“LLAVE EN MANO EVOLUTIVA”.

Before dawn, after the veneration of the holy items of Mary, the Divine Liturgy (Theia

Liturgia) began with the lighting of all the candles of the ‘Great Chandelier’. The bright

atmosphere sharply contrasted to the mystical darkness of the Midnight Office and the limelight of the Matins. The Divine Liturgy of St Chrysostome, whose ear is kept in the monastery’s relics, began with the reading of the First and Third Hours by the priest, in front of the closed red curtains that mark the entrance of the sanctuary. The double choir sung three antiphona (‘counter-voices’), accompanied by further passages with the life and martyrdom of the saint remembered, read by the reader. Then the priest read the Sixth and Ninth Hours, before the ecclesiarches sounded the sideraki (‘little iron bar’) to mark the ‘little entrance’.

As the choir sang three devotional songs to the Virgin, the priest opened the red curtain of the Royal Doors of the altar, allowing the priest to enter into the nave singing his

blessings. At that moment the monks removed their hoods and step down from their stalls. Monks and visitors gently bowed their heads. The priest then moved outwards, starting from the right (north) side of the sanctuary. He was carrying the Evangelio (‘Gospel’), a thick book covered in gold and silver, that dates from the 14th century. The reflection of the gold cover of the book shone on in the light of the candles, magnetizing the eyes of the participants. The priest placed the golden Evangelio on a stall in the middle of the nave, and theatrically opened it for everyone to listen. It was read out in absolute silence. Nothing could be heard but the Biblical passage about the visit of Gabriel to Mary and her annunciation.

After reading the passage from the Evangelio, the choir sung the beautiful ‘Hymn of Cherubim’ to mark the ‘great entrance’: The kanonarchis rang a little bell for the Holy Communion to be prepared inside the sanctuary, a space called prothesis (meaning ‘sacrifice’, altar’, and ‘intention’). The abbot entered the altar with the prosforaris, who is the deacon who helps to prepare the prosfora (‘offering’, sacrifice), the bread and wine that will be transformed into the Holy Flesh (bread) and Blood. He then rang a small bell to mark the beginning of the offering as monks and visitors waited in a hierarchical order (chorostasia: first in line were the chaplains, the chanters, the

typikaris, the kanonarchis, and then the rest of the priest-monks, elders, priest-deacons,

monks, novices, visitors) to receive the Holy Communion from the hand of the ‘father’ abbot. At dawn, while the brotherhood received the Holy Communion, the gate of the monastery opened up to the ‘world’ out there, as daytime is the time for collective work for the monastery. The closing and opening of the gate, at sunset and sunrise

respectively, thus has a symbolic significance: the former signifies the work that is done through practices of separation and detachment during the canonical hours, while the latter signifies that work that needs to be done for the self-sufficiency of the

monastery following the worldly hours.

Unlike other monasteries, such as their neighbouring Esfigmenou where confessions take place only if it is necessary and the Holy Communion only once a week (see chapter 9), in Vatopaidi the monks receive the Holy Communion as often as three times a week (Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday)99_{. When a monk who has made a mistake}

99 _{From the Filokalia: ‘Many say that sins are forgiven through Holy Communion. Others are opposed to}

this and say that they are not forgiven through Holy Communion, but only through the Mystery of Confession. We, however, say that both are necessary: preparation through confession and the fulfilment

feels cleansed enough through the process of repentance (which consists of constant prayer, strict fasting (xerofagia), sleep deprivation, and a number of prostrations and prayers with the rosary during the hours of his personal ‘canon’ in his cell) only then he can re-join the community. The completion of this cathartic period that takes place privately, mostly in isolation in the cell, is then celebrated with the confession of the monk to the abbot, and by public acceptance of the Holy Communion as the rite of aggregation and reunification with the rest of the brotherhood. Conversely, if someone, for whatever reason, decided to stop receiving the Holy Communion on his own will, he would publicly cut himself off the community. As in Catholic types of monastic life, Vatopaidi’s model of monastic life is therefore based on the notion of brotherhood and the socialization of the monks in everyday life. This socialization has to be frequently confirmed through the Holy Communion:

