Newsletter No. 11 August 2002

The 2002 AGM: 28 September at St Anne’s College, Oxford

For reasons that have already been given in the Annual Report for 2001 this year’s AGM is being held in the autumn and there will be no autumn meeting in London. Furthermore, by popular demand, it is taking place on a Saturday. We hope that members who find it difficult to get away during the week will take advantage of this change (which is not necessarily permanent) and that there will be a good turnout to listen to our speakers. This year we are honoured to have Archimandrite Elisaios, Abbot of the Monstery of Simonopetra, as our first speaker. He will speak in Greek, but we are hoping to provide an English translation in the form of surtitles. We are also delighted to welcome Professor René Gothóni from the University of Helsinki as our second speaker. Professor Gothóni is a member of the society as well as being an authority on pilgrimage and a regular visitor to the Holy Mountain. After tea there will be a short presentation by our member Robin Price about the society’s recent pilgrimage to the metochia of Simonopetra in France.

The fact that we meet on a Saturday means that we have an opportunity to join the Orthodox community at 1 Canterbury Road (five minutes’ walk from St Anne’s) for a service of vespers at 5.30 pm. Those who are within reach of Oxford may also like to know that on the Sunday morning there will be a celebration of the Divine Liturgy at 10.30 am (mostly in Greek) and that Abbot Elisaios will take part in the service. Both Orthodox and non-Orthodox members and their guests are warmly invited to attend these services.

The society’s official AGM will take place at 1.45 pm and as usual there will be elections. The Chairman (Bishop Kallistos), the Treasurer (Simon Jennings), and Dimitri Conomos have all reached the end of their term of office and will tender their resignations. All have indicated their willingness to stand again. In addition there is one further vacancy for a place on the Executive Committee for which John Arnell has been nominated. Any other nominations for any of these positions should reach the Secretary in writing at least one week before the meeting. Guests are welcome to attend the AGM but may not vote.

Attendance at the AGM is free. The charge for attending the rest of the day (including morning coffee and afternoon tea) is £7 each (students £3.50); and there will be a buffet lunch costing £12.50. Names and cheques (payable to The Friends of Mount Athos) should be sent as soon as possible to the Events Secretary, Anthony Hazledine, Antique Oriental Carpets, High Street, Fairford, Glos GL7 4AD.

Residential conference in 2003

Plans are in hand for the conference scheduled to take place at Madingley Hall near Cambridge over the weekend of 28 February to 2 March 2003. This event is to be run in association with the Institute of Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge and will be devoted to the theme of ‘The Spirituality of Mount Athos’. Full details will be circulated to members in the near future.

Project for the restoration of footpaths and wayside shrines and fountains

The achievements of last year’s expedition were recorded in the Annual Report for 2001. A second expedition was mounted in the spring of this year, this time made up of eighteen volunteers who spent two weeks on the Mountain immediately after Pascha. With groups based at three monasteries (Vatopedi, Koutloumousiou, and Pantokrator) they built on last year’s preliminary soundings and this time covered a significant amount of ground. Some of the results are now posted on a page of the society’s website

(www.athosfriends.org) to which pilgrims are invited to contribute information resulting from their own travels. John Arnell, the project leader, is already assembling a team for next year’s expedition and any members of the society who wish to volunteer their services are encouraged to contact him (John@thearnells.org).

FoMA Travel Bursary

Applications are invited from suitably qualified graduate students working for a higher degree or diploma at institutions of higher learning in the UK for the Friends of Mount Athos Travel Bursary. Applicants may be drawn from any discipline but should be already engaged in or willing to become engaged in a project with a specifically Athonite context. The value of the award is £300. Applications, accompanied by the names and addresses of two referees, should be addressed to the Secretary, Dr Graham Speake, Ironstone Farmhouse, Milton, Banbury OX15 4HH (graham.speake@pgen.net). The attention of applicants is drawn to the fact that women are never admitted to Mount Athos.