Category Archives: women

2235 – In search of Virginia Somers’ lost letter

William Dalrymple is a famous writer who works and lives in India. One of his books, From the Holy Mountain, contains a chapter about the monastery of Iviron. In that chapter Dalrymple informs the reader about the avaton, the rule … Continue reading

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2089 – discovery of female remains in a chapel near Pantocratoros

Today this article is published in The Guardian, about recent finds under the floor of the chapel of St Athanasios, just outside the walls of the monastery. It looks like the bones they found are that small, that they have belonged … Continue reading

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2086 – Agiou Paulou monastery: the pavilion of Princess Mara

One of the more physical proofs that there has been a woman on Athos is the Pavilion of Princess Mara, born in 1416 and a daughter of a Serbian monarch Đurađ (George) Branković . She married Ottoman Sultan Murad II for … Continue reading

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2085 – Women who ignored the avaton

 In early legal documents (in the years 970 and 1045) the exclusion of women is implied but it is never specifically stated. According to Graham Speake in his book Renewal in Paradise the principle of Avaton was so well established, … Continue reading

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2032 – Women venerating icons on the tourist boat

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2017 – Some impressions from the tourist boat today

This week my wife and I spend the holidays in Ouranoupolis at the beautiful Skites resort near the border. Today we took the tourist boat to give my wife a chance to get a glimps of the Holy peninsula after … Continue reading

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1984 – Pre christian Grave Stele with two women

This is the entrance 0f Koutloumousiou seen from the courtyard. On the right side of the porch a pre christian, so called,  Grave Stele is part of the wall.  A stele is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than … Continue reading

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1949 – Tsipras, the avaton and other politics

According to a Flemish website, called Kerknet, the avaton on Athos is threatened by a Greek law considering gender (October 15th 2017). The avaton is the ban of women on the Holy Mountain. Prime Minister Tsipras in happier times visits … Continue reading

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1760 – lecture about women and Athos by Veronica Della Dora

The portrait of Olga Papaloukas with Karyes as background painted by her husband Spyros. On November 10, 2015, Veronica della Dora, Chair of Human Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, will give a lecture in the American School of Classical Studies … Continue reading

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1350 – Drawings from a sketchbook by Mary Newbold Singer Sargent

This drawing is made in 1904 by Mary Newbold Singer Sargent (1826–1906).   She was an amateur artist but the mother of the famous American painter John Singer Sargent. This sketchbook is in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art … Continue reading

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