In 1967 mr H. de Greeve from the Netherlands wrote a book tittled “Athos, een inleiding”. Most of the 49 pitures are taken by the author himself.

A monk from the Lavra-monastery holding a large key- 1965

Mr. de Greeve’s book is well documented and has a lot of annotations. During his 15 day visit to the Holy Mountain he was able to visit many places on the Holy Mountain, for exempel the ruling Athos Governement from 1962, the Holy Epistasia, at that time delegates from Dionysiou, Sografou, Roussikon and Konstamonitou.

He managed to get in libraries and ancient books were shown to him:

A 12th century copy of the ‘De materia Medica’ from Diocurides (60 AD) – from the Larva Library
He also met some of the “Siromahki” as mentioned in 559.

A “Siromahki” in Karyes – 1965

A monk from Skiti Prodromou – 1965

and finally this rare picture of the skeleton of Alexander the Great from a chapel in Dionysiou. The legend goes that St. Sisois an ascetic, found the skeleton of Alexander the in the Egyptian desert and said the words: “O, Death, who can escape from it “?

A mural from the Varlaam monastery in Meteora depicting St. Sisois finding the grave of Alexander
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