Althouse: "There are just two daily meals. One menu consisted of lentil purée, tomatoes, olives, fruit and water or red wine, at 9:30 a.m."

October 21, 2018

"There are just two daily meals. One menu consisted of lentil purée, tomatoes, olives, fruit and water or red wine, at 9:30 a.m."

"'We eat fast,' Father Jeremiah warned. A typical meal lasts 15 minutes. One monk reads prayers, and any visitor who tries to talk is shushed. After the morning meal, the monks work — gardening, cooking, painting icons — until it is time for vespers before sunset, the evening meal and bed. Even while working, most pray, their lips constantly moving with the refrain, 'Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.' Monks often summarize their existence in pithy shorthand. 'He is happy because he has nothing, but he has everything,' Abbot Alexios said of a monk’s life.... Expensive SUVs now whisk affluent visitors along dirt roads once limited to donkeys and trekking pilgrims.... Some monks grumble about the tide of visitors overwhelming their devotions. Some pilgrims dislike it, too...."

From "Mount Athos, a Male-Only Holy Retreat, Is Ruffled by Tourists and Russia" (NYT).

29 comments:

Fernandinande said...: He is happy because he has nothing,

I knew a guy who had a Vesper and he was not happy after a car backed over it.; 10/21/18, 8:50 AM
Phil 314 said...: Schism.

How often is that word used outside of the context of church division?; 10/21/18, 8:54 AM
mccullough said...: They have lodging and meals. This is not nothing.; 10/21/18, 8:54 AM
David Begley said...: They keep Althousian hours.; 10/21/18, 8:56 AM
Phil 314 said...: As a Protestant (an odd term for an Eastern believer) I gues I’m “heterodox”.; 10/21/18, 8:56 AM
Narayanan said...: Ethan of Athos https://g.co/kgs/sGWDQ7; 10/21/18, 9:10 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: "There are just two daily meals. One menu consisted of lentil purée, tomatoes, olives, fruit and water or red wine, at 9:30 a.m.""

Add some cheese, crackers and possibly prosciutto(with cantaloupe) or salami and it is PERFECT! I'm not a big lentil fan, so maybe switch out some hummus for the lentils.

After the morning meal, the monks work — gardening, cooking, painting icons — until it is time for vespers before sunset, the evening meal and bed.

Throw in some gaming, other crafting like pottery, knitting or quilting, plus reading; then it is my perfect day. Not sure what to do about the vespers....possibly just day dream through those.; 10/21/18, 9:13 AM
Barry Dauphin said...: At first I wondered if the vespers referred to martinis, but I guess not.; 10/21/18, 9:20 AM
Anonymous said...: Dust Bunny Queen said...
Add some cheese, crackers and possibly prosciutto(with cantaloupe) or salami and it is PERFECT! I'm not a big lentil fan, so maybe switch out some hummus for the lentils.

plus some walnuts? almonds?; 10/21/18, 10:10 AM
buwaya said...: I sympathize with the simplicity and order.
I envy it really.

I won't miss any luxuries, other than perhaps my rather cheap hobbies of history and photography. Those would fit in a monastic existence, probably.

The true sacrifice in such a life is family.; 10/21/18, 10:11 AM
buwaya said...: Praying like that is not really something you daydream through, if you are trained in it, that is, if you are practised in such ritual repetition. It really does have an effect on most. You do think about what you are saying. Repeat such things constantly and it changes you.

It used to be that such training in ritual was a cultural norm, and the Church made a great effort in preserving it through its schools. They certainly tried hard with us. Much less so these days, in the US.

I make assumptions here about the experience of prayer among the Greek Orthodox of course, as the analogy to Catholicism is so close.; 10/21/18, 10:19 AM
john said...: There is a retreat near Lime Kiln State Park on the Bug Sur coast, where one pays to be quiet for several days, meditating, reading, walking through the redwoods, eating communal dinners in silence. They have men only and women only times. We were camped with the kids at Limekiln and saw some men walking around the trees, zombie like according to my daughter. So later in the day we drove up to the retreat and gawked for a few minutes. In silence of course.; 10/21/18, 10:29 AM
john said...: Big Sur; 10/21/18, 10:40 AM
William said...: Maybe belief in God had nothing to do with it. People joined monasteries and convents because they just wanted to live a quiet orderly life, free from the distractions of ambition, sex, and pumpkin spice. There's an attraction to such a life, but I suppose you need a belief in God and an afterlife to make it cost effective......There are a lot of worldly pleasures I'd be willing to forgo, especially in old age. Still, I'd need the promise of heaven to give up Netflix and BBQ.; 10/21/18, 11:08 AM
Ralph L said...: Fun for a weekend, not for a month or a lifetime.

