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The sower went out to sow. Invisible Elders of Mount Athos Invisible Elders

23.06.2023

Invisible elders of Athos: ascetics who will serve the last prayer service before the end of the world

Holy Mount Athos, despite the outward simplicity of monastic life, remains a place shrouded in many thousand-year-old mysteries and legends. One of these mysteries is the legend of the invisible elders of Athos.

One of the references to the invisible inhabitants of the Holy Mountain is found in the records of the librarian of the Stary Russik skete, Father Panteleimon (XIX century). The records say that in 1835, after the liberation of the Greeks from the Turkish yoke, several hunters caught wild goats in the forests of Athos. Suddenly they met a naked old man who came out of the cave. The dumbfounded hunters asked the elder for a blessing. “God bless,” the elder answered and began to ask the hunters about how the Holy Mountain and its inhabitants live. They answered him that after liberation from the yoke, the Greeks live in peace, but the elder was surprised, because he knew nothing about the war: “There are seven of us here, and we don’t go anywhere and don’t hear anything,” said the elder.

The hunters hastened to tell the monks of St. Anna's skete about their meeting. The brethren set off in search of the ascetics and carefully examined the place where the miraculous meeting took place, but they could not find either the elders or the cave of the monks.

But the monks of the Holy Mountain sincerely believe that invisible elders exist and constantly pray for the whole world. Someone says that there are seven of them, someone calls the number nine or twelve, but everyone agrees that in the most remote corners of Athos, at the top of the mountain, ascetics really live, who are rarely seen. It happens that the elders, at will, appear to young, naive monks or pious pilgrims.

Here is how St. Paisios the Holy Mountaineer tells about his meeting with the invisible ascetic.

“When in 1950 I first came to the Holy Mountain, I happened to get lost on the way from Kavsokalyvia to St. Anna. Instead of going to the skete of St. Anne, I went along the path that led to the top of Mount Athos. After going quite a long distance, I realized that I was going up and began to look for a way to return. While I was looking for a way back and asked the Mother of God to help me, suddenly a hermit appeared before me, whose face radiated light.

He looked to be about seventy years old, and from his attire one could conclude that he had never communicated with people. He wore a cassock of canvas, all burnt and tattered. The holes in the cassock were tied with wooden twigs, with which peasants usually fasten leaky bags when they do not have a bag needle and twine. He had a leather bag with him, also faded and full of holes. He had a thick chain around his neck, on which hung a box. In it, in all likelihood, there was some kind of shrine.

Before I could even open my mouth, he said to me: “My child, this road is not to St. Anna,” and he showed me the right path. It was evident from everything that a saint was standing in front of me. I asked the hermit: “Where do you live, old man?” He answered me: “Here,” and pointed to the top of Athos. After that, I took his blessing and went along the path indicated to me, which led me straight to St. Anna. After that, in my thoughts, I constantly returned to the bright, shining face of the hermit, ”recalled Paisiy Svyatogorets.

There is a legend among the monks of Athos that before the Second Coming of the Savior and the Last Judgment in the chapel of the Transfiguration of Christ on the Holy Mountain, invisible elders will serve the last Divine Liturgy.

Around 1835, five years after the liberation of Greece from the Turks, several Serdars* went to the wooded area of the Great Lavra to hunt wild goats. One morning, they suddenly saw a venerable old man, completely naked, not far from one cave.

In the photo: Holy Mount Athos, 05/04/2014

- Bless, Father, they said.

- Lord bless! - he answered and began to ask them about the Holy Mount Athos: what is happening on it, how the monks live, etc. They replied that there was great calm around after the liberation from the Turkish yoke and the defeat of the Turks.

- Who are these Turks and what kind of Greek uprising is this? - asked the desert elder.

- Don't you know, elder, that we Orthodox Greeks shed our blood for liberation from the Turkish yoke?

- No, my children. I didn't know anything about it. There are seven of us here, and we don't go anywhere and don't hear anything,- answered this earthly angel and heavenly man.

