 965 on the site of a pagan temple.

12. The Mother Superior and Patroness of the Holy Mountain is the Most Holy Theotokos.

13. A strict hierarchy of monasteries has been established on Mount Athos. In first place is the Great Lavra, in twentieth place is the Konstamonit Monastery.

14. Karuli (translated from Greek as “reels, ropes, chains, with the help of which monks walk along mountain paths and lift provisions up”) is the name of a rocky, inaccessible area in the southwest of Athos, where the most ascetic hermits labor in caves.

15. Until the early 1990s, the monasteries on Mount Athos were both communal and special. After 1992, all monasteries became communal. However, some monasteries still remain special.

16. Despite the fact that Athos is the earthly Destiny of the Mother of God, women and “female creatures” are not allowed here. This prohibition is enshrined in the Charter of Athos.
There is a legend that in 422, the daughter of Theodosius the Great, Princess Placidia, visited the Holy Mountain, but was prevented from entering the Vatopedi monastery by a voice emanating from the icon of the Mother of God.
The ban was violated twice: during Turkish rule and during the Greek Civil War (1946-1949), when women and children fled to the forests of the Holy Mountain. For women entering the territory of Mount Athos, criminal liability is provided - 8-12 months of imprisonment.

17. Many relics and 8 famous miraculous icons are kept on Mount Athos.

18. In 1914-1915, 90 monks of the Panteleimon Monastery were mobilized into the army, which gave rise to suspicions among the Greeks that the Russian government was sending soldiers and spies to Athos under the guise of monks.

20. One of the main relics of Athos is the belt of the Virgin Mary. Therefore, Athonite monks, and especially the monks of the Vatopedi monastery, are often called “holy belts.”

21. Despite the fact that Athos is Holy place, not everything is peaceful there. Since 1972, the monks of the Esphigmen monastery, under the slogan “Orthodoxy or death,” have refused to commemorate the Ecumenical and others Orthodox Patriarchs having connections with the Pope. Representatives of all Athonite monasteries, without exception, view these contacts negatively, but their actions are not so radical.

22. Before sunrise, before people in the world wake up, up to 300 liturgies are served on Athos.

23. For access of the laity to Mount Athos it is required special document- diamanterion - paper with the Athonite seal - a double-headed Byzantine eagle. The number of pilgrims is limited; no more than 120 people can visit the peninsula at a time. About 10 thousand pilgrims visit Athos every year. Orthodox clerics must also obtain prior permission from the Ecumenical Patriarchate to visit the Holy Mountain.

24. In 2014, Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople called on Athonite monasteries to limit the number of monks of foreign origin on Mount Athos to 10%, and also announced a decision to stop issuing permits to foreign monks to settle in Greek-speaking monasteries.

25. On September 3, 1903, in the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos, the monk Gabriel captured the distribution of alms to the poor Syrian monks, pilgrims and wanderers. It was planned that this would be the last such distribution. However, after developing the negative, the photo showed... the Mother of God herself. Of course, they continued to give out alms. The negative of this photo was found on Mount Athos last year.

26. St. Andrew's monastery on Mount Athos, as well as other Russian settlements, was a hotbed of name-glorification in the early 1910s; in 1913, its inhabitants were expelled to Odessa with the help of Russian troops.

27. The first ruler of Russia to visit the Holy Mountain was Vladimir Putin. His visit took place in September 2007.

28. In 1910, there were about 5 thousand Russian monks on Mount Athos - significantly more than the clergy of all other nationalities combined. There was an article in the budget of the Russian government according to which 100 thousand rubles in gold were allocated to Greece annually for the maintenance of the Athos monasteries. This subsidy was canceled by the Kerensky government in 1917.

29. After graduation Civil War in Russia, the arrival of Russians to Athos was practically prohibited both for persons from the USSR and for persons from the Russian emigration until 1955.

30. Many people, without knowing it, come across the word “Athos” when reading the novel “The Three Musketeers” by Alexandre Dumas. The name Athos is the same as "Athos".
The spelling of this word contains the letter “theta”, which denotes an interdental sound, which does not exist in the Russian language. Her in different time transliterated differently. And as “f” - since the spelling of “theta” is similar to “f”, and as “t” - since in Latin “theta” was rendered with the letters “th”. As a result, we have a tradition of calling the mountain “Athos” and the hero “Athos”, although we are talking about the same word.