‘Only sinners are akoinonitoi (‘anti-social/ without Communion’): those who are eaten inside by the guilt of their sins. By contrast, in Paradise everyone is happy. That’s why the monk must not carry anything with him but the Holy Communion; this is the gift of god’ [refectory speech of abbot of Vatopaidi 12/5/03]

However, the frequent confession and Holy Communion is criticized by monks of other groups or monasteries, such as the zealots of the neighbouring monastery of

Esfigmenou. They believe that the frequent Holy Communion and confession taught by the Vatopaidian elders are ‘a characteristic of the Latin Church’ and were imported by the new Vatopaidians ‘to corrupt the pure tradition of Athos’ [guest-master Esfigmenou 2/12/02]100. In response to such criticisms, the Vatopaidians were eager to note that for them confessions and Holy Communion ‘are separate matters’, since although they are obliged to confess to the abbot, they are not obliged to receive the Holy Communion,

of our rule (canon), and the sacred reception of Holy Communion. [60]...If we do not commune frequently, it is impossible for us not to become subject of passions (for we keep ourselves pure through our preparation for Communion). Frequent Communion will become for us a companionship unto eternal life [paragraph 98]… After one receives Communion, he thinks about the dread and heavenly Mysteries of which he partook, and so he takes heed to himself so as not to dishonour that grace. He fears his thoughts (logismoi), shrinks away from them, and, as much as is possible, abstains from every evil. When he begins to think about the fact that he will be receiving Communion again in just a few days, he doubles his efforts to watch over himself. He adds zeal to zeal, self-control to self-control, vigilance to vigilance, labours upon labours, and he struggles as much as possible. This is because he is pressed on two sides: on one side, because just a short while ago he received Communion, and on the other, because he will receive again in a short while’ [paragraph 118].

100 _{Central in the dispute is the use of Filokalia with instructions of the Jesus Prayer and the organization}

of the daily program according to frequent confession and Holy Communion, which is ‘considered a Latin custom’ (Gillet 1987: 65). See also Chapter 9: Contested Tradition by Esfigmenou.

but it is left to each monk’s discretion. ‘It is a personal matter of how one feels’ [priest- monk 5/5/03]. Here again, we see a separation of the person in the obligation to confess and submit to the patrimonial authority of the abbot, in contrast to the impersonal relationship of each monk to what is perceived as an egalitarian community, as each monk is not obliged to receive the Holy Communion – if he thinks it is not appropriate for a certain of period of time. In other words, how frequently each monk receives the Holy Communion, and how he relates as a personal to the impersonal community, is entirely left up to him. In this context, the typikon of each monastery, the book with the liturgical calendar and rules of conduct, is not a matter of subordination to the elders and the rules of the monastery, but rather a matrix that accommodates all the individual monks with their personal problems and ‘passions’, in order to ‘liberate’ and unify them under a communal program headed by the Holy Communion (Archimandrite Vasileios and Mantzaridis 1997: 11)101.

5.8 Refectory

Figure 5f: Catholicon (left) – Bell Tower (centre) refectory (right) –

101 _{‘A typikon... reveals what is in us, and what is beyond: freedom, the provision of space, and unity;}

how to achieve fulfilment with all the Saints, and how each person is recognised as self-sufficient, summing up everything in himself’ the free space for self-expression, according to each monk’s capabilities (Archimandrite Vasileios and Mantzaridis 1997: 11, see also communal concept of ‘economy’ as self-management in previous chapter).