The hunters took his blessing and, amazed, hurried to inform the fathers and brothers of St. Anna's skete about their meeting. The fathers immediately rushed in search of hermits.

Many of them gathered and, together with the Serdars, climbed Mount Athos, carefully exploring the entire area in order to find a cave and this amazing old man. But they did not find either the cave or the old man.

The Invisible Elders of Mount Athos (from the story of St. Paisios the Holy Mountaineer)

Meeting of the Rev. Paisios the Holy Mountaineer with one of the hermits living secretly on the top of Mount Athos.

In the photo: Athos ascetic near the top of Mount Athos

“When in 1950 I first came to the Holy Mountain, it happened to me on the way from Kavsokalyvia to St. Anna (the skete of St. Anna is located on the southwestern coast of the Holy Mountain and is subordinate to the monastery of the Great Athos Lavra - approx.) get lost.

Instead of going to the skete of St. Anne, I went along the path that led to the top of Mount Athos. After going quite a long distance, I realized that I was going up and began to look for a way to return. While I was looking for a way back and asked the Mother of God to help me, suddenly a hermit appeared before me, whose face radiated light.

He looked to be about seventy years old, and from his attire one could conclude that he had never communicated with people. He wore a cassock of canvas, all burnt and tattered. The holes in the cassock were tied with wooden twigs, with which peasants usually fasten leaky bags when they do not have a bag needle and twine. With him was a leather pouch, also faded and with holes tied together in the same way. He had a thick chain around his neck, on which hung a box. In it, in all likelihood, there was some kind of shrine.

In the photo: St. Paisius of Athos (Svyatogorets)

Before I even opened my mouth, he said to me: “My child, this road is not to St. Anna,” and he showed me the right path.

It was evident from everything that a saint was standing in front of me.

I asked the hermit:

Where do you live, old man? He answered me:

Here,- and pointed to the top of Mount Athos.

I was exhausted by the search for an elder who could give me spiritual advice, and therefore I even forgot what the date and day of the week was then. I asked the hermit about this, and he answered me that it was Friday. Then he pulled out a small leather pouch containing rifling sticks, and, looking at them, said what the number was then. After that, I took his blessing and went along the path indicated to me, which led me straight to St. Anna. After that, in my thoughts, I constantly returned to the bright, shining face of the hermit.

Later, when I was told that twelve (others called the number seven) hermits lived on the top of Athos, I had a thought that the one who met me was not one of them. I told the experienced elders about what had happened, and they confirmed: “Yes, this must be one of the venerable hermits living secretly on the top of Athos.”

*serdars - special guards of the Holy Mount Athos, keeping order. Their caps are usually marked "A.O." ("Holy Mountain Police").

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On the way to Athos. Foreword

It all started almost two decades ago. My wife and I, as part of a small television group, set sail from Odessa. We got a movie. Species film about the Holy Land and other sacred places of Ecumenical Orthodoxy.

Ordinary TV people. When the fuss associated with the accommodation in the cabins subsided, we went on board to “breathe”. That is, habitually climbed for a pack of cigarettes. We got nervous. The confusion during the "settlement" was terrible. But - a strange thing - after the first puff, they felt that for some reason they did not want to smoke. Even disgusting. Half-smoked, cigarettes flew into the sea. They were the last in our life. We did not immediately understand that a miracle had happened to us. Small ... However, a smoker will understand: not so small. In general, for starters, we got a gift.

The ship sailed. One saint flew to Jerusalem on a demon. We, sinners, quietly went towards Haifa on the Leo Tolstoy.

Seven hundred pilgrims. A typical "cut" of the newly churched people. Some did not let go of the rosary, some - glasses. One had such a good time at the bar that he jumped into the pool with his clothes on. Swallow. And the water was lowered - it was already too late. Then he applied his bandaged head to all the shrines. "Here is the temptation!" The mothers shook their heads. I realized that temptation arises when, without looking, you rush headlong forward.

