10 x Christmas cards – Winter Fuel, Docheiariou Monastery, Mount Athos by Tim Vyner

In aid of the Axion Estin Appeal Our four Christmas cards this year unite the sacred and the scenic. Two carry watercolours of Mount Athos in winter by illustrator Tim Vyner – the first recipient of the Doug Patterson/RCA bursary to draw all twenty monasteries of the Holy Mountain – each inscribed Season’s Greetings above small black-and-white cameo drawings of Athonite life. This card is titled, Winter Fuel, Docheiariou Monastery, Mount Athos. The other two feature Nativity of Jesus Christ icons by the renowned international iconographer Aidan Hart, bearing the joyful proclamation ‘Christ is Born!’ Cards come in packs of 10 with white envelopes, at £7.50 per pack (excluding postage) – and £2 from every pack sold goes directly to the Axion Estin Appeal. The cell of Axion Estin, adjacent to Karyes, dates from the second half of the tenth century and is therefore one of the oldest and most important cells on Mount Athos. It was here that the Archangel Gabriel appeared in 982 and first chanted the hymn ‘Axion Estin’, which now forms part of almost every Orthodox church service. FoMA has proudly supported the Appeal for many years, and the Executive Committee believes we should continue to do so wholeheartedly. Work on Phase II – a new building housing a kitchen, refectory and pilgrim accommodation – is now expected to be completed by the end of 2027.