One of the best memories to a visit of a monasterie was our stay at Dionysiou during Easter in 1986. First of all, Dionysiou is my favourit monastery. It is a small and compact building and the church hardly fits in the courtyard.

Dionysiou – 1986

Dionysiou courtyard – 1986

We entered the monastery through these magnificant doors.

The doors of Dionysiou – 1986

We planned a one-day visit to Dionysiou, becuase our three-day permit almost ran out, but our visit gave us a real unexpected surprice. It showed out that the archondicaris was a Dutchman, who was trying to find his – religious – luck on The Holy Mountain. Sergij Bollen was his name; he used to be member of the Katholic church, but because this church was not “orthodox” enough he first joined the Old Katholic church in Holland. When he found out that this church was not what he was looking for, so he went to Athos to live in a Orthodox monasterie for a while.
We were happy to meet him because he invited us to stay for the Easter celebrations and he explained us how we could to prolong our visit for a couple of days !

Dionysiou: Sergij Bollen (with stick) on the seaside – 1986

to be continued – Wim 3/11