The refectory of Vatopaidi is built opposite the main church (see figure 5f above). The close proximity of the two facing doors of the two buildings helps in making the Divine Liturgy (the celebration of a particular saint or event) to continue uninterrupted in the refectory. As a monk exclaimed ‘first we feed the Heart with the Holy Spirit, and then we feed the belly to gain some strength to go through the day’ [12/4/03]. After feeding the soul, the monks feed the body, but without forgetting that hunger is thought to be a passion, connected to greed and lust, and so, the strict hierarchical order, as manifested by the division of space and roles inside the church, is still kept in the refectory. In the refectory, the reader of the day read passages from the life and miracles of the saint or saints celebrated on the particular day, while monks and visitors ate silently. In this way, eating in the refectory was a double way of feeding, eating on the one hand food to strengthen the body for the daily tasks, and eating on the other the spiritual food offered in the moral examples of the saints celebrated that day. After eating, there was time for work and some rest, before they returned to the church for the next vesper and the liturgy, and through confession to cleanse from the sins of the day. In this cyclical way, the Vatopaidian life has its own circular logic: a repetitive spiral passage from inside the self (night prayers) through the body (refectory) to the material world (work), and back inside the self to reflect on it through confession (see also chapter 5).

The meals began with the abbot sounding a small golden bell. Talking was forbidden while eating, as everybody was obliged to silently listen to the reader (anagnostis), a young deacon who read from the Meneon (meaning ‘monthly’). This is a book of verses, called stichera, with the lives and martyrdom of the saints celebrated on each particular day. Many days, particularly on great celebrations and after the ‘great feasts’, the abbot gave an additional speech in relation to the importance of the day, often highlighting the values of obedience, humility, and self-sacrifice, as moral examples to be imitated in everyday life. The reader read throughout the meal, and stopped only at the sound of the abbot’s bell, which signals the end of eating. On Sundays and

celebrations, the abbot used a golden bell, but for the rest of the week he used a small iron triangle102_{. If the abbot felt that some members of the brotherhood or visitors were}

being greedy, especially after long periods of abstinence, he only allowed the

102 _{When the abbot was absent (as he was sometimes engaged in meetings and conferences outside the}

borders of the Republic) the elder (pro-hegoumenos, ‘second-before-the-abbot’) who replaced him tapped a wooden cymbal to indicate the end of the meal.

brotherhood to eat only for a few minutes, before ringing his bell to stop them from continuing. This was a collective lesson for their impatience: ‘The monks must never forget that eating is not for pleasure, but a necessary weakness’ [priest-monk 12/5/03]. According to the rule of Avaton, no cattle is allowed in the peninsula, and respectively, the consumption of meat is not allowed at any time on Athos, as flesh is associated with materialist desire. In this sense, flesh is thought to be ‘polluted’, traditionally associated with the personal desires of the body (uncontrolled hunger, an excessive emotion that echoes sexual desire). On non-fasting days the monks ate twice, in the morning after the liturgy and in the evening after the vesper, while on fasting days they ate only once in the morning. Furthermore, on non-fasting days they used lots of olive oil in their cooking, while on fasting days the meals were boiled in water. The monks were always careful to wash the olives from any insects. The meals were accompanied by bread and wine, the flesh and blood of Jesus, this time used to materially support the monastic body. They included imported rice cooked with boiled leeks and greens, or lentils, or imported pasta (cooked in tomato sauce in non-fasting days) and accompanied by bread, vegetables (olives, broccoli, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, onions, green salad, tomatoes, beans, lettuces, courgettes, cabbage, aubergines, cauliflowers, beetroot, potato salad, oregano, parsley, and garlic) and seasonal fruits (grapes, figs, berries, and mushrooms in autumn; apples, pears, oranges, and chestnuts in the winter; melons, berries, and imported kiwi in the spring and summer). For a sweet they usually offered

tahini (sesame paste).

