BACHELORS' PARADISE

Evening Star, Issue 18809, 6 December 1924, Page 18

BACHELORS' PARADISE

BOARD AND LODGING FREE. WOMANLESS EDEN OF MT. ATHOS. Mr C. D. Morris, in the Now York ‘Times,’ gives a most interesting narrative about the many old monasteries in Greece, a heritage from the Middle Ages. “The Meteora monasteries in Thessaly,’ ho writes, “ are perhaps the most picturesque, set high in the sky, on sloeplcd pinnacles of rock, which rise I,oooft or inure sheer from the fertile plain below. The monasteries of the west coast are more daintv, mounted like jewels against (ho ma ,r enla waters of thb Adriatic. .1 he monasteries of the Peloponnesus are gaunt mid ascetic, as brown and hard as the slonv fields which surround them. “But the greatest and most impressive eroup of monasteries in (lie world is Mount Athos, a rocky promontory jutting out thirty miles into the Upper ritgean. Here, in an area of perhaps j()0 square miles, is a. self-governing ecclesiastical republic, its members consisting ul the officers of perhaps 100 monasteries, which were once the very heart and centre ot the great Greek and Russian Churches “So I set out first for Mount Athos, and the excursion, which I had onginady planned as a. matter of a fortnight or so, extended itself under the quaint charm and unbounded hospitality of the or monks, until I had visited not only the monasteries of Athos, but also the pnnet- , pal other centres in Central and bontliein Greece. , , “Board and lodging are free, and even a. small gift or contribution must be offered with the, utmost tact it it. is not to bo resented as a violation of the unwr ttui laws ot monastic hospitality. My diary shows that (he total' expenses ot my pilgrimage averaged less than eight do liars a week, ami this amount went mainly for travel expenses. “Tu some of the more wealthy nioii.i(cries the lodging was excellent am the faro superb. In the smaller mstitnt.nn>, whom the war has seriously cramped income from rentals or tithes, the .ml . d board were simple and plain, like ‘Golden Ratio ’ fare of the American orphantoms the Near hast, k-e./monastery has its own farm or farms, worked by the brothers. J Mntloi. is the standard meat diet and the bund is baked from home-made_ whole-wheat (lour. Evcrv monastery has its own wines and liqueurs, fabricated with hands from century-old vines on sun-kissed slopes The language of tho poet is excusable. and. indeed, necessary m speaKi,m of monastic vintages Probably nowhere in the world can be_ found a moiInwer spirit than the priceless ouzo iliicli Ls preserved in fb? of t , l ’ o Greek monasteries, distilled pet hap.-, spventv or eighty years ago. Hie finest liqueur in Greece happens to be found in the monastic vaults of Xero-Potami, on Mount Athos, and, curiously enorigh, the name of this institution, translated, means ‘ never dry.’ , . , , , “Mount Athos, in tho good_ old_ days before the war, had a population in iG Immhvd monasteries of 50,000 persons, ha.f of whom were transient pilgrims. Jo-day nianv of the institutions have been abandoned, mid the whole population of the peninsula is probably loss than o.OuU. Inc streams of pilgrims from Greece, ami Egypt and Russia have ceased. At_ one of the larn-cr moiuistcrics the, visitors book showed only thirl v guests in twelve months. Eight of these were Americans, naval officers and Near Hast relict workers v.-ho had strayed that way in some pleasant lino of duty. “For hundreds of vears no woman has set foot, on Mount Athos. It is the bachelor’s paradise. Not even female_ animals are permitted to cross tiie frontier, and (1,0 monastic flocks and herds must do their mating and multiplying on the disDint inniiiU'incl. Tlio furvv doer 'which L took ashore with me, a Chinese chow with the dignity and lordliness of his ansto- ; c-atic race, had to pass the sex-inquirin': j scrulinv of a guard at the timbered wharf j before lie earned the right of entry. _ ( “Tn tho centre of the peninsula, is a little lowa which is the capital of tine monastic republic. Its 800 inhabitants are all men. which gives it an atmosphere d.f- ; ferenfc from anv other village in the world. Yd, it is a spotless (own, and its cassocked inhabitants stem able to perform all Hie tasks of a progressive innmc,ipalily_ without serious handicap. There is a main street , with twenty little shops, clear of porch j arid scrupulously ucaL brncaLh llieir hoctline caves. There are tailors and grocers ; and candlestick makers. There are several little monastic industries, chiefly for the manufacture of ikons, sacred iclics, an rosaries, which arc exported to all parts ot the world, and form one of the duct supports of the monasteries. . . . “Hundreds of monks devote their leisure time in woodwork, making statues, souvenirs, and curiously-fashioned ‘ pack scratchers,’ which arc said to be widely used ’ throughout (ho Near hast. On one of my visits into the town I recklessly pur-1 chased a round dozen back scratchers, 1 costing two drachmas (4 cents) each, and sent one of them for old-time s sake to Sir Harry. 1 even tried them myself, and found them very effective and comforting, enabling one to reach the most remote and inaccessible portions of the anatomy with comparative ease. On the other hand, I discovered that the possession of this valuable instrument nndoulit- ( cdly increased ones inclination toward back scratching, and I finally discarded it as likely to lead to the formation ot a habit that might be misunderstood in