We, who set out for purely professional purposes, were the worst here. But they watched and listened. How do they sing there before dinner (that is, excuse me, before a meal)? “Give us our daily bread…” It seems so.

We looked at the shrines exclusively through the viewfinder of the television camera. And they were indignant that the pilgrims scurrying around were like chickens, the right word! - as if on purpose they want to spoil the picture for us. “You don’t see that TV is working here!” - I shouted menacingly and dispersed those who climbed into the frame without asking. These screams were frightened. Television we are accustomed to respect.

The music room on board the ship was converted into a chapel. A female voice, mixing secular and ecclesiastical realities, announced: “At nineteen o’clock, a lecture by Father Augustine will take place in the musical chapel ...”

We were lucky". The Lord sent a wonderful missionary. His name was Hieromonk Augustine (now a bishop; bow to you, Vladyka!). In addition to constant speeches, he talked with pilgrims almost around the clock. Before arriving in Haifa, a long line lined up for confession. How many people then for the first time seriously thought about their relationship with God! Thanks to dad. Yes, each of us can become a forerunner of Christ for someone!

Why am I so shocked by his words? By that time I had already read about Orthodoxy, and my cold mind knew much of what the priest was talking about. So why?

All of us, spirits, clothed in flesh, are waiting for the solution of our problems, and do not understand that, spiritual in nature, they are solved only by the spirit. Words, being flesh, "do not penetrate." But what Father Augustine said was passed - now I understand this - through a prayerful heart. And so they touched my soul.

Later, I read from Antony (Khrapovitsky): “... that spiritual power that will enter you, enlighten and reconcile with life, will consist not so much in the very content of the answer, but in the fact that the elder’s soul, luminous in appearance and speech, will pour and into your soul a completely new, hitherto unknown content.” .

And then there was the first communion in my life. At the Holy Sepulcher.

There was another unforgettable thing: we got married on a ship. Locksmiths carved hoops from brass, wrapped them around with flowers - they turned out to be crowns. We still keep them. He was crowned by the archbishop, now Metropolitan of Chernivtsi and Bukovina Onufry.

In the cabin we were warmly congratulated by Father Augustine. They raised their glasses of sweet wine, just bought in Canna of Galilee. Where the Lord turned water into wine at the wedding, we even dipped purchased bottles into ancient stone water pots. They say they have survived from those gospel times. Such symbolism was impressive. It seems that a previously sleeping organ was already opening in us - for the perception of spiritual timeless reality.

Without noticing it, we returned from the trip different. Relatives and friends twisted their fingers at their temples: the Vorobyevskys completely prayed! And to be honest, we were not interested in carrying on the same conversations with the same people. And still "communicate" with the TV - too. Somehow they turned on KVN according to old memory, watched for about ten minutes and exchanged glances in bewilderment. How could we laugh at this stupidity until recently?! Stare at these pea jesters! .. And we took out pilgrimage photographs. Especially for a long time they considered a strange picture taken in Rome, near the Colosseum. Out of nowhere, some kind of golden whirl appeared on it. It seemed that something mysterious and beautiful was rapidly approaching us.

… But all this will be later. In the meantime, we approached the coast of Athos. We stood on the road near the Panteleimon Monastery. A boat appeared - a yellow flag with a black double-headed eagle. Arrived as if from Byzantium. Great shrines were brought to us for worship, including the head of the Monk Silouan.

Prayer at the relics of the saint. He gives a kind of personal acquaintance with him. I have pointed this out many times since. So do not be surprised at the frequent references in this book to Saint Silouan and Elder Paisios, whose grave we visited in Suroti. We have a special relationship with them.

Course to Odessa. For many hours, until the top of the Holy Mountain disappeared behind the horizon, the ever-memorable elder Jonah prayed, looking towards Athos. At the stern, kneeling.

