Holy Mountain Where Women Were Barred

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 968, 10 May 1930, Page 23

Holy Mountain Where Women Were Barred

English Girls Enter Monks’ Republic RISKED THEIR LIVES One of the wonders of tlie world—the famous 15-eenturies-old monastery of Mount Afhos, Greece—is fast dying out. The day is at hand when the “Holy Mou'ntain” will be populated no more by the female-hating monks. Until the war, the monastery was more than 15,000 strong, but a census taken recently gave the population as little more than 2,000. Every year the decrease is more and more marked. A thousand years ago an official ban was made on the admission of females of any species into the area, which has been known for centuries as “The Monks’ Republic.” This ban was

j made so strong, and the hatred of the ! monks for anything female developed so fiercely, that even the females of birds and fowl and all animals were destroyed whenever they were discovered.

This ban was accompanied by the dire threat that any woman attempting to go inside the monastery did so at the peril of her life. But this threat tempted two English girls to dare the ban and to penetrate the innermost parts of the monastery. They made their daring journey dressed as youths, and were not discovered, hut they had some narrow escapes.

The reason for this ban was actually explained by one of the chiefs of the monastery to the girls and their party. The monk must have received a great shock if ever he found out that he had been enunciating the great ban of 1045 to two of the sex against whom it was especially directed. “Woman is three times impure and would interfere with our meditations,” explained this monk. “The Holy Mountain of Athos is a Great Temple from which thousands of prayers must rise to atone for the Original Sin.” For the many centuries they have habited the Holy Mountain, generation after generation of the monks have lived the same strict and severe life. They rise from their hard beds in their cells one hour after midnight

each morning and take part in a solemn service, which continues until 4.30. English Actresses Then follows another sleeping period in their cells. Afterward they work hard in the fields or other parts of the community until the evening, interspersed with services and religious vigils and then long meditation until bedtime. The two English girls who penetrated this religious fastness were the Misses Betty and Pauline Rowe, then actresses on the Paris stage. The girls told how they disguised themselves as Greek youths, and joined a party of American tourists, in whom they confided their secret iD case any emergency should arise. The Americans said the best idea would be to take the two as porters, and this was arranged. “We found that the monks were really the biggest woman-haters in all the world, the biggest possible,” said the girls afterward. “They hated even female birds, and used to climb to their nests to kill them off.” To reach one of the monasteries the party were drawn up the side of a crevice in a hanging basket. Another, and now disused monastery, is today inaccessible owing to the fall of part of the mountain. Enormous Riches What will happen to the famous “Holy Mountain” and its monks’ cells and chapels is not yet certain. Already a scheme has been planned to make of the place a health resort.

with funicular railways for tourists and patients to reach the breeze-sw-ept terraces and fine tonic air. Recently the ban on women was officially cancelled by General Pangalos, the Greek Dictator. One big problem of the ending of this famous holy place is that there exists enormous treasure, both intrinsic and in rare literature, books and manuscript. There are costly gems, and the libraries contain manuscripts j more than 1,000 years old. Manx' of the books and other treasures were the gifts of Russian Tsars for the main section of the religious community is of the Greek Orthodox Church, which was the national relig- ; ion of the Russians. A curious commentary on the re- \ ligious position in Russia during the j last few years is provided by the con- j dition of the Russian Monks section. In the Russian Priory of Mount Holy Andras on Mount Athos, there were 400 monks before the war, and all the 200 hemits’ cells were occupied. Today, because no further recruits 1 have been forthcoming from Soviet Russia, there are only 50 monks and j a few dozen hermits. All manner of men went to the soli- , tudes of Mount Athos for that great peace of religious meditation away from the outside world. Princes and 1 Grand Dukes, nobles, generals, em- ; perors in disgrace and all manner of i high dignitaries have found sanctuary on Mount Athos.