Can one still send prayer requests to Mt. Athos monks?

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johnnykins:
A better question might be why no one objects to referring to the monks there as the “holy” monks of Mount Athos as if their unrelenting animosity to Catholicism is a virtue.
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I am curious. Are the monks on Mt Athos really vehemently anti-Catholic?
 
Fr Ambrose:
Twaddle. Hope you feel better now though.

Are you seriously suggesting that because people have outlooks that don’t coincide with other people’s that it is OK to question their integrity and their intelligence and to accuse them of feigned humility and hypocrisyand bigotry !!!

This should have been a nice little thread but someone had to jump in with message # 4 and start throwing around the slurs (with barely feigned humour) followed by message # 7. Then reinforced by message # 9, # 16, and now, # 18.
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No humor today. I wouldn’t put up with someone claiming anti-Catholic protestants are “holy.” I certainly won’t with the Orthodox either. No slur has been made. The “holy” monks are certainly anti-Catholic. It’s not just a difference of opinion. They went into schism over it. Why don’t you read up on their wonderful open view of Catholicism. Facts only. I questioned no one’s integrity - just suggested that someone could. If you’'re feeling uncomfortable, maybe you should look at what you’ve said - and if the shoe fits. Well, you know.
 
Fr Ambrose:
Twaddle. Hope you feel better now though.

Are you seriously suggesting that because people have outlooks that don’t coincide with other people’s that it is OK to question their integrity and their intelligence and to accuse them of feigned humility and hypocrisyand bigotry !!!

This should have been a nice little thread but someone had to jump in with message # 4 and start throwing around the slurs (with barely feigned humour) followed by message # 7. Then reinforced by message # 9, # 16, and now, # 18.
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Gee Fr. I’m surprised you are upset I referenced a web site you suggested in another thread. See Message #7. Maybe folks could read the site you suggested.

A nice little thread - suggesting that Catholics ask the prayers of a group of anti-Catholics? Maybe you think Catholics should ask Jack Chick for his prayers, too! Just thought unwary Catholics should know about your “holy” fathers n Mt Athos.
 
Here’s a useful page. Wonder who the dragon is?

orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/athonite_bartholomew.aspx

Is it all just a matter of opinion whether Catholicism is compared to serpents and dragons? Jack Chick couldn’t have said it better.

I certainly wouldn’t expect a warm reception from the Orthodox if I supported the ultra-right wing crazies of Catholicism. I’m dumbfounded that someone would think that they could support the ultra-right wing crazies (sorry “holies”) of Orthodoxy and have Catholics not find that offensive.
 
Dear Johnnykins and Mickey,

I made my response in message # 3 to the question asked in the first message.

If you want to continue the donnybrook which you have conjured out of nowhere, that’s fine but I am not participating.

Mickey, just to answer your question though. Get hold of the Cistercian Basil Pennington’s book on the Holy Mountain. He lived in the athonite monasteries and he has an opinion on the monks and their attitude to Roman Catholics.
 
The Monks of Mount Athos: A Western Monk’s Extraordinary Spiritual Journey on Eastern Holy Ground (Paperback)
amazon.com/gp/product/1893361780/qid=1134169828/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/002-6363550-9466402?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

**Book Description
**Twenty-five years ago, M. Basil Pennington, ocso, was the first Western monk to live on Mount Athos for more than the usually permitted overnight visit. The Monks of Mount Athos chronicles his extraordinary stay, his experiences of the East, and lively conversations with his hosts about theological differences and unfamiliar spiritual practices.

Listen in as Abbot Basil wrestles with historical differences between Christianity’s East and West, learns the Orthodox practice of “the prayer of the heart,” and explores the landscape, the monastic communities, and the food of Athos–a monastic republic like no other place on earth. New to this edition, Archimandrite Dionysios, a monk from “the Holy Mountain,” reflects on the ecumenical openness fostered as a result of, and since, Abbot Basil’s stay. The abbot’s experiences on Mount Athos motivated him to re-examine his role as a monk and his relationship to God. His inspiring meditations will help you to explore your own relationship to God and to others.

About the Author
Abbot M. Basil Pennington, ocso, [recently deceased] lives in Saint Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, and is the author of many modern spiritual classics, including Finding Grace at the Center: The Beginning of Centering Prayer (SkyLight Paths), Centering Prayer, and Lectio Divina.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1893361780.01.SCLZZZZZZZ.jpg
 
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Freeway4321:
No. To the Carthusians of Vermont.

laycarthusians.homestead.com/TRANSFIGURATION.html
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Off topic-If you’re serious, thank you. On topic, for monks on Athos, how strict is the policies on poverty? I just realised that a Priest has a veritable library (if you’re Catholic anyway), I mean like, they have the set of Breviary Books (3 down here in Aust), the Bible, the Catechism, the code of Canon Law, the Missal, the Roman Ritual, and every encyclical they think is important. Whats it like for Mt Athos monks?
 
Fr Ambrose said:
On Topic !

Mount Athos Information

AN ATHOS DIRECTORY. This is a directory for MAILING ADDRESSES, TELEPHONE and FAX; it does not include e-mail addresses.

abacus.bates.edu/~rallison/friends/friendsinfo.html

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THIS NEVER GOT OFF TOPIC - unles you mean the concern that the truth about the monks was actually told… IT IS CERTAINLY PART OF THE TOPIC TO LET A CATHOLIC KNOW THAT THE MONKS ARE ANTI-CATHOLIC.