For some reason, when we were still on the road, I could not get enough of the green domes of the St. Panteleimon Monastery. He reminded me of the wonderful city from the tale of Tsar Saltan. I sighed. At that time, Athos seemed inaccessible. Never, never will I set foot on this earth... But - man proposes, but the Lord disposes.

* * *

Since then, I have been on the Holy Mountain almost every year. In 2006, he released his favorite, "Athos" book - "Step on the asp." I kept wanting to write a sequel. And finally, after the summer trip of 2012 that inspired me, it worked out.

At first, I just wanted to walk the paths of Athos with you once again. But they took it further than I thought. We ended up in Byzantium itself. After all, the Holy Mountain is a living island of a bygone empire. It rises like a stone rock above the restless "sea level" of our everyday life.

The "Continent of Byzantium" was formed from the Roman political heritage, the Greek language and Orthodox Christianity. Athos keeps the third, main treasure. Produced by blood - hidden - treasure.

Do you want to understand the great empire? It is better to do this not through reading Byzantologists, but through direct touch. Through familiarization with the heritage that is alive today. It breathes. It didn't go anywhere. It is in the prophecies of the Svyatogorsk inhabitants about the return of Constantinople. It lies in the idea of a worldwide Orthodox empire serving as a shield for all who yearn for the salvation of their souls. This idea has not left Russia - the Third Rome. For this, all the diabolical impotence of this world hates us so much.

Alas, the intrigues of the Byzantine court have not disappeared. They are now weaving from Phanar, from the chair of the Ecumenical Patriarch. Well, "Greeks are crafty" - it was already noticed on the first pages of the Russian chronicle. We still enjoy the fruits of Byzantine spirituality and scholarship, but at the same time we are reaping the bitter tares of the Russian schism, to which the jealous Greek heirs of the Second Rome had the most direct relation ...

Okay, this is a separate topic ... We must free Tsargrad from captivity - that's what's important. Although he was for us, frankly, an unloving godfather, let's thank him for the good and repay our debts.

Why do you think the Russian word "starets" entered the Greek language? Let me give you just a few examples to explain. Literally offhand.

The great elder of our time, Joseph the Hesychast, took a lot from the Russian hermits. One of them - fragrant - told the young novice Francis how he labored on the very top of the Mountain. He was one of those from whom the future father Joseph, in his own words, received his "rank" and "charter".

And who was the elder Paisius the Holy Mountaineer? Do not hurry. On Athos, it is not customary to rush. Let's start from afar.

... It was the revolutionary year of 1968. The world was excited by grandiose events. Someone - the "Prague Spring" and the student revolution in Paris, someone - the opening of the Olympics in Mexico City and the world tour of the Beatles ... And in the wretched Cross cell, which took refuge in the thickets near the monastery of Stavronikita, lay the Russian hieromonk Tikhon. Didn't get up. Once he called his disciple: “Here now, my child, was the Mother of God with St. Sergius and St. Seraphim. Where did they go?"

He asked: “What did the Mother of God say to you?”

“The feast of Her Nativity will pass, and after it She will come and take me to Her.”

On the day of the memorial service, the elder said to the novice: “Tomorrow I will die and I want you to bury me. And so I want to bless you."

For three hours he kept his hands on the head of his spiritual child. Fingers that made millions of signs of the cross. Palms, rough from touching the floor during countless prostrations and worn out by the steel chains of Karuli, where the elder labored in a cave for a decade and a half. What did this long touch of the elder's hands on the novice's head mean? What energy did it convey? What experience? What did Father Tikhon silently pray for?

Then he gave such a touching parting word: “You pray for me, and every year I will come and see you. If you stay in my cell, I will be very happy. But let everything be as God pleases, my child. You see, I have provisions for you here for three whole years, ”and he pointed to the canned food: six boxes of sardines and four boxes of squid. All these supplies had been brought to him by a visitor long ago. They have remained untouched.

“For me, these canned goods would only be enough for a week,” Father Paisius thought ... Yes, it was him.

