Tag Archives: semantron

2251 – Swiss photographer Fred Boissonnas in Vatopedi -1928/30

On my last journey to Athos in September/October 2022 I spend one day in Thessaloniki. Because we published the photos of the photographer Boissonnas earlier on this weblog (1485), I made a visit to this small museum MOmus on the … Continue reading

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2202 – Grigoriou: photo overview, a tour from the arsanas to the Katholicon

The arsanas of Grigoriou, with the boat Agia Anna arriving at 10 PM The boat house at the arsanas is being renovated (Oktober 2019) Monks working on oil-smeared cables Arsanas Grigoriou, with a “second archondariki” on the left. The main … Continue reading

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2126 – Roaming around the Great Lavra

After our arrival at the Great Lavra, we sat and rested for a while at the archondiriki. We had walked the kalderimi from Prodromou. We received the hospitality gratefully; fresh water, Greek coffee and loukoumi. Four impressions taken directly from … Continue reading

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2120 – An evening, night and early morning in Prodromou

Just before sunset we arrived in Prodromou, the Romanian skete at the edge of the peninsula. We were quiet tired from the afternoon walk from Kavsokalivia via Nilou and the crossing of the stone fall of Megali Sara. The walk … Continue reading

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2062 – Xenofontos, a photo survey within the monastery, part 3

In post 2057 and 2061 I showed the first two courtyards of Xenofontos monastery (the red letters A and B on the map below). Today we will take a closer look at courtyard C, that lies between the new katholicon … Continue reading

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2052 – Koutloumousiou revisited

After a short walk in the fog from Karyes we reached the monastery of Koutloumousiou. The first monastery we visited in our 2019 pilgrimage. In the archonidiriki we didn’t see the young German speaking monk who had taught us about … Continue reading

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2004 – Semantrons in skites

AnnaKafsokalivia  Protaton AndreouProdromou Bas Kamps

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2003 – Aural icons of Orthodoxy

Aural icons of Orthodoxy, that is what the semantrons of Mount Athos are. Despite the differences between the monasteries and sketes they have several things in common. Among them the semantron, an essential tool to announce to call the monks … Continue reading

Posted in 01 Lavra, 02 Vatopedi, 03 Iviron, 04 Chilandariou, 05 Dionysiou, 06 Koutloumousiou, 07 Pantocratoros, 08 Xiropotamou, 09 Sografou, 10 Docheiariou, 11 Karakallou, 12 Filotheou, 13 Simonos Petras, 14 Paulou, 15 Stavronikita, 16 Xenofontos, 17 Grigoriou, 18 Esfigmenou, 19 Panteleimonos, 20 Konstamonitou | Tagged , | Leave a comment

1910 – Koutloumousiou monastery: part 3

Let’s continue our exploration of the courtyard:The balconies in the North-East corner: the kitchen and the bakery (Γ 1 and Γ 3), with a large clock on the wall. Here are pilgrim Gert Jan and me standing in front of the … Continue reading

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1614 – Semantron

Semantron of Karakalou The semantron or semandron (Greek: σήμαντρον), or semanterion (σημαντήριον), also called a xylon (ξύλον) (Romanian: toacă; Russian: било, bilo; Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian: клепало, klepalo) is a percussion instrument used in monasteries to summon the monastics to … Continue reading

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