Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1893-05-31
MOUNT ATHOS.
by THE REV. PROFESSOR J. P. MAHAFFEY,
d. D., u. c. L.

by THE REV PROFESSOR J. P. A1AHAFFEY,
d. D., d. c. L.
The gods Of the beathen-the Inven-
ions of particular races-were local
lied to fixed or ia gorits seats. Even
the God of the Jews was for a long
time supposed to be nearer to Jeru-
salem than to any other site upon
earth, aud 1t was a new revelation,
when Jesus Christ told the woman of
Sam0rla that not there, nor at Jerusa-
lem only, but everywhere, should they
that worship in spirit and in truth find
and worship the eternal Father. In
this respect the Protestant Churches of
the world sand nearest to the descrIp-
ton of our Lord. Though there are
Churches of England, of Geneva, of
Cannd ,, no one for moment supposes
that any one country, or spot in that
c|tntry, is more holy than the rest, or
the fnvorite seat on earth of the God
they serve. The various names only
refer to the particular form of the szry-
ice in the frame OF the organization.
But with other Churches 1t is not
yet SO. Not to speak of the Jews, who
still hold the decayed Jerusalem in
Rome still has its centre, not only
political, but sptr itual, at Rome, so that
a pilgrimage to that city Is always the
dream of every rious adherent to that
system.
1t is somewhat the same case with
the Greek Church, which calls itself
ORTHODOX. Though the establishment
of three patriarchs lat Jerusalem, Alex
andria and Copstantinople) prevents
any OF G city from assuming the suprem-
acy which Rome does in : west, there
Is, as it were, up inmost shrine. Holy
o Holes, to which the Greek Christian
looks as the purest and noblest realIZa-
tion of his Church in the world Tais
spot is the wild and romantic lTomcn-
tory of Athos, a peninsular In the
strlctest sense, whose narrow contact
with the mainland has been for CEN
turIes easily guarded by few soldiers,
whose PERCEPTIONS cliffs, lashed by per-
petual storms, are the terror of marin
ers to this dBy--u land of lonely lowell
ness, made more lonely by the men
that inLRbit II, of separation from the
world aud its highways, Il land devoted
specially to the service of God, and
called in all the Greek world HGgjOn
Oyas,- the Holy Mountain. The
mighty snow-capped dome which ter
inmates the A. miles OF the woody
ridge, rises 1000 feet into the clouds,
q land mark to all that sail in the north
ern levant. From the summit the
woud ring eve sees in vast amphi-
theatre the mountains of Thessaly,
Pelion, Ossa, the giant Olympus, then
those of Macedonia, Panpeus, Rhodope.
| the distant Hemus, TIL the Asiatic
| Olympus of the Troad completes the
great arc of land. Lo king seaward
are islands of Ienown In ancient days,
| Lemnos, lmbros, and the once holy
| SamOthrace, the Eacred mountain OF
! the old Greeks, There is no prospect
I in Europe to compare with this in
| beauty and hIstor c interest combs ed.
Bither 1t Was that princes and states
! men fled from ConstautlnoI e, from
! the Weaknesses and the vices of By
| Zantine civilization, and shared with
! some obscure anchorites the peace aud
| freedom of secluded solitude. But ii
WAS only solitude as regards cities
and men. Far different from the arid
deserts of Egypt, the glens and caves
of Athos afforded a shelter clothed with
! splendor and variety of vegetation.
! peopled with the soDg of birds and
sound of tumbling streams. 1t is a
very garden of Eden for beauty, If
beauty it was which these early monks
| leslred.
At all events they sought seclusion,
and with 1t liberty In the ninth CEN
tury the tyranny of a cruel bureaucracy
| weighed heavily upon the Eastern En-
! pire. The men that came to Athos
came IN search of relief from this in
tolerable burden, and as soon as they
! so increased as to form monastic
societies and build churches with cell
| adjoining, we find without surprise
that they repudiate every master. They
obtain charters of civil independence,
from Empe rors. They next rejec
the jurisdic ton of the archbishop o
Cavalla, the ir diocesan. Presently they
90 farther, and dlsclaim the inter
terence of the very Metropolitan o
! Constantinople. Thus without contro
of archbishop without sanction o
Synod, thsmen of the Eoly Mountain
gradually crystailized into twenty-ont
distinct mopasteries, ;studdlng the land.
scape like so many huge castles, will
! greet walls and tattlements, acquiring
lands even outside the proDoltory, &C
| quiring too, by Gift and bequest
wealth and treasures of art; each in
dependent of the rest, following lts
own customs; each sending to the cen
iral town a representative, with hi
vote determining the yearly counc:
Of five, who direct this earliest anC
mos strictly representative of all the
democracies of medieval Europe.
Though We are Lot here directly con
cerned with politics, yet for the re
igious history OF the place it is o.
great importance to know that the
monks have for centuries been perfect.
ly free, AMI untrnmmelled in the excr
else of their faith. Whatever theil
spiritual life now is, it is the natural
development of the creed which they
profess, and which they declare to he
the only pure creed in the world
Even the Turks, under whose nominal
sway they have remained since the con
quest of Mshomet ii. Q452), made
honorable terms with them. more hon
orable indeel to the Turks han to the
Christians, for the monk thrust Pc
triotIsm aside, and submitted &c
Mahoinet before his victory, and not
till the war of 1S21-9. did q single
Turkish soldier invade the Sacred
Mounk Indanon1auk xharafap> f~,