Then the geronta testified about Father Tikhon: “This old man made his life simple… He was free from any inconvenience, because what we call conveniences today are in fact inconveniences. Convenience is when you simplify your life and limit yourself to the necessary. Then the person is liberated…

One unknown Russian monk gave the Greek ascetic the secret of freedom. The world that fought for racial freedom and rejoiced that it was in 1968 that the word "Negro" began to be replaced by the word "dark -skinned"; a world that was waiting for Czechoslovakia to finally be freed from the "Soviet yoke"; the world, which admired the heroism of the Cubans who defended their freedom on Playa Giron, knew nothing about this event. And I didn't want to know...

The Russian elder departed, and the Greek monk received charisma from him, the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is transmitted exactly like this: Schieeromonk Tikhon died in his arms… Such a supranational kinship would connect as many people as possible!

* * *

And the Russian - white stone - Karulya! A rock with chains hanging from it! Truly, the Caruliots have nothing to lose but their chains! Karoulia, whose asceticism so struck the Greeks, in the 20th century - for their own edification - remained one of the last islands of hermitage ... There was an old fig tree there, which gave anchorites small, but extremely sweet fruits. A half of a fig - an infrequent pilgrim saw with surprise - was the ascetic's meal. And then they also began to bring Turkish delight here. And the fig tree dried up.

Nothing, there are already new trees and new inhabitants. Mostly Russians. They say that in the 20th century Karulya was bought from the Lavra by the gold miner Sibiryakov, also known as the Athonite monk Innokenty. Redeemed for Russian monks - before the Second Coming of Christ. A naive treaty for a changing world! the lawyer will say. But the previous agreements did not know any force majeure circumstances. They had in mind only one significant force majeure - the End of the World. Maybe that's why the Greeks turn a blind eye to Russians living here without official permission. . They also understand that if all the papers signed in the old days “until the end of time” are torn up, then this end may come. And then the Judge will ask about unfulfilled contracts!

A typical scene: a young Greek nun tells our countryman, a venerable archimandrite, about something not without arrogance. Well, let's listen. What is it about? It's clear! The fact that, unlike Russia, the monastic tradition of the Greeks was never interrupted... Some of our people humbly nod in response. Yes, sweet Greekophilia smelling of Athos incense has long been wound up with us! Sometimes it's excessive. It somehow reminds me of a passionate love for everything French, German, English - everything that our educated class had been ill with in the past ... “We, the poor, are so-so. But they have! - smarter, smarter, more spiritual. We, if we have this very spirituality, then we slurp it with our bast shoes ... There is, of course, our national humility in this. But every virtue can, after all, be perverted by the slander of the evil one, it can simply turn into untruth ...

Dear Greeks, great bearers of traditions! It would be better for you to start learning how to properly impose a cross on yourself. Otherwise, as Father Paisius said, either you drive away flies, or you play the balalaika! Alas, this is a mass phenomenon - even on Athos! The Russian Elder John, an Athos ascetic of the 19th century, warned: “If someone does not earnestly depict the sign of the cross, the demons rejoice at that waving!” .

And further. There are simple-hearted people who are ready to see the geronta in any elderly saint. During my first pilgrimage to Athos, I witnessed such a dialogue. Through an interpreter, our compatriot tried to find out some spiritual questions from a gray-bearded Greek monk. He raised his thick eyebrows in bewilderment.

"- Where are you from?

- From Russia.

– Do you have a confessor there?

- Eat!

“Then why are you asking here?”

The Greek monk honestly answered! Sometimes, alas, it is necessary to observe something else. Another agiorite with an experienced look “weeds out” visitors, who can be carelessly brushed aside, and notices the VIPs who have arrived. One “serious” Athos pilgrim told me how, at the first meeting, the respected geront said to him “sagaciously”: “I see a special sign of God’s blessing on you!” The next time he came to the elder with his comrade, no less respected person, he suddenly heard that there was a “special sign” on that one too! Word for word, the elder repeated himself. Such situations, of course, are embarrassing... And the Ipatiev Chronicle comes to mind again.

