Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1871-09-30
A MlsOgynlst's Paradise,
The Life led by the Monks Of Mt.
AthOR.

AAAA@E
a correspondent of the Boston
Congregationalist has discovered a
community numbering at present
about 1000 souls, which has flourish
ed for many centuries, though no Wo-
man has ever been permitted or
known to set foot In tho country.
Few of the inhabitants, he says, have
any definite idea Of what . woman
is, The whole class of ideas and
sensations ordinarily associsted with
the words mother, sister, wife, and
sweetheart are TO them unknown,
and. what is equally singular, crime
is also unknown, or nearly so, while
on every side are to DO seen eViden-
ces of temperance, piety, and good
order. What Anthony, Stanton,
Woodruff & Co., will say TO this
most outrageous, diabolicalstato of
things, must be left to the imagiRa-
ton. We can only repeat the &C
count as we got It, and will leave the
destroying Of the community to the
wronged sutfragists.
The homo Of eccentric bat happy
people, is in the easternmost of the
three %peninsulas which project from
the north coast Of the Greek archi-
pelagO. 1t was anciently called
Acte, now Monte Sancto, and it is
about forty miles in length and from
two to nine miles across. 1t termi-
mates in Mount Athos, q conical mass
Of limestone rising abruptly to a
height of six thousand five hundred
feet. Between this bold hcadland
and the coast Is a beautiful plateau,
clothed throughout the woodland,
which is gay with flowers, rich with
odors, merry with song birds, and
canopied by the brightest OF all blue
skies. The.cultiyated fields are all
diversified with groves of oak and
chestnut, while olive and fig trees are
there indigenous. TO this secret par
paradise the sons, but not the daugh-
tiers, of Eve are admitted, and such
has been the custom as far back as
history reaches, the peninsula being
religiously guarded at all points,
against the approach Of woman, no
matter how sanity she might be.
The territory has been consecrated |
TO a monastio confederation of Greek
Christians. They have tw~enty.three
converts, and on the hill-sides and
all through the defiles and ravines
are scattered innumerable crosses
and retreats, cells and hcrmitages.
Though these conventual houses are
bound together by the tic Of religious
seclusion, the history of each is indie
pendent. Two Of these monaSteries
Constantine as their founder,
two Others as the Empress Pulcheria,
Not one Of the twenty three dates its
foundation later than the twelfth
century. These fraternities had the
prudence to submit to Mohammed
H., prior to the fall OF Constantine
pie, and received from him a promise
ofprotection, which has been respect
ed ever since. Though the domain
q part Of the Tuskish empire, not a
rod oft is claimed in property by
The Sultan, or a Mussulman subject.
An annual tribute OF $500 Is paid
the peninsula, toward which the
Inherent societies contribute their
share, according to assessment deter
mined by their representatives..
Each convent sends q deputy TO a
tiet, which manages general interests,
md holds its sittings at Kayars, a
small town occupied by car7ers of
%,rosses, and the residence of u solita-
y Turkish official, who collects the
'eYenue.
The inmates are natives OF every
part of the Turkish empire where
he Greek language is spoken, and
IRE consigned to the societies either
n infancy or in early life, by their
anatical parents. The first years are
spent in tilling the land, tending the
vines, helping In the house-work, or
Engaging in some handicraft. For
.hree years the candidate is a proba.
Toner; then, if he has proved able to
Keep the monastic vows, he receives
lis first tonsure and becomes a monk,
The dicipline is severe, ordinary
'hurch services seven hours a day,
extraordinary fourteen, and sleep
I've. One hundred and fifly-nine
lays in year they have one meal only
gay, and at this eggs, cheese, wine,
md oil are forbidden.
The prohibition against women OK.
ends to the sex universally. From
lme immemorial no COW, mare, goose,
luck, hen, or female Of any kind, has
yer been permitted to make acouain-
ance with hill or valley, farm-yard ,
r kitchen, in the Mount Athos terri. I
DRY. In selecting meat for the table
greatest care is taken to have il {
# the male variety, and a body Of ,
oldiers is employed by the societies s
0 keep the sacred shores from being :
.esecrated by the tread Of any female 5
whatsoever. Yet, in spite of all 4
nese stringent regulations, the birds t
ontlnue to mate, and feminine neas .
musketoes to rear their young,
. the everlasting scandal of all the t
lous old bachelors off the peninsu- s
There are in the converts some c
God libraries, containing about fifty t
lousand volumes in all, and manu-. r
seven hundred years old are i
y no means uncommon. Altogeth- r
these venerable male nuns have a :
lily time of it. =