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The Living Witness of the Holy Mountain: Contemporary Voices from Mount Athos
Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso
- GenresSpiritualityReligion
311 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1995
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May 19, 2021In a world of Silicon Valleys, who needs a Holy Mountain?” writes Fr. Alexander in his preface. Who indeed? The world sees monks as an anachronism. Substantial elements of today’s secular Greek society seek to curtail the prerogatives and privileges of Mount Athos and other monastic preserves.
The Living Witness is a collection of historical writings and modern essays that work together to paint a vivid picture of the spiritual life of the Holy Mountain across the centuries and provide a strong rationale for the absolute need for its existence. One prominently featured essayist, Fr. Placide (Deseille), a French convert from Roman Catholicism, goes so far as to say:
"But the pilgrim [to Mt. Athos] . . . will perhaps catch a glimpse of some solitary shrine, or of a hermit, alone with the Alone, interceding with tears for the entire world. Who can comprehend the force and power of this prayer? Are not such men the pillars of Europe and of the universe? "
Golitzin begins with an extensive introduction to the history of Mt. Athos and the organization of its daily life. The essays that follow bounce back and forth in time, showing the overarching continuity of faith from the earliest days, despite the periods of persecution, decline, and renewal that the “Garden of the Theotokos” has seen. Chapters contain sayings from the lives of modern “desert fathers,” essays on the paradoxes of transfiguration and personal martyrdom, and
an extensive appreciation of St. Herman of Alaska, his links to the Holy Mountain, and the devotion he generates there today.
Fr. Alexander notes that the foundations laid in the 14th century by St. Gregory Palamas shape all that Mount Athos is today. Golitzin introduces the affirmations of the “Hagiorite Tome (Decree of the Holy Mountain)” produced by Palamas and his Athonite supporters as follows:
1) Human nature comprises both body and soul (nous); 2) God the Word became man, wholly and perfectly, and therefore 3) we are called to become, soul and body, participants of His divinity; 4) in the world to come, this glory, which is God’s eternal radiance, will be visible to all, but 5) even now in this life and in every generation, there are those who have tasted and seen it; and 6) whose
witness is to be trusted by as many of us as have not been so favored.
Those of us who may never be so favored with a visit to Mount Athos can be still be immensely blessed by trusting the testimony of The Living Witness.
The Living Witness is a collection of historical writings and modern essays that work together to paint a vivid picture of the spiritual life of the Holy Mountain across the centuries and provide a strong rationale for the absolute need for its existence. One prominently featured essayist, Fr. Placide (Deseille), a French convert from Roman Catholicism, goes so far as to say:
"But the pilgrim [to Mt. Athos] . . . will perhaps catch a glimpse of some solitary shrine, or of a hermit, alone with the Alone, interceding with tears for the entire world. Who can comprehend the force and power of this prayer? Are not such men the pillars of Europe and of the universe? "
Golitzin begins with an extensive introduction to the history of Mt. Athos and the organization of its daily life. The essays that follow bounce back and forth in time, showing the overarching continuity of faith from the earliest days, despite the periods of persecution, decline, and renewal that the “Garden of the Theotokos” has seen. Chapters contain sayings from the lives of modern “desert fathers,” essays on the paradoxes of transfiguration and personal martyrdom, and
an extensive appreciation of St. Herman of Alaska, his links to the Holy Mountain, and the devotion he generates there today.
Fr. Alexander notes that the foundations laid in the 14th century by St. Gregory Palamas shape all that Mount Athos is today. Golitzin introduces the affirmations of the “Hagiorite Tome (Decree of the Holy Mountain)” produced by Palamas and his Athonite supporters as follows:
1) Human nature comprises both body and soul (nous); 2) God the Word became man, wholly and perfectly, and therefore 3) we are called to become, soul and body, participants of His divinity; 4) in the world to come, this glory, which is God’s eternal radiance, will be visible to all, but 5) even now in this life and in every generation, there are those who have tasted and seen it; and 6) whose
witness is to be trusted by as many of us as have not been so favored.
Those of us who may never be so favored with a visit to Mount Athos can be still be immensely blessed by trusting the testimony of The Living Witness.
May 24, 2014
This is an inspiring look at the crucial place that monasticism, and especially the monastic life of Mount Athos, plays in the life of the Church. Hieromonk Alexander (Now Bishop Alexander) gives us a good history of the Holy Mountain and a description of the life of the community there. He is uncompromising in his view that monasticism is an absolutely essential pillar of the Orthodox Faith, a message that we especially need to hear in this country (USA) where monasticism has sometimes been actively discouraged by the hierarchy and is only now getting on its feet.
The rest of the book is a sort of scrapbook of reflections on Athonite life from many interesting directions. Don't expect an orderly linear narrative, but appreciate each section for the spiritual wealth it has to offer. I especially appreciated a very thoughtful conversion story by a former Roman Catholic who made his way to Orthodoxy and was received into the Faith on the Holy Mountain; a collection of sayings on 20th-century Athonite elders; and the story of the reception of a relic of St Herman of Alaska in Greece, including sermons by Abbot Aemilianos of Simonas Petras Monastery.
Don't ignore the notes and annotated Bibliography at the back of the book, which give quite a bit of useful commentary.
The rest of the book is a sort of scrapbook of reflections on Athonite life from many interesting directions. Don't expect an orderly linear narrative, but appreciate each section for the spiritual wealth it has to offer. I especially appreciated a very thoughtful conversion story by a former Roman Catholic who made his way to Orthodoxy and was received into the Faith on the Holy Mountain; a collection of sayings on 20th-century Athonite elders; and the story of the reception of a relic of St Herman of Alaska in Greece, including sermons by Abbot Aemilianos of Simonas Petras Monastery.
Don't ignore the notes and annotated Bibliography at the back of the book, which give quite a bit of useful commentary.
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