No, my friends, with the preservation of traditions, everything was not quite the way the young monk told our archimandrite. With all due respect to the same Vatoped, the new brethren quite recently began the revival of the monastery almost from scratch. Many Greek monasteries in the first half of the 20th century even lost their hostels. Raised goats and ate meat! One ascetic had a vision: in Kapsala, demons happily lick fat cauldrons after the monks... But Russik, although he was impoverished by people, never lost his lofty foundations. The very way of monastic life gave birth to the great saint - St. Silouan. In turn, the writings of this Elder, through the publications of his spiritual child Father Sophrony, brought many young Greeks to Athos. By the way, the veneration of the Elder began, long before he was affixed, in the most "learned" Athos monastery - the monastery of Simonopetr.

Spirit-bearing Greek Agiorites have always understood the role of the Russian Athonites. Elder Porfiry once said to monk L., the current resident of our monastery: “If you only knew how many Russian saints you have!” God willing, their lives will also be published.

The prayer book gets rid of the burning passions of national pride. Becomes a saint. And this is not a cosmopolitan, deliberately devoid of roots and historical memory. This is not a tumbleweed. This is a vine that has grown into the soil of Athos and is grafted here. Its roots are in hidden Byzantium, and the fruits ripen for the Kingdom of Heaven.

By the way, we penetrated not just into the Roman kingdom. With God's help, the invisible world has opened up to us. A mysterious "space" that exudes miracles and reveals saints. The place between earth and sky, where the invisible elders struggle.

From the Holy Mountain, which rises above the sea of life, much is revealed. Rejoice, do not be embarrassed, reason ... And - forgive me if I made a mistake or offended someone.

Actually, on the Holy Mountain, I wanted to look into my heart. But this is the hardest thing.

All. It's time to hit the road. Cross the disturbing zone of the global crisis and find yourself in prayerful silence. Not the biggest Athonite secret

Yuri VOROBYEVSKY

DOES EVERYONE LOVE THE HOLY MOUNTAIN

The rural Greek landscape is about to change. I look out the car window and think: “Has it already begun or is it just on the way?”. The fact is that after Greece joins the WTO, olive groves and vineyards should be destroyed here. For cutting down on an area of a thousand square meters, the owner is offered as much as 720 euros. Generations and generations of your ancestors cultivated these olives, these vines, and then forget everything and get: here's five hundred, two hundred and two dozen more. Satisfied? Shurshi, Greek, with these pieces of paper. Rustle and think: why even the cotton for making euro-notes is not Greek, but brought from Egypt. When you were lured into the WTO, they promised something completely different.

The serpentine went downhill. A smart driver turns the steering wheel with one hand and hardly slows down when cornering. The Heavenly City, Ouranoupoli, is very close. A road sign goes by. The edge of the eye manages to catch - something unimaginable! The place of the shield where Agion Oros (Holy Mountain) is written is viciously mangled. A year ago, this would have been unthinkable here. The devil's hatred could not resist - it thundered with all its evil weight at the hated word.

Evening in the Heavenly City

April Ouranoupolis is cool, not crowded and quiet. The Levantine nature does not necessarily doze in the heat. We are sitting on the balcony of the cozy Macedonia Hotel. My old and good friend, monk Boniface, came from the Athos skete of Kromitsa. He, as always, "throws" material for future research. Today - this is an old photograph, in which among the pilgrims of the St. Panteleimon Monastery ... Wait, wait! One face seems familiar… Really?.. Father Vonifaty nods his head: Grigory Efimovich Rasputin… Yes, it is known that at the beginning of the 20th century he visited Athos. And some hieromonk drove him from the Holy Mountain. In my opinion, in this picture (far right in the second row) - this is him. However, you need to check.

