Moldovan, Transdniestrian Leaders Visit Mount Athos with Moldovan Orthodox Metropolitan

Moldovan Prime Minister Vladimir Filat and President Yevgeniy V. Shevchuk of the breakaway state of Transdniestria in eastern Moldova have begun a joint pilgrimage with Metropolitan Vladimir (Cantarean) of the Moldovan Orthodox Church to Mount Athos. The leaders are described as being "on a private visit to jointly pray at the ancient monasteries on Mount Athos." The pilgrimage is the latest in a series of informal contacts between the two. More here.

Sash of the Mother of God to Visit Russia

One of the most treasured relics of the Orthodox Church, the sash of the Mother of God, will be visiting Russia from Mount Athos this fall. More here.

St. Constantine the New Martyr

Joyous feast! Today we commemorate the New Martyr Constantine. St. Constantine was born to a Muslim family on the Greek island of Mytilene and as a child became sick and lost his sight. Although he expected to die, a Christian took him to a nearby church and washed the Saint with holy water, after which his health and sight were restored.

After searching for a long time St. Constantine took refuge on Mount Athos, where he was baptized and requested a blessing to go and be martyred. (In those times a convert from Islam to another faith in the Ottoman Empire was subject to the death penalty.) After 40 days of fasting and prayer the Saint was blessed to return to the world, where he confessed the Christ before Turkish officials and was martyred for his Lord.

More on St. Constantine's life can be found here. May his blessing and prayers be with us all!

New Protos for Mount Athos

Elder Barnabas of Vatopaidi Monastery has been installed as Protos of Mount Athos. The protos is the head of Mount Athos' Holy Community as functions as the Holy Mountain's supervisor under the oversight of the ecumenical patriarch. More (in Greek) here.

Elder Paisius the Athonite on Faith

"I remember an elderly monk at Esphigmenou Monastery on Mount Athos who was so simple that he thought "Ascension" was the name of a woman saint. He prayed to her on his prayer rope, "Saint of God, intercede for us!" Once, he had to feed a sick brother in the infirmary and had nothing to offer him. He immediately went down the stairs, opened a window overlooking the sea, stretched his arms out and said, "Ascension, my Saint, give me a little fish for the brother!" And right away, as if by miracle, a big fish jumped out of the sea and into his hands. The others who saw him were astonished, but he simply looked at them smiling, as if he were saying, 'What's so strange about what you've just seen?' And then look at us. We may know everything about the life and martyrdom of the Saints, or about when and how the Ascension took place, and yet we cannot even catch a tiny little fish! These are the strange and paradoxical things of the spiritual life, which the reasoning of those intellectuals that are centered on themselves and not on God cannot explain..."

I'm indebted to another's blog for this excerpt from Elder Paisius' Spiritual Counsels.

Sofia Students Visit Mount Athos

Students from a school in Sofia, Bulgaria, have undertaken a pilgrimage to Mount Athos with the blessing and participation of clergy of both the Bulgarian and Russian Orthodox Churches. More (in Bulgarian) here.

Athonites Discuss Response to Greek Taxation

A special session of the Holy Community of Mount Athos has been held in response to the Greek government's abrogation of Mount Athos' autonomous status and special place within Greece by taxing its dependencies in Greece proper. The last time such a meeting was held it was to formulate the Holy Mountain's response to the advance of the Nazis into the Balkans. More here.

Greek Court Rules Against Esphigmenou

A Greek court of appeals in Thessalonica has confirmed a ruling ordering the eviction of the monks of Mount Athos' Esphigmenou Monastery because of their refusal to commemorate Patriarch Bartholomew (Arhondonis) of Constantinople. More here.

Although a number of Mount Athos' smaller communities do not commemorate Patriarch Bartholomew, Esphigmenou has so far proved to be the only of the 20 'ruling' monasteries to steadfastly refuse to commemorate him (in the 1920s all the monasteries with the exception of Vatopaidi stopped commemorating the ecumenical patriarch and several refused to do so until after the 1960s).

