The Skete

The third place we visited was not actually a monastery but a skete (pronounced "skiti.")  In English, it's name would be "Skete of the Prophet Elijah," but Frank always just calls it "the skete."  In theory, a skete is a much smaller compound on land owned by a monastery and a dependency of it.  This skete is, indeed, on Pantokrator land and closely tied to it, but has a lot of independence.  You will also see from the picture below that it looks very different from both Xenophontos and Pantokrator.  That is because it was built by Russians; in fact, it's parts were built in Russia and shipped in pieces to Mt. Athos back at the turn of the century.

It seems that the Russian monks and authorities sent a large ship, filled with prefabricated parts, put up a huge screen during the early phases of the building, secretly transported the parts and materials through tunnels, and got the very large complex well under way before the monks at Pantokrator were really aware of their full plans.  The result was a very grand, non-skete-like compound with one of the largest churches on the peninsula.  More than 200 Russian monks lived there.  When the Communists took over in Russia, all support was cut off, and no new monks were allowed to come, so it eventually came into the hands of Greek ones.  Today, there are only eleven or twelve of them and so many pilgrims and tourists from Russia that they are kept incredibly busy.  The Russian Orthodox Church, with the full support of Putin, would love to take it over again along with another, even larger skete and send in hundreds of monks.  It seems that the only official "Russian" monastery on the peninsula is now held by Ukrainian monks.  You cannot escape world affairs even on the Holy Mountain.

As one who loves the stone-brick-and-wood work of the Greek monasteries, I did not find the stone-iron-and-plaster work of the skete all that attractive despite the arabesques of the brackets.  The gray blocks of the great church on the right seemed oppressive to me.  By the way, we stayed on the second floor of the building on the left, Frank in the "Emperor's Suite" and I in his valet's chamber across the hall.  The Czar never actually came, but special chambers were set aside and eventually ready to be claimed by "Mr. Frank," when he visited.  (The rooms were pretty nice, but not as elegant as you are probably thinking.)

This is the interior of the great central church as seen from a balcony.  With only eleven or twelve monks in residence, it is only used on very special occasions, but is regularly opened for pilgrims and tourists to see.  Ordinary services are held in a small chapel.

The treatment of the cats that somehow make their way to the monasteries and sketes varies drastically from place to place.  The abbot of this skete quite likes them, so you can see that one ones here are well-fed.  In fact, the five you see are waiting for their usual handouts from the kitchen.  You can also see a lot of potted plants in this picture (as in the second photo in this post).  They are everywhere, and the abbot spends a lot of his time taking care of them.

Since the skete is perched higher up on the mountainside than Xenophontos or Pantokrator, its agricultural efforts take place or even more dramatic terraces, such as the ones you see here.  The monks couldn't possibly handle all the work that needs to be done, but the abbot has attracted a faithful contingent of volunteers who come to help out at key times.

I was always requesting opportunities to help the monks but only got a couple of chances.  I spent most of one day at the skete processing oregano using a screen in a wood frame.  The result was that Father Philemon presented me with a lot of oregano as a gift, so everything in my suitcase has come to have a nice herbal scent.