Athos - Mount Athos Monk's Republic Documentary

Mount Athos on a peninsula off the cost of Greece is one of Europe's last remaining secrets: a monks' republic. Access to women is strictly denied and in order to keep unwanted tourists out, visas are granted only to pilgrims and workers. For the first time, a filmmaker was given access to all forms of monastic life on the holy mountain.

[Joshua-chij]

I grew up in the Protestant church all my life and converted to orthodoxy last year and I can say it was the best decision I ever made.

[ScottishOrthodoxPilgrim]

This documentary saved my life. I used to watch it some nights when I was especially down during the Covid lockdown. I was jobless and there were no jobs to apply for as everything was shut down, and I couldn’t volunteer for anything either, and friendless and isolated, and felt like giving up. This documentary gave me such peace. I used to have it on in the dark and it was like drinking cold water on a hot day. I am eternally grateful to the people who made this documentary and whoever put it on You Tube.

[hermela]

Proud to be orthodox God bless you all brothers and sisters and long life to our fathers from Ethiopia 🇪🇹

[elvenkind]

I struggle a lot with mental health and addiction, but when I listen to the hymns being song from Mount Athos it is like everything falls into order within myself again and I feel peace and at ease with the world I live in. These monks are very lucky to have such blessed lives. I have often wished there was monasteries here in Norway, all the time since I first became religious in my teenage years, studying Buddhism, and then converted to Christ after having tried all other things.

EDIT: Thank you so much for all the kind answers. May God bless you all, as you have blessed me.

[kalyda]

I am a Muslim but this documentary brought me to tears. In a world filled with some much ugliness and greed, seeing a group of people so devoted to their faith is really is touching and inspiring. All these individuals shared some beautiful insights. Many blessings to the beautiful people of Mount Athos.

[xavierpaololedesmamandreza]

Update: I just read that Father/Monk Epiphanios, the monk chef picking grapes, maintaining the vineyard and peeling and cooking shrimps in this documentary has Fallen Asleep with the Lord.

Memory Eternal. 🙏 +

[constantinezh]

Stayed there for a week about 3 years ago with my father. An absolutely soul-cleansing, spiritual experience for us people "from the world". I'm an orthodox christian but I drown in this world's temptations. When we came back from Athos, I could see the FILTH that surrounds us.

[fratercontenduntocculta]

I am new to Orthodoxy and am currently on my journey of conversion. I really do feel I have found my proper spiritual home, and the more I learn about the proper ways of worship and history by living the rites I feel a rich tradition that I am honored to participate and continue. May the Lord bless you all!

[mrstickinthemud]

All the documentaries I see on YouTube are so irrelevant to my recent experience from Mt Athos. After having stayed there for five days, I returned to daily “normal” life, one week ago. The place was just extraordinary! To start with, nature and the ancient buildings were unbelievably beautiful and charming. However, there was no sense of relaxation or easy going; everything was on the move, and followed a strict schedule.Church started at 4, 3, or even 2 a.m. ( service times were different in the different monasteries) and went on from two to four hours, even six on Sunday. We used to walk in the night on our way to church admiring the stars. The galaxy was quite visible. There was no electricity in church, only candle light. The experience of sunlight coming in from the church windows during liturgy, along with the progress of the day was just unbelievable, one felt of being reborn. Lunch was about 9 am, dinner at 7 pm (20 min each, we hardly managed to eat the food provided!), all intermittent with worship. We slept very early (about 8 p.m.). The monks were like spirits, very thin, fast moving, very willing to help, some quite distant, dedicated to a life of praying and continuous work, . Religion was not an abstract concept but a living experience. These people live in the word of Christ, the Apostles and Saints. They were of strong convictions, serving us (the intruders?) with ample accommodation and food. Time was still, you thought you were in the days of Christ but you also felt that time was running fast and made you feel that you must make good use of your time while on earth. Having living Saints (e.g. the late Paisios and other living elders) around fortified the latter impression. Meeting people from other Christian nominations gave you a brotherly feeling. Life felt pure and genuine. I returned exhausted but with a quite different perspective on the world we live in.

[nickvanr.]

I grew up in the Protestant church all my life and converted to orthodoxy last year and I can say it was the best decision I ever made

[woobi]

Quite possibly one of the closest places to heaven we have in this world.
Being raised in an American protestant community, I never really saw the extent to which a man can devote his entire existence to serving God. Eastern Christianity has been pulling me back after having walked off the path after childhood. The way in which the monks sing has such an emotional pain to it, A cry for help to their father. The desire to love and be embraced by God.

[mightyred]

Ο θεός είναι μεγάλος, σας ευχαριστώ για αυτό το υπέροχο ντοκουμέντο .
Ελευθερία στην Κύπρο και σε όλη την Ελλάς ♥️🇬🇷

[KingdomIsNow]

Most of these monks were highly qualified academic professionals. They decided to leave everything to follow Christ. Some of them felt the Divine call at a very young age.

[KingdomIsNow]

I would visit Mount Athos if I was a male. My good friend lives there. He used to attend my Bible studies. He is one of the holiest young man I have ever met in my life. He always wanted to be away from the busy world. I miss our Bible discussions so much. I hear that he loves it there.

[misteraxl]

When you look at these people, you wonder how can those American televangelists like Kenneth Copeland call themselves CHRISTIAN at all.