Mount Athos Threatens to Cut Contacts with Greek Government

Mount Athos has threatened to cut all its contacts with the government of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou should the latter insist that the Holy Mountain's monasteries pay tax on their properties in Greece. More here.

Greek Government Taxing Athonite Properties

The ruling monasteries of Mount Athos have refused a recent order from the Greek government that they pay tax on their land holdings located in Greece itself. (Mount Athos is technically a theocracy only loosely associated with the Greek state.) More here. Hat tip to Mystagogy for posting this first!

French Photographer Turned Athonite Hieromonk

An interesting story from Interfax about a French photographer who became an Athonite monk can be found here.

Athonite Delegation Visiting Bulgaria

An official delegation from Mount Athos is visiting Bulgaria for the first time since 1976 with the blessing of Patriarch Maxim (Minkov) of Sofia and the President of Bulgaria. More here.

Cossack Atamans Visit Mount Athos

This past weekend Bishop Kirill (Pokrovskiy) of Pavlovskiy Posad, head of the Moscow Patriarchate's commission on cooperation with the Cossacks, led a pilgrimage of Cossack atamans to Mount Athos. During the pilgrimage the group visited St. Panteleimon's Monastery together with other Athonite monastic communities. The pilgrimage was the first of its kind and was made with the blessing of Patriarch Kirill (Gundyayev) of Moscow and All Rus'. More here.

Hilandar Abbot Meets with Ecumenical Patriarch

The recently elected abbot of the Serbian-speaking Hilandar Monastery of the Entrance of the Theotokos on Mount Athos, Archimandrite Metodije, has met with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople at the Phanar to discuss the state of the monastery. During the course of Fr. Metodije's visit to Constantinople he concelebrated the Holy Liturgy with Patriarch Bartholomew in the city's Church of St. Haralambus. More here.

Fr. Metodije was elected abbot of Hilandar following the death of Archimandrite Mojsije (Zharkovich), Hilandar's previous abbot, in March 2010. Following their election it is customary for the abbots of Mount Athos' imperial monasteries (the ruling monasteries represented on the Mountain's Holy Council) and sketes to visit the Phanar as they are under the direct oversight of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

Prodromou Skete Elects New Abbot

The Romanian-speaking Skete of St. John the Baptist (commonly known as Prodromou) on Mount Athos has elected a new superior, Hieromonk Atanasie (Floroiu). Axios! The congratulatory letter of Patriarch Daniel (Ciobotea) of Bucharest of the Romanian Orthodox Church can be found here.

Fire at Panteleimonou

A fire that broke out over the weekend in St. Panteleimon's Monastery on Mount Athos has been put out. Panteleimonou is the main Russian-speaking monastic community on the Holy Mountain. More here.

Zographou Abbot Visits Sliven

The Abbot of the Zographou Monastery of St. George, Archimandrite Amvrosiy, is on a visit to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. (The Zographou Monastery is Mount Athos' Bulgarian-speaking monastery.) In the course of his visit Fr. Amvrosiy concelebrated the new style feast of the Three Holy Hierarchs with Metropolitan Joannicius of Sliven in St. Demetrius' Cathedral in Sliven. More here.

Mount Athos Questions Esphigmenou Visits

The Holy Community of Mount Athos has written the Ecumenical Patriarchate with concerns over recent visits of Constantinopolitan Orthodox metropolitans to the Esphigmenou Monastery, which ceased commemorating the ecumenical patriarch 38 years ago for his modernism and ecumenism and submitted to the jurisdiction of the Old Calendrist Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece (under Archbishop Kallinikos (Sarantopoulos)). The Ecumenical Patriarchate has affirmed its support for the Esphigmenou brotherhood it set up after the original brotherhood's break with Constantinople and claims it is simply exploring ways in which the schism could be healed. More on this here. More on the Esphigmenou Monastery's situation can be found here.