Which meal do they slip the saltpeter in?; 10/21/18, 11:13 AM
Howard said...: This is what I prefer about christianity as compared with zen buddyism. Christians don't have to do shit but say they believe the silly stories. They have monks who are psychos praying all day. The zen buddies want everyone to medivegitate like a monk. Fuck that shit, leave it to the monks and get on with living.; 10/21/18, 11:45 AM
FIDO said...: In Medieval times, nunneries were an escape for women from oppression.

But much like Obama Title IX diktats, the system was abused where sonless fathers, not wanting their daughters inheriting, shoved them in against their will. Women, save some academics, like living life. Aka fuckng.

When released of their enforced celibacy by Martin Luther, they happily started families.

But the original woman space was a nunnery. Lots of religious orders helped them this way for eons.; 10/21/18, 12:03 PM
FIDO said...: Just saw Mucha's Slavic Epic and he had a big picture based on Mt. Athos. Very pretty.; 10/21/18, 12:05 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Praying like that is not really something you daydream through, if you are trained in it, that is, if you are practised in such ritual repetition. It really does have an effect on most. You do think about what you are saying. Repeat such things constantly and it changes you.

I don't know. The only experience I have with prayers and repetition is in reciting the rosary. You may think about the words....at first....but soon it becomes a mantra/background hum/unconscious repetition that lends your brain to getting into another mode and thinking about other things. I don't mean the grocery list. Things like life in general. Wandering thoughts. Do animals have souls? If I pray for my dog, will it be heard? Or will God think I'm trivial? Past bad actions. (Which was usually why I was reciting the Rosary as a child) How to improve your future self etc.

Actually, if I really thought deeply about the actual words of the prayers, it would be totally distracting as my mind goes down various rabbit holes. Hail Mary full of Grace..(what is that exactly) .....Blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus....(shouldn't there be a pause, comma before Jesus......fruit? )....etc etc.

I actually think that the mere fact of the repetitions of the prayer is what is soothing and meditative. I don't think it is dependent on the actual words or actions. Anything will work to put you into another mode of thought and being. Perhaps that is why the Monks use gardening and painting of icons. Repetitious and soothing.

Just my 2 cents.; 10/21/18, 12:14 PM
m stone said...: Monasteries exist to serve as a retreat from the world and focus on God and our place in the universe.

Similarly, the retreat concept was a basis for the first universities: to be separated, at least geographically, to allow students to focus on studies. I recall attending a remote--truly--university in the late 1960s. The TV signal was unreliable and only six copies of the NY Times were trucked in thrice weekly, two or more days late. Radio, meh.

Great for education. I am thankful.

M; 10/21/18, 12:33 PM
Openidname said...: The NY Times finds it noteworthy that a monastery is "male-only."

Are the monks enjoying male privilege?; 10/21/18, 1:30 PM
tcrosse said...: Do the monks grumble in Latin?; 10/21/18, 1:30 PM
YoungHegelian said...: ...a male-only, holy retreat

The NYT, after 2000 years, still unclear on the concept of monasticism.; 10/21/18, 1:48 PM
cassandra lite said...: Franny Glass would've loved it there, finally understanding what it means to pray without ceasing.; 10/21/18, 1:58 PM
Christy said...: Didn't use one of my free reads for the article, but did they note those tourists are all male? Females, including female animals are not allowed in that part of the peninsula. Learned all about it in a Janet Evanovich novel.; 10/21/18, 2:14 PM
wildswan said...: I know of a college where the students leave their cell phones in the administrative office for the whole semester. When freshmen come they give up their phones and immediately go out on a two week camping trip in small groups in the Rockies. For ten days they have a camping instructor and then they have to choose a leader and make their way on their own without the instructor to the designated pick-up area. When they get back, they study the great books in the original Greek and Latin. For recreation the guys go out and shoot rattlesnakes.; 10/21/18, 2:22 PM
FIDO said...: It is the Slavic Rite, so it would be grumbling in Greek, which is a good language to grumble in.; 10/21/18, 5:44 PM
Howard said...: wildswan, is it? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Springs_College; 10/21/18, 6:17 PM
walter said...: I prefer the great works of the Belgian monks....; 10/21/18, 10:52 PM