Gradually, the topic of conversation changes. It turns out that violent passions boil behind the veil of silence in Ouranoupolis. Our interlocutor tells how quite recently anti-Athos leaflets were scattered here. How? For what? Citizens are told that they want to take away their land. That they themselves will almost be allowed into the world. Who is this villain? They say that the monastery of Vatoped, on the possessions of which there is an ancient village.

Wait! Even we know: back in the twenties, these lands were transferred to the state by the Athonites. The Greeks who migrated from Asia Minor were accommodated here. So the lie is simply obvious.

Megali Idea. Retreat

The population exchange between Greece and Turkey followed a failed adventure that began in May 1919. Then Greek troops equipped with English weapons landed on the coast of Asia Minor.

After the fall of the Russian Empire, little Greece started up with joy. The dwarf tried to throw on the purple of Byzantium. And, in fact, turn back time. To alter the sacred history, according to which, the death of the Second Rome was followed by the rise of the Third. And the last one... However, the whole world and home-grown Russophobia will never put up with the idea of the Third Rome.

“Long before that, back in 1844, the Megali Idea, the Great Idea, was officially proclaimed in the Greek Parliament ... Its essence is the revival of the Greek state within the borders of the Byzantine Empire, which once encompassed the world from Italy to Palestine. Or, at least, the inclusion in the state of all territories inhabited by Greeks, including Constantinople and a significant part of Asia Minor.

The freemasons who then headed Greece were going to build a great state from the stones of antiquity. On the foundation of pagan, "Hellenic" nationalism. Therefore, the Patriarchate of Constantinople did not support the uprising of a small part of the people against the Ottoman Empire.

Liberal Greek nationalists with their "great ideas" were needed for one more purpose. The calculation was simple. Suppose the First World War is over, and the winners, along with the powers of the Entente, are Februaryist Russia and democratic Greece. Russia says: “We are the winners, now Constantinople is ours!” To this the Entente could answer: “No. We promised the straits to Tsar Nicholas. But you overthrew him... Personally, we didn't promise you anything... But, by the way, there are other contenders - the Greek democrat Venizelos... After all, you are for the right of nations to self-determination?.. Excellent! Do Russians live in Constantinople? How many of them?.. And the Greeks? Almost 300 thousand - about 40% of the city's population! Is there at least one Russian village in the area of the straits? No. But there are Greek ones, there are dozens of them. So Constantinople will have to be given to Greece. Or declare it a neutral territory and transfer it under the joint control of the allied powers ... ”Something like this. The main thing is that Russia does not get the straits.

After the First World War, everything remained the same in the Straits area. Then the Greek idea of capturing Constantinople arose. One of her inspirers was a descendant of Russian emigrants (his father left Russia under Nicholas I), a major merchant in ships and weapons, Basil Zakharov. Oh, it was a bright personality! Like the personification of an international adventure. A gentleman with a Mediterranean appearance, a Russian surname and an English-style first name. He was spoken of as a man who "lied fluently in six languages".

So how did the adventure develop? The successes of the Greeks were short-lived. They lost the decisive battle a hundred kilometers from Constantinople. Ataturk was helped by Soviet Russia. Trotsky ensured that our starving country sent everything necessary to help Turkey. Nineteen million rubles in gold, weapons, as well as military experts: Frunze, Mdivani, Aralov ...

The background of the Asia Minor adventure is poorly understood, which is a pity. We will only say that Basil Zakharov, who settled in London, was a British resident in the Balkans. Such well-known figures as Parvus, Radek, Trotsky, Rakovsky worked for him.

At first, Zakharov supplied weapons to Russia - to the militants of 1905. Later - to the Balkans. Everyone in a row - both criminal groups and Greek patriots.

The failed adventure was followed by the massacre of the Greeks throughout Asia Minor. The survivors, about one and a half million people, were sent "to their historical homeland" - in exchange for the Turkish population living in Greece. Provocateurs from England were pleased. There were almost no people left who dreamed that Constantinople would again become an Orthodox capital in Turkey. Britain, terribly afraid that sooner or later Russia would take the last step towards its cherished goal, presumably considered the Greeks as the fifth column of "Russian expansion".