[jbiutuo]

The only place where one can see the beauty of the East Roman Empire aka Byzantine Empire and Orthodox Christianity in the modern world. I remember with joy the time spent in the Hilandar and Esphigmenou monasteries 20 years ago

[ahmedel-wakil]

Mount Athos is a sacred and holy place. May God protect it always and shower His blessings on the monks.

[kechoNani]

I am Ethiopian Orthodox. I live in America and I would love to visit this place. God bless you Happy Easter

[charalamposmanthos]

I was born in 1979. My first visit in Mount Athos, or Holly Mountain was in 1985. It was a window, a passage to older times. As soon as we arrived they offered loukoumia (a sweet, chewy delicacy, the usual treat till now), raki (alcoholic beverage similar to grappa-vodka) and Greek coffee. Then we were escorted to the guest rooms. No central heating, old stoves burning woods, no electricity, there were petrol lamps. I can still recall the very smell of the room. It was the way people lived for centuries. The faint light, trembling, shy through the smoked glass, the shadows on to the walls, the iron beds with stiff and uncomfortable mattresses, the chestnut wood floors, almost total darkness after 20:30 was very eerie. Not frightening but I was in awe. Monasteries were build almost 1000 years ago, most of them by people who chose to be apart from the world. They resemble to castles, due to often raids of pirates and looters. I will never forget the sky there. It was totally silent, I had never experienced such a quiet environment. No cars, no traffic, no voices, nothing. So a 6 years old son of an Orthodox priest was stargazing feeling out of this world. Countless stars, a totally clear sky and an underlying sense of Divinity, calmness and awe. Time in Agion Oros (in Greek language) has a different sense. Monks wake up at 2 or 3 a.m. They go to the main church, Katholikon. Their shadows, dressed in black, while they walk in a fast pace is something to observe. Services are long, in a dark church, there are only some bee wax candles to create some light, or shadows. The greatness, the strict spirit of Byzantium lives in those ceremonies, in these places. I loved history so, I remember I imagined emperors attending a Liturgy, before a crucial battle. Or people of past centuries walking for months to do the pilgrimage to Athos. When services ended it was around 8:00 a.m. So the transition from night to day was visible only by the high placed windows in the center dome of the church, the troulos. After there was one of the two meals of the day. Monks first and then all the pilgrims entered the trapeza (the dining room). Long wooden tables, wooden benches, walls covered in Christian drawings, art treasures, were the scenery. Meat is prohibited. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays food was without even oil. But it was so tasteful. Recipes from an Era where food was simple, healthy and crucial for all the works that these men should do. Bread was homemade in wood stoves, whole wheat. It had a sour taste, no preservatives, pure bread. There was some wine on the tables, fruits and a metal dish in front of everyone. Monasteries had the obligation to give hospitality to anyone asked for it. Meals weren't lasting long. A monk, after he took the blessing of abbot, read from the Scripts, or the life of a saint. In festive days fish was served. It was so tasty. After the blessing, everyone went to his prearranged work. One had to clean the tables, other to cook, agricultural duties, etc. Ancient water sources, forests of chestnut trees, oak trees, hazelnut trees, the distant sound of sawmills, donkeys used to carry anything, were the background noises and images of the days there. I visited two monasteries then. One was next to the sea. So I could hear the waves rushing to the shore, such a mesmerizing lullaby! The other was at the heart of the peninsula, near the capital of Athos. Karyes (walnut trees) was a village taken from the past. Streets were stone made, two-stories building around a famous church the Protaton, the house of one of the most recognizable ikons of Panagia, the Axion Esti. The village was in the backbone of the peninsula, in some altitude. So the air was clean, crisp and cold. But it also brought a sense to me, it was an ongoing ritual, my whole first visit there. At a later visit I had the blessing of meeting father Paisios (father for me is a much more close word than Saint). He lived in a small stone house alone. There was a big garden and a long cable to the fence. It was attached to a bell into the house. In the backyard, where he was hosting all the people who walked to meet him, there were some chopped logs used as stools. A small table, a jar of cold water, a couple of glasses and a box of loukoumia. We sat at the logs and pappoulis (grandpa) talked to us. He wasn't judgemental or strict. He had a very sweet sense of humor. I can also recall his very deep eyes. You felt like he was seeing inside you. I have so many memories of places and people there. One specific monk, who passed away years ago was my favorite. He was silent. But smiling all the time. In the eyes of my 6 years old self he looked like Santa Klaus, agios Vasilis. He was happy, really happy and I used to sit next to him in a corner outside the church while he was peeling some potatoes or just sitting. He talked only when he had something meaningful to say and he treated me raw hazelnuts. It was the first time I realized the importance of silence in communication with people you love and respect.
All the above, after I ask your forgiveness for my poor English are recollections, memories from a time I had faith, a time when world was a better place. So after seeing this video I was overwhelmed by feelings, of warmth. Of stability, security. All the things I am deprived. First Christians were confessed in front of others. So, in the worst period of my life I can only confess to you my brothers and sisters. And share my humble thoughts . Please pray for me. Pray for a prodigal son, pray for our world. And let's have love in our hearts. Shaped in the form of a God, abstract or other. Amen.

[haceneouerdane]

Magnifique reportage sur la vie quotidien des moines de la Sainte Montagne. Vive la Sainte Orthodoxie. Que la Sainte Theotokos protège le Mont Athos et ses habitants.