Athos is the only place on Earth where women are officially prohibited. However, it is this Holy Mountain that is considered the earthly lot of the Mother of God.
1. Athos was considered a sacred place even in pre-Christian times. Here were the temples of Apollo and Zeus. Athos was the name of one of the titans, who threw a large stone during the war with the gods. Having fallen, he became a mountain, which was given the name of the titan.
2. Athos is formally considered a Greek territory, but in fact it is the only independent monastic republic in the world. This is confirmed by Article 105 of the Greek Constitution. The supreme power here belongs to the Sacred Kinot, which consists of delegated representatives of the Athonite monasteries. The executive power is represented by Sacred Epistasia. Sacred Kinot and Sacred Epistasia are located in Karyes (Karei) - the capital of the monastic republic.
3. Secular power, however, is also represented on Athos. There is a governor, police officers, postal workers, merchants, artisans, medical staff 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 St. Athanasius of Athos, who is considered the founder of the entire monastic life adopted on the Holy Mountain. Today the monastery of St. Athanasius is known as the Great Lavra.
5. Athos - the earthly Lot of the Virgin. According to legend, in 48 AD, the Most Holy Theotokos, having accepted the grace of the Holy Spirit, set off for Cyprus, but the ship got into a storm and nailed to Athos. After her sermons, local pagans believed in Jesus and converted to Christianity. Since then, the Most Holy Theotokos herself has been considered the patroness of the Athos monastic community.
6. The cathedral church of the "capital of Athos" Karea - the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos - is the oldest on Athos. According to legend, it was founded in 335 by Constantine the Great.
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7. On Athos the Byzantine time is still preserved. A new day begins at sunset, so Athos time differs from Greek time - from 3 hours in summer to 7 hours in winter.
8. During its heyday, St. Athos included 180 Orthodox monasteries. The first monastic sketes appeared here in the 8th century. The republic received the status of autonomy under the auspices of the Byzantine Empire in 972.
9. At present, there are 20 active monasteries on Athos, in which about two thousand brothers live.
10. The Russian monastery (Xilurgu) was founded before 1016, in 1169 the monastery of Panteleimon was transferred to it, which later became the center of Russian monks on Athos. Among the Athos monasteries, in addition to the Greek ones, are the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery, the Bulgarian and Serbian monasteries, and the Romanian skete, which enjoy the right of self-government.
11. The highest point of the Athos peninsula (2033 m) is the summit of Mount Athos. There 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 is established on Athos. In the first place - the Great Lavra, in the twentieth - the Constamonite monastery.
14. Karuli (translated from Greek “coils, ropes, chains, with the help of which monks walk the mountain paths and lift up provisions”) is the name of a rocky, inaccessible area in the southwest of Athos, where the most ascetic hermits live 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 sketes still remain special.
16. Despite the fact that Athos is the earthly Lot of the Mother of God, women and “female beings” are not allowed here. This prohibition is enshrined in the Rite of Athos.
There is a legend that in 422 the daughter of Theodosius the Great, Princess Plakidia, visited the Holy Mountain, but a voice emanating from the icon of the Mother of God prevented her from entering the Vatopedi monastery.
The ban was violated twice: during the Turkish rule and during the civil war in Greece (1946-1949), when women and children fled to the forests of the Holy Mountain. For women entering the territory of Athos, criminal liability is provided for - 8-12 months in prison.
17. Many relics and 8 famous miraculous icons are kept on Athos.
18. In 1914-1915, 90 monks of the Panteleimon monastery were mobilized into the army, which aroused 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. Therefore, the Athonite monks, and especially the monks of the Vatopedi monastery, are often called "holy belts".
21. Despite the fact that Athos is a 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 other Orthodox patriarchs who have connections with the Pope. Representatives of all Athonite monasteries, without exception, have a negative attitude towards these contacts, but their actions are not so radical.
22. Before sunrise, before people wake up in the world, up to 300 Liturgies are served on Athos.
23. For laymen access to Athos, a special document is required - a diamantheon - paper with an Athos seal - a two-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 annually. To visit the Holy Mountain, Orthodox clergy must also obtain prior permission from the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
24. In 2014, Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople called on the 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 wretched Syromach monks, pilgrims and pilgrims. It was planned that this would be the last such distribution. However, after the manifestation of the negative in the photo was … the Mother of God herself. Of course, alms continued to be given. The negative of this photo was found on Mount Athos last year.
26. Andreevsky skete on Mount Athos, as well as other Russian settlements, in the early 1910s was a hotbed of imyaslavl, 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 Athos - much more than the clergy of all other nationalities combined. In the budget of the Russian government there was an article according to which 100 thousand rubles in gold were allocated to Greece annually for the maintenance of the Athos monasteries. This subsidy was canceled in 1917 by the Kerensky government.
29. After the end of the Civil War in Russia, the arrival of Russians to Athos was practically prohibited both for persons from the USSR and for persons from Russian emigration until 1955.
30. Many people, without knowing it, come across the word "Athos" while reading the novel by Alexander Dumas "The Three Musketeers". The name Athos is the same as "Athos".
In the spelling of this word there is the letter "theta", which denotes an interdental sound, which is absent in Russian. It was translated differently at different times. And as "f" - since the spelling of "theta" is similar to "f", and as "t" - since in Latin theta was transmitted by the letters "th". As a result, we have a tradition to call the mountain “Athos”, and the hero “Athos”, although we are talking about the same word.