westfern society. “ For the tourist who desires a, cheap and fascinating suumior vacation, I recoinmend the Greek monasteries. The language difficulty is a handicap, and unless one possesses a working knowledge of modern Greek lie must provide himself with an interpreter, for there arc few monasteries where either English or French is spoken. Tim would-be visitor must also bo a good mountain climber, and lie should be mured to travel on muleback for many long hours. The monasteries are in places of almost unbelievable inaccessibility, this heiiK- duo to Die fact that most of Die sites''were selected for purposes of concealment or defence against Dio Turkish soldiery. “At" Moteora the climb to one of the finest monasteries reipiires a three-hour trip on muleback, and then an ascent 300 ft up a perpendicular rock in a bag, which i» hauled by Dio ‘ brothers ’ over a rickety windlass from their castle atop the, cliff. The sensation of the passenger in this primitive, elevator, as ho spins round and round on bis slow upward wav, is better imagined than described. Gut’at tho (op ho is repaid for a!) his ‘ mental anguish ’ cm route. The solemn monks await him with smoking demitasses of fragrant Turkish coffee, plates _ of syrupy'confiture, a pitcher of rod wine, and finally a glass of crystal liqueur, which has been aging for more than a Jialf-centnry in tho rock-hewn cellars of rlio Abbot’s official residence. Then comes a. visit to the old Byzantine chapels, with their weird mural paintings in colors still bright after more than 400 years. The afternoon wilt be spent perhaps m the library or inspecting tho ikons and t;easuros or in a. tour of Die colls. After evensong comes a protracted meat under the candle-lighted splendors of the refectory, and an evening chat with the Abbot in his study, smoking his cigarettes of unadulterated Gavalla. Finally the meat wooden gong calls the monastery to sleep and the visitor is shown to the ‘ guest room ’ and his pallet beneath a leaded window open to the stars. “ Hero in these ancient, monasteries was preserved throughout tho middle ages all that remains of the culture and literature of ancient Greece. To-day they have largely become a relic of a glorious past. Scores of the monasteries have been abandoned, and those which remain find few recruits for their secluded life. Greece now proposes to convert many of them to educational purposes and to make them the seats of higher education for the nation. There are accommodations for 20,000 students at Mount Alhos. ‘ But wo shall never consent to any co-educational colleges here,’ said the old Abbot of Never Dry, shaking his head so that his long white beard swung like a pendulum across his black gown. Perhaps not dor-

ing his lifetime, but Iho Abbot is an old man, and the world moves on. Old ideas become moss-grown and arc discarded in the East, even as in the West. Perhaps oven the ancient no-woman's land of Athos is ripo for a change.”