Things of the Hidden God: Journey to the Holy Mountain

by Christopher Merrill

“If I had learned anything during the war, it was that our walk in the sun is brief, and so I resolved to wander from monastery to monastery, a sojourner in the world of last things.”

So poet and journalist Christopher Merrill tells us near the beginning of this gripping account of the transforming pilgrimages he made to Mount Athos, in Greece, in the aftermath of the Balkan wars of the 1990s. “It was time for me to come to terms with the way my life had turned the love I had squandered, the misgivings I had about my vocation and my faith, the dread I felt at every turn.”

In despair and out of a longing to end his spiritual desolation, Merrill became one of a handful of visitors permitted entry to Mount Athos–a mysterious land that for more than a thousand years has been the secret heart of the Eastern Orthodox Church. There, amid the beautiful terrain, the ancient rhythms, and the spiritual rigor of this holy place, he found a haven in dramatic contrast to the rest of the world.

As Merrill’s story unfolds, we, too, hike the rough trails of Athos, exploring a place and a way of life scarcely altered since medieval times. We share encounters with monks, wolves, and spiritual seekers; visit Athos’s twenty monasteries, where exquisite art treasures are sequestered; make our way to lonely hermitages that clutch the cliffs above the sea. And like Merrill, we come to consider existence in a new and different light.

Part journal of personal discovery, part meditation upon the history and traditions of the contemplative life, Things of the Hidden God takes us where the temporal and the eternal intersect, where community and solitude coexist, and where centuries-old practices provide insight for how to live today.

Genres: Spirituality, Travel, Religion

304 pages, Hardcover

First published February 8, 2005

Reviews

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moving account of pilgrimages over a few years to Mt. Athos, the monastic home of Orthodox Christianity and the authors spiritual crises and development. He's very open and honest about his struggles, his marriage and family problems too. Also, he does not gloss over the ugly side of the stupid nationalism, anti-semitism, and fundamentalism of some of the monks on Athos. These don't detract though from the real wisdom and holiness of many of them and journey itself.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

An American poet and professor, an active Episcopalian, encounters Greek Orthodoxy at Athos. Not sure at first about the future of his marriage and chosen profession, he finds his way and ends up embracing both. He realizes that monasticism and marriage are alike in requiring discipline and commitment.

[Yannis Charalabidis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice to read, especially if you have already been in Athos.

Describes the places and history well.
Deep in some (not all) religious analysis.

Swallow, especially towards the end.

[Shmell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well written and poignant in places but too heavy on the historical aspects of Mount Athos for my purposes; I was after something with a more spiritual, personal focus to guide my Lenten prayer.