Yes, the entire world behind the scenes is against the cross shining over Hagia Sophia again... However, the dispute over the City is not over yet.

Alas, many believe in a fictional threat. Little of. At the request of Vatopedi to return to him the coastal Byzantine tower (there is a temple in it), the city refuses. We want, they say, to arrange a museum here. So the historic banquet, where the Ottomans hanged young Athos inhabitants who refused to convert to Islam, is empty. The monastery makes another request. Sell a piece of land donated to them in order to build a garage for their vehicles. And what? The mayor does not agree to any. Ooh-ooh!

Athonophobia is gaining momentum.

Do monks live?

The Greek Archimandrite Nektary Moulaciotis recently went to Athos specifically to find out the truth about those Vatopedi suitcases with cash, about which the press screamed so much. Then he wrote: “I asked Father Ephraim what happened to those notorious suitcases with ten million euros. Then he showed me the money, saying: “Look, here they are. I spend more than two million euros a month on the needs of the monastery. Here are all the reports. They say that we rob people. However, here is the money.

Hegumen Ephraim believes, father Nektary testifies, that some journalists deliberately distort reality. It is reported, for example, that the abbot has a personal helicopter, while even a military helicopter does not have the right to fly over the Holy Mountain. Therefore, both the Prime Minister and the Patriarch sail to Athos by ship. It is simply impossible to fly there in a helicopter, but all the same, such rumors are spreading ...

Father Ephraim, of course, does not have a helicopter. However, in fairness, let's say that rotorcraft fly over the Holy Mountain. And they land. I don’t know how the Ecumenical, but the Patriarch of Alexandria Peter VII flew. In 2004, the helicopter on which he went to Athos fell into the sea.

Around the Lavra and in Karey, round platforms were built with a large letter H (helicopter) in the middle. The Greek agiorites, who in the last century were "embarrassed" by the ringing of our bells and other noises of "Russian expansion", are now not afraid of the roar of propellers. Not just any propeller, of course, but one that lowers a spiritual or secular VIP person from the skies. There is, there is such an amazing quality of hearing and vision in some adherents of the Holy Mountain traditions!

But what is the reason or, rather, the reason for the anti-Athos offensive? Let's look at the Internet. Here is the most characteristic message of 2009, when the scandal began to flare up.

“The Vatopedi monastery on Mount Athos was at the center of a property scandal that brought large financial losses to Greece. The Greek state took control of 31 monastery accounts in 7 banks. The funds on these accounts served, in particular, the maintenance of the monastery real estate and its rental ...

At the same time, the finances of the monastery are not limited to arrested accounts. Millions of funds are invested in securities and investment portfolios in Cyprus (Hegumen Ephraim is from Cyprus) and beyond. Some of them are written in the names of monks.”

Suitcases - suitcases, but, of course, it's not about Vatopedi cash. “Vatoped transferred ownership of the buildings in the Olympic Village to his Cypriot offshore company Rassadel Ltd, and she immediately sold these buildings to another Cypriot offshore company, Noliden Ltd. At the same time, it turned out that the director and nominal owner of Rassadel, the Cypriot representative of Vatopeda, Aphos Koiranidis, works at Noliden as a financial consultant.

It turned out that the buildings in Athens themselves, as well as the sites in Thessaloniki, were not interesting for the Vatopedi Monastery. They were only subject to subsequent sale and purchase. Despite the fact that the monastery received them at low “state” prices, and sold them at completely commercial prices, and even making transactions in offshore jurisdictions, and also completely hiding part of the amount from the transaction.”

Offshore companies owned by the monastery! This is something new. If at least part of what is written is true, then ... Let's put it mildly: then there is no limit to embarrassment. In English, offshore means "offshore". The boundlessness of entrepreneurial activity, which has partially overwhelmed Athos, is unpleasantly striking.