NO WOMEN !

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10401, 15 July 1912, Page 6

NO WOMEN !

There is a womanleas republic oa a neninaula south of Macedonia in Greece, where ten thousand men live, studying and praying constantly, and whore policemen guard the coast to keep out women pilgrims aud other persons who would make undesirable guests. Professor Caspar Bene Gregory, theologian of the University of Leipzig, student of Biblical manuscripts, tells in his lectures of this most unique of all countries “The place is Mount Athos, classic peninsula cf Akte, the easternmost of the three little peninsulas below Macedonia.” Professor Gregory explains: : —“lt Is called the Mount of Twenty Monasteries, and was used 'in ancient times as a signalling station to Asia Minor. It is a real republic. There are ten thousand monks there who govern themselves without interference from Turkey of any other country. There are, however, no government buildings, no president, or other office holders. “The only police force is composed of men who patrol the coast to keep out women and meu who have no permit to enter this most exclusive of countries Only these who have a letter of permission from the Greek patriarch in Constantinople are allowed to enter the holy place. The bolcter cf the letter must present it in Karges, the village capital of the peninsula. ” “Some reports have It,” Professor Gregory said, “that this republic was formed in the ninth century It is said that the foot of a woman baa not touched tbe soil of the place for centuries ”