The
Friends of Mount Athos Book Reviews
©
2008
The Monastic Magnet: Roads to and from
Mount Athos. Edited by Renˇ Goth—ni and Graham
Speake. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2008. 197 pages. £27.00 paperback. ISBN
978-3-03911-337-8.
On 18 August 2006
a major exhibition opened in Helsinki called ŌAthos:
Monastic Life on the Holy MountainÕ. The exhibition ran for six months, during
which time two supporting events occurred: a conference hosted by the
University of Helsinki on the day of the opening and a subsequent series of
lectures. Select papers from those venues appear in the volume under review.
There are two sections, three chapters on Athos and its Monks, and eight on
Athos and its Pilgrims. The chapters range in tone from personal reflections to
academic surveys, though the volume is a coherent whole with the differences
from chapter to chapter disclosing something of the rich and evocative
possibilities of the Holy Mountain.
After the editorsÕ introduction, the book begins with
Rosemary MorrisÕs study of records describing the earliest monastic settlement
of Athos. A minor, but important, theme in this chapter is the relationship of
the early Athonites to the wider world. Her chapter indicates that the
pan-Orthodox character of Athonite monasticism was an early feature. The second
chapter, by Alice-Mary Talbot, provides biographical pen-portraits of several
major figures in the early history of the Holy Mountain. Sts Peter the
Athonite, Euthymios the Younger, Athanasios the Athonite, and Maximos
Kafsokalyvitis are all presented. The vibrant depictions of these holy men
anticipate the personal accounts that are related in subsequent chapters. The
third and final chapter in this section, by Ismo Pellikka, outlines the
diffusion of Athonite monasticism throughout Slavic Christendom with particular
reference to Kiev and Karelia. Pellikka also notes the dissemination of
Hesychasm in the Russian lands and further, thanks to the labours of Nil
Sorskij and Maxim the Greek.
The first section concludes with major events of sixteenth-century
Russia. The second section of the book is not arranged chronologically, but
taking the chapters out of turn it seems appropriate that the earliest
pilgrimage described began from Russia. Nicholas FennellÕs study of the Tale
of Monk ParfenyÕs Journeying (1839)
both demonstrates the enormous power of attraction that Mount Athos exercised
on Russians and substantiates the claims made in two earlier chapters in this
section of the book: Fr Symeon of DionysiouÕs, which gives an AthoniteÕs
perspective on the Holy Mountain as a destination for pilgrims, and Renˇ
Goth—niÕs. Goth—niÕs chapter brings sociological and aesthetic considerations
to the study of pilgrimage as a dialogue, an encounter that enriches as it
transforms. He reframes pilgrimage in categories that might not be
automatically supplied by the typical reader, such as worship and
understanding. The next chapter also draws widely from perhaps unexpected
sources: Marco Toti traverses several religious traditions and many centuries
to build up a repertoire of concepts and images that speak to the Ōinner
dimensionÕ of pilgrimage to the Athonite monasteries.
Graham Speake then presents a fascinating chapter which
reverts to a question posed by Goth—ni that runs through the book: how valid is
the distinction between tourists and pilgrims? He considers several features of
Mount Athos that attract visitors to it and in the process calls into question
an unexamined idealisation of pilgrimage. Related is the chapter by
Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, which focuses on two recent British pilgrims to
the Holy Mountain, Gerald Palmer and Philip Sherrard. His biographical accounts
of the two are poignant, and the contrast between the two intriguing. In the
penultimate chapter, Speake relates the experiences of two other recent
pilgrims – Nikos Kazantzakis and Alexander Golitzin – noting
especially their reactions to encountering the holy elders there. Finally,
Metropolitan Nikolaos Hatzinikolaou brings the book to a close with a spiritual
reading of the Mountain, drawing from his own (often amusing) experiences to
reveal the universal significance of Mount Athos.
The book has many commendable points, but what I found most
impressive was the helpful corrective to the tendency (noted, for example, by
Metropolitan Kallistos: see p. 156) towards exaggerated romanticism that would
make pilgrimage an almost unattainable desideratum. The monks of Mount Athos
are approachable even if awe-inspiring, as several chapters made clear through
concrete details and vivid anecdotes that cut through sentimental fantasy. Yet
the book was also puzzling in its silence on one obvious point: Metropolitan
NikolaosÕs specific claim to the contrary notwithstanding (p. 169), it is far
from obvious that the Holy Mountain can be meaningfully construed as a
destination for womenÕs pilgrimage. Since some particularly distinguished
chapters to the book were written by women, it struck me that that limitation
was a topic that could have been profitably treated in these pages.
AUGUSTINE CASIDAY