Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 268, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 November 1917 — Where War Does Not Intrude [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Where War Does Not Intrude

OVER one secluded nook of the turbulent Levant still broods the Tibetan calm which has enveloped it for more than a thousand years. It is the promontory of Athos, the easternmost of the three peninsulas extending into the Aegean sea from the coast of Macedonia like the gnarled fingers of an aged priest whose hand is raised in benediction. There, only 40 miles from Saloniki, th*e allied war base, dwells a monastic community of some 7,000 souls under a form of government which has outlasted the Saracens, the Byzantines, Amd bids fair to survive the Sublime Porte. Mount Athos, the glistening pyramid of marble in which the 40-mile peninsula terminates, is visible at sunset from the Plains of Troy across the sea and shimmers into view from the slopes of Mount Olympus. While airplanes were circling above the ruins of Helen’s city and the remote founder of the superdreadnaught, Queen Elizabeth, told of shells that spanned the peninsula of Gallipoli, the monks behind their marble barrier intoned the chants that were old when Columbus embarked on his great adventure and paced in brocaded and cloth-of-gold vestments which were grooved by sandaled feet when the Byzantine empire flourished. The law of ages seems to forbid war’s trespass on * these sacred precincts, and Jhe monastic statutes deny admittance to any female creature, be it woman, hen or cow, says a writer in the New York Tribune. The un-

written law . generally has been' observed, perhaps by geographical accident or perhaps because of the adaptable, conciliatory nature of the kindly folk who claim the Sacred Mount for their own. But despite the strict regulations of the Most Blessed Assembly of the Holy Mount and the shock of horror which assails the most humble of the brethren at sight of the gentler sex, women have penetrated where war has feared to tread. Founded in Third Century. Although the remote history of the colony melts into misty legend, it is generally believed that the first religious settlements on the peninsula were made by refugees from the persecutions of the Iconoclasts early in the eighth century. The legends of the monks attribute them to the age of Constantine, in the third and fourth centuries. Reference to the existence of the cluster of religious brotherhoods is made in historical documents of the ninth century. The claims of the monastery of Laura, founded about the middle of the tenth century by St. Athanasius, appear to be well founded and .tojnake it, for historical purposes, the inost ancient of the monasteries. There is reason to believe that Vatopethl is of about equal antiquity. According to the monastic accounts of Vatopethi’s founding, it is the most venerable of all the twenty, having been established by Theodosius In recognition of the providential rescue of his son from drowning on the coast near by. The. most recent of the monasteries, Stavronikitu, was founded in 1545. There are twenty of them. They are situated on the wooded and mountainous slopes of a peninsula which is forty miles in length and from „four ] to seven miles in width. The total | population of the peninsula is abtout I 7,000. Three thousand of the inhabitants are . monks and the rest are lay brothers. Besides the twenty monasteries ' i , ■ .

there are villages or settlements, inhabited mostly by artisans employed within the abbeys. Only precipitous, winding mule paths afford means of communication. As many races are represented in the population as might be exp_ected_in that cosmopolitan - section of the Levant. The monks themselves are, for the most part, Greeks, but the monastery of Rossikon is a stronghold of the Russians, and in others are Serbs and Bulgars. Roumanians are also fairly numerous. Own All Goods in Common. All these dwell in harmony despite the schisms which the great war has made in the outside world. As monks they are divided into two schools, both of which adhere to the canon of jSt. Basil. One division has the idiorhythmic form or government, which allows considerable latitude to the individual, although ail goods are owned in common. Monasteries of this order are governed by two or three wardens, who are elected annually by the elders. In the cenobite monasteries church regulations are much more rigid, and the hegumen, elected for life, has absolute control over > the property and inmates. Hoarded behind massive locks in the turreled abbeys are thousands of beautiful illuminated parchmehts of great antiquity. This treasure, though impressive, is a mere remnant of what once existed. Some of the dogpments have been taken to Paris, some to Moscow, some fell into the hands of early collectors, some were fired in cartridges at the Greeks during the

•war of independence, some have been mutilated by chance visitors and some, according to authentic reports, were torn into strips by their very guardians to be twisted onto fish hooks and -used as bait.

Many Beautiful Relics Preserved.

Less perishable and equally beautiful relics still remain, most of them in an extraordinary state of preservation. The buildings themselves, some of which cover as much as four acres, are wonderful examples of Byzantine architecture. There are choice specimens of ancient and cunning mosaic work. There are mural decorations attributed to Byzantine artists so ancient that their work has outlived their fame and their very names are legendary. The Phiate or Font of Laura in front of the monastery church with the marble panels was built in 1060. The brick work was probably done in the sixteenth or seventeenth century. In the Monastery of Xiripotamo, which, according to monastic tradition, was established by the Empress Pulcheria in the fifth century, but more probably was.* founded 900 years later, is a communion cup, carved from solid jade? which bears an inscription of the traditional founder and-is believed by many to be a true relic of that earlier t|me. Vatopethl contains many venerated and quaint treasures, some of them of great beauty. In the » qhurch is a throne inlaid with ivory and nearby a chased silver jeon of Andronicus H. Palaeologus. Au ancient case of solid gold in which are receptacles for the blood of saints contains a fragment of the True Cross, which is set in gold and studded with large stones of pale hue. Most valued and most valuable from a material point of yiiftv is the girdle of. the* Virgin Mary, which now, for safe keeping, is in three parts, each of them kept in a separate vault of the abbey.

Monastery of Hieropotamus.

Quadrangle of St. Pantaleimon Monastery.