On Tuesdays, the meals were served with cheese, because it was ‘the day of

Tyrofagos’, meaning the ‘cheese eater’ day. Because cattle are not allowed on the

Mount, Vatopaidi has land and farms in Chalkidiki, northern Greece, called metochia, a term referring to all properties outside Athos. In the farms the monks keep cattle, taking care of the animals and working with lay workers storing and making cheese. The abbot had sent two monks with experience in farming to take care of the animals and make cheese. The two monks had the role of tyrokomos (‘cheese-maker’), and every month they brought to the monastery the cheese carried from the harbour of the village Ierissos with the boat to Vatopaidi. On Sundays, the meals were based on bloodless

creatures, fish, octopus103, or calamari, served in homemade tomato or aubergine sauce, and accompanied by potato stew with chickpea patties cooked in the oven. The Sunday meals were served with fruits, wine, and baklava or halva, sweets made from almond. Fishing is a particularly sacred activity, associated with the disciples of Jesus. Athos is famous for its rich deep waters of the surrounding north Aegean sea, and fishing is the oldest traditional activity of monks. The monk responsible for the nets, the condition of the boats, and for the harbor (recording who comes in and out) is the Elder in the role of the arsanaris (‘harbour-man’) helped by a group of five deacons and a few lay workers with experience in fishing, and in taking care of the boats

At the end of the meal, the Abbot exited first, holding his crosier (the stick of authority) followed by the trapezaris (‘table-man’), the monk responsible for the refectory, and the priest-monk ‘on duty’ (efimerios). They were then followed by a more loose order of elders and priest-monks, then the priest-deacons, ordinary monks, novices, and, at the back, secular visitors. As the monks left the refectory for their duties, the abbot gave them his blessing one by one. At the back of the refectory sat the deacons on duty who cooked and served the meal took a deep bow asking for forgiveness for any errors and omissions, and demonstrating their humility.

Figure 5g: Chorostasia: Exit from Refectory/ Trapezaris ‘Table-Man’ opens the gate for:

1st Abbot with prohegoumenoi

2nd Elders and Priests

3rd Monks with Angelic Schema

4th Monks without Angelic Schema

5th Novices

6th Visitors

7th _{Deacons on duty followed by Trapezaris who closes the door}

Particular importance was paid to the crumbs of bread left on the tables after the meal, as bread is associated with the body of Christ. The cook and the deacons picked up each

103 _{There are particular techniques of catching octopuses with the hand, at dawn, which is the time they}

come out from their underwater nests to feed. There are two ways of catching them: either by waiting at the shore for the moment they come out, and simply grab them with the hands, as if picking a gift from the sea. The other way is a bit trickier. The octopuses hide in underwater holes, but if a monk does find a hole with an octopus in, the trick is to lay a white stone in front of the hole. The octopus cannot resist to the bright white colour of the stone, and so it comes out on its own to hug the white stone. Then the monks again easily pick them out of the water. Another thing the two monks taught me one morning [1/5/03] was to be ‘economical’, meaning to be careful not to pick young octopuses, because they are too small to be eaten. It was a matter of economy, as the young octopuses will grow, and then it will be the right and fair time to pick them. The trick is to remember the area in the seawater, where the monk first saw a young octopus, in order to pick it six months later, when it will have grown to full size. Athos is

crumb with their fingers and put them in a small red basket so that they would not be thrown away on the floor, or even worse in the rubbish. If a crumb should fall on the floor, the monk or visitor has to pick it up and immediately and swallow it, while reciting the words of the Jesus prayer. One day I dropped some crumbs on the floor. A Romanian novice saw me, but did not say anything. After the meal finished, however, on my way out, he stopped and asked me discretely to stay and help with the cleaning of the tables as a small way to make up from my error.

The younger monks often joked about fasting. For instance, it was rumoured that an overweight monk was secretly eating in his cell. After six months passed, during the period of the Lent, I heard the overweight monk saying to his close companionship, another Greek monk: ‘Father, how many kilos do you think I lost in the last five months? I promise you that until the resurrection of Christ [the Easter that year was on 27/4] I will lose even more kilos to look like a model ready for my cat-walk’ [26/3/03]. The slight irony in the monk’s comment revealed that abstinence is much more than a diet. It is a process, accompanied by sleep deprivation and constant prayer with rosary and deep prostrations in isolation, aiming to ‘detoxify the self from the toxins in the body and the mind’ [priest-monk 8/4/03]. In this context, fasting is part of the greater cleansing process that continues from the transition from the ‘desert’ to the monastery (see chapters 2 and 4) in the moral context of purification (as in Douglas terms of