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A Woman In Mount Athos
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I'VE
BEEN to
Mount
Athos
. I walked thoughtfully through the wooded
peaks, rested serenely by the magical waters,
attended heart-suspending services and
discussed the truth of God and the state of my
soul with kind, gentle monks. I went there
with the honourable and purely spiritual
intention of achieving enlightenment, as are
those held by any pilgrim - but to do this I
had to take on a wickedly false appearance. I
had to disguise myself as a man, because women
are banned from entry. I had to plaster onto
my upper lip a thin moustache, cut my hair in
a short, sharp manly style, speak in a deep,
coarse voice and walk with a manly straddle. I
moved in constant fear of being caught out, of
being chastised and humiliated for wanting to
do something I felt was crucial to me. But
after all, as the Friends Of Mount
Athos write in their website, "in English
the word [pilgrimage] means a journey
undertaken for religious purposes and implies
a degree of hardship or discomfort." Thus I
never thought it was going to be easy.
But I
lie, as us temptress, evil, conniving women
do. Not about going to
Mount
Athos
(Agion
Oros) but about disguising myself as a
man. In fact I blackmailed an old acquaintance
who happened to be the owner of a helicopter
to fly me over the holy state and drop me,
bang into the centre of a monastery courtyard.
We timed it so that I would land just after
mass, when all the monks were shuffling out of
the church. I was the stereotype incarnate of
the angry, disrespectful feminist who turns
nasty in order to make a point, OK? And
perhaps I was a little curious too - would the
appearance of a female in the flesh destroy
almost one thousand years of complete harmony,
purity and faith?
Women
grow tired and frustrated reading men's
accounts of their visits to
Mount
Athos
. They describe the beauty of the untouched
landscape, the sparkle of the pure waters, the
potential revelation that descends upon one
from witnessing or participating in true
veneration of God almighty.
The
existence and adamant sustainment of an
archaic law - article 186 - pronouncing female
presence (animals as well as humans) unwanted
in this land of faith is the cause of many a
woman's chasmic resentment. It states: "The
entrance of females to the Mt Athos peninsula
has always been banned." In his book To
Perivoli Tis Panagias, (Garden of the
Virgin Mary), Andonis Iordanoglou writes that
since 1953, when "certain ladies" attempted to
disembark at the harbour of Dafni, there has
been a legal clause as well as the age-old
religious one. "Since then all attempts to
nullify Athos' inaccessibility clause have
been in vain, as the law enjoys both
constitutional and international
protection."
The
author adds with a hint of irony that an
alteration to this clause could only be
decided upon by the resident monks themselves,
who aren't even contemplating any such
innovation.
Athos
is a self-governed part of the Greek state,
subject to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in
its political aspect and to the Ecumenical
Patriarch of Constantinople as regards its
religious aspect. It has been divided into 20
self-governed territories. Each territory
consists of a cardinal monastery and other
monastic establishments that surround
it.
All the
monasteries are communes, which means that
there is common liturgy, prayer, housing,
nourishment and work among the monks. The
superior of the monastery, elected by the
monks for life, is responsible for the affairs
of the monastery. The
superiors are members of the Holy Assembly and
exercise legislative authority. Annually, the
monastery elects its representative to the
Holy Community, which exercises administrative
authority, while the Holy Supervision (Iera
Epistasia) exercises executive authority
and consists of four members, elected by five
hierarchically preceding monasteries.
Iordanoglou advises women like myself to
address the Iera Epistasia with our
complaint (tel 0377 23710 to 14).
Article
186 spells out to me and to every other woman
on the planet that we are subjects of the male
mind's eye and not of God himself. It suggests
that our presence would disrupt the peace, not
enhance or and spiritually beautify it. We are
reduced to appearing as nothing more than
humans with female genitalia that may act as a
temptation or distraction to humans with male
genitalia. The clause can thus be considered
to offend the monks as well. But they don't
seem to complain about it. How could they? It
would instantly shame them and render them
suspicious. And why should they? Things are
fine as they are, all it takes is a little
eventual acceptance by a few (if any)
sceptics.
The
irony bites so hard that it draws the
bitter-metallic blood of realisation to the
surface. If a man has such a calling to God,
such an overwhelmingly powerful devotion to
his faith, that he chooses to withdraw from
the world at large and live - body and soul -
selflessly, how can he accept obedience of a
rule so humanly rather than spiritually
selfish? How can the presence of a woman act
as an insufferable temptation, a harsh break
from the life he has so thoughtfully and
decidedly chosen to lead? Should not an
individual who has found God and decided to
worship him with his entire being be able to
rise above the urges of the flesh?
My
complaint is not of a feminist nature, it is
one of principle. It roots from my desire, as
a human being who believes in a God who
forgives and accepts the sins of his repentant
followers, to share in the magnificence of a
holy landscape. Looking at photos and websites
and reading male accounts won't cut it
(there's even a website where you can
virtually light a cyber-candle!). You have to
be there to feel, to be able to think and
revise ideas about your self and your life
under the inspiration of this monastic state.
I don't have double standards - I believe that
men and women both should not have to undergo
physical barriers to their belief. Why should
a group of men who may have been drinking and
whoring the night before be permitted on these
grounds, and not women who - although some of
them too may have been drinking and whoring -
want to fortify their sense of faith by being
in a place away from their "reality"?
Indeed, it is tradition that keeps the Greek Orthodox church so alive, robust and respectable. But tradition should not equal the imposition of ruthless confines of man-made extremism. It can be sustained as well as altered with the emergence of significant and genuine needs.
Mount
Athos
is a
place to which I, as a woman, will never be
able to go apart from in my elastic
imagination. I cannot say that this will ruin
my life and lead me down a dark, fatal
untrodden path of disillusionment or
disappointment, for I accept that it is in our
human nature to err and sin and not
necessarily understand all our faults within
our life-spans.
Acceptance,
of what can only be improved upon within
ourselves, is therefore the key to a wiser and
happier life. Going to Agion Oros, if I were
allowed, could provide as much a
disappointment - as so many visitors from
around the world and from varying faiths have
related upon return - as it could spiritually
fulfilling comfort. Fact is, I'll never
know. For more on Mount Athos see: www.greecetravel.com/thessaloniki/athos.html and With Godfrey on the Holy Mountain (or The Last Temptation of Matt)
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