MOUNT ATHOS

Παρουσίαση

TWELVE YEARS HAVE PASSED since I wrote the Preface to the first edition of this book. I welcome the opportunity to prepare a second edition and to add a new concluding chapter in which I have been able to recount and reflect on the changes that have taken place on Mount Athos over these years. I have also made a number of changes to the original text, for many of which I am indebted to the kindness of friends and reviewers, and I have updated the Bibliography. I am grateful to Denise Harvey not only for undertaking publication of the second edition but also for her warm friendship, generous hospitality, and shared wisdom over many years. As the widow of Philip Sherrard, she occupies a unique place in the literary annals of the Holy Mountain. I count it a privilege to be numbered among her authors.
The passage of time enables us to view the renewal that took place on Athos in the last quarter of the twentieth century in its historical context, as something that has happened and has been succeeded by a period of spiritual and cultural maturity. The Mountain is a very different place from the one that I first visited a quarter of a century ago. Most of the changes are for the better, but some are not, and one of the rewards for growing older is the ability more easily to distinguish the wood from the trees. Notwithstanding increasing years and arthritic knees, however, I rejoice that I have finally succeeded in ascending the peak with the kind support of my friends Aleksandar Golubovic, Radoman Matovic, and Damir Simoncic. This second edition is dedicated to them in admiration and gratitude. (Graham Speake, from the publisher)

Περιεχόμενα

Preface to first edition
Preface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Athos BC
The Garden of the Mother of God
Byzantine Athos
Ottoman Athos
Twentieth-Century Athos
Athos Today: For the Monk
Athos Today: For the Pilgrim
Athos and the Modern World
Epilogue
Select bibliography
Glossary
Index
Photographic acknowledgements