"It is more than evident that the ideology which the more fanatical Orthodox try to impose on the country is by no means universally accepted. Even in Mount Athos, their stronghold, attitudes vary from monastery to monastery. At Esphigmenou, when I last visited Athos, a sign was placed at the entry, a skull and crossbones, accompanied by the legend: Orthodoxy or Death. I did not attempt to go in. On principle, I used to wear a cassock when I visited Athos (although I did not elsewhere). This could provoke rude exchanges, and naturally I was treated in some monasteries as heterodox, forbidden to enter the catholicon (church) during offices and obliged to eat meals apart from the community. In other monasteries, my cassock posed no obstacle to dialogue.

“ONE incident may be worth mentioning. At the end of the Byzantine liturgy, it is the custom to distribute the antidoron, bread which is blessed but not consecrated. When I presented myself in one monastery to receive my piece, the priest who was distributing it turned me away, saying I was heterodox. A bishop also staying there who happened to know me came across and discreetly gave me half of his own antidoron.”

thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/register.cgi/tablet-00510
The monks wouldn’t let a catholic priest even receive the unconsecrated bread! An orthodox bishop did. Yes, there are many open minded Orthodox clerics and hierarchs. The monks count few among their number. A Catholic should be careful not to be bamboozled by some on these threads. Some folks, certainly both Catholic and Orthodox, are less than candid.

Just because an ecumenically minded catholic monk wrote a book about his feeling says very little about the anti-catholic feeling of the monks.
 
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johnnykins:
THIS NEVER GOT OFF TOPIC - unles you mean the concern that the truth about the monks was actually told… IT IS CERTAINLY PART OF THE TOPIC TO LET A CATHOLIC KNOW THAT THE MONKS ARE ANTI-CATHOLIC.
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It is evident from your own quote below that this is only one side of the story.
"It is more than evident that the ideology which the more fanatical Orthodox try to impose on the country is by no means universally accepted. Even in Mount Athos, their stronghold, attitudes vary from monastery to monastery. At Esphigmenou, when I last visited Athos, a sign was placed at the entry, a skull and crossbones, accompanied by the legend: Orthodoxy or Death. I did not attempt to go in. On principle, I used to wear a cassock when I visited Athos (although I did not elsewhere). This could provoke rude exchanges, and naturally I was treated in some monasteries as heterodox, forbidden to enter the catholicon (church) during offices and obliged to eat meals apart from the community. In other monasteries, my cassock posed no obstacle to dialogue.

“ONE incident may be worth mentioning. At the end of the Byzantine liturgy, it is the custom to distribute the antidoron, bread which is blessed but not consecrated. When I presented myself in one monastery to receive my piece, the priest who was distributing it turned me away, saying I was heterodox. A bishop also staying there who happened to know me came across and discreetly gave me half of his own antidoron.”
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Although unusual in America this can happen in parishes and monasteries there. The reason is that the antidoron (“in place of the bread”) is given to those Orthodox Christians who have not communed at the Liturgy.
thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/register.cgi/tablet-00510
The monks wouldn’t let a catholic priest even receive the unconsecrated bread! An orthodox bishop did. Yes, there are many open minded Orthodox clerics and hierarchs. The monks count few among their number. A Catholic should be careful not to be bamboozled by some on these threads. Some folks, certainly both Catholic and Orthodox, are less than candid.

Just because an ecumenically minded catholic monk wrote a book about his feeling says very little about the anti-catholic feeling of the monks.
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Johnnykins, you should lay aside your bitterness about Orthodoxy. It’s not good for you.

Athos is a unique place and, for a non-Orthodox, it is a unique experience which they will never find anywhere else on the planet. Think of it as a Christian Tibet. Dozens of monasteries, thousands of monks, traditions, architecture which go back into the Middle Ages, the heartbeat of Orthodoxy. If, at the rare place a non-Orthodox is declined Antidoron, that will not invalidate the enriching spiritual experience which a pilgrimage to Athos provides. Try it for yourself, you may lessen the bitterness and find that you have enjoyed it, created a whole new bank of unforgettable memories and come away with something special in your soul.
 
Fr Ambrose:
Try it for yourself, you may lessen the bitterness and find that you have enjoyed it, created a whole new bank of unforgettable memories and come away with something special in your soul.
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So I would be welcomed to stay at one of the monasteries for a period of time for pilgrimage if I asked permission?
 
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Mickey:
So I would be welcomed to stay at one of the monasteries for a period of time for pilgrimage if I asked permission?
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By the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), the territory of Athos is independent of Greece with the two exceptions that Greece controls its defence and its “foreign policy” (and any serious crimes are tried in Greek courts.)

One needs to obtain a Visa to visit Athos. A Visa for Greece itself is not sufficient.

Because of the large number of visitors the monasteries were finding it hard to cope with hundreds of visitors every night and now Visas are issued for limited periods - 10 days if a man is Orthodox, 3 days if a man is not.

These may not be the current condition for issuing an Entry Visa; Prodromos would know more.

But one should note that these “rules” have a certain Byzantine flexibility and once a man is on Athos the fathers of the Holy Mountain will often extend the time period for those people who want to stay a little longer.
 
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