Page 33 - Mediterraneo e dintorni - 3-2020

MouNT aThos: WaLKiNg beTWeeN sea aND sKy

To the north-east of Greece three peninsulas stretch out like a
trident from the Chalcidian coast. The northernmost of them
culminates, with the 2033 meters of Mount Athos, its direct elevation
from the sea and amplifies the impression of grandeur. The territory
of this peninsula, currently called the Monastic Republic of Mount
Athos, has been a sacred place and a pilgrimage destination since
time immemorial for Eastern Christianity. It is seven o’clock in the
morning on a bright day in early May, we have just reached the top.
The sun is rising, projecting the infinite shadow cone of the moun-
tain onto the Aegean Sea. The air is clear, swept by a fresh wind;
below us the scenario of a vast region extends as far as the eye can
see, covered by a green carpet of vegetation and forests, dotted only
by the groupings of monastic settlements. On the top, in addition
to the three of us, a Russian monk and his disciple who watched in
prayer during the night, seem to have come out of a page by Tolstoy.
We are on the borders of the West. Here the feeling of distance is not
only geographical but is marked above all by the comparison with
the surrounding reality. We find ourselves in a world permeated by
philosophical-religious practices and conceptions (of which Mount
Athos is the thousand-year-old guardian) which is not easy for us
Europeans to understand, influenced by modernity and materiality.
The founding tradition of this male theocratic republic is attributed
to the will of the Madonna (the Theotòkos) to elect these places as
her garden, as her favorite for the beauty and harmony of a nature
capable of inspiring mysticism and asceticism. In the time given to
us for a week, we have tried with curiosity and respect to get in tou-
ch with this reality. Dusty mule tracks, long paths that led us to cross
suggestive environments, alternating coastal cliffs, tall woods with
ancient trees, summit rocks and the austere but friendly hospitality
of the monks, with whom we share frugal meals, in rigorous silen-
ce, at inside huge frescoed refectories. Among songs, candles, icons
and incense you are transported to a dimension that leads to medi-
tation. In these situations, the existing gap is clearly perceived with
the poverty and the anemic of many of our rituals, hastily hurried
in certain reinforced concrete sheds-churches with out of tune choir
and unconventional guitars. Another aspect that is very impressive

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