The Opelousas courier., 1897-09-25
HERMlTS OF GREECE:
Strange Religious Rec1uses WHO Live
in Holes in the Thessalian Cliffs,

in Holes in the Thessalian Cliffs.
One of the most curious scenes O.
the Thessalian frontier-the centre 0
the war between Greece and Turke,
is to be found at Kalibaki, som,
forty miles by rail above Trikhala
The town lies OF a plain, which il
backed by the extraordinary rocks O.
Meteora, rising precipitously to {
great height and commanding the
marked attention of travellers. II
places the cliffs ascend like a wall tc
a height of two thousand feet. They
are rough, free from verdure and dis.
figured by innumerable' holes and
caves all over their face.
1t Is these caves and the ema1ne
OF monkish dwellings, in them that
give the rocks of Meteora the strange,
almost prehistoric, appearance that
has made them famous.
There are several monastei1es at
kalibaki. The largesti is St. Stephens.
Unlike the other inconsistencies, this is
reached by means of a drawbridge
thrown across a yawning chasm. This
Is one of the largest of the monasteries
OF Meteora, and has a guest chamber
especially fitted up for visitors-that
is to say, there are three iron beds in
it, and it is only courteous to -surmise
that the wadded coverlet ana single
sheet, that go to make upa Grtk bed,
once were new.
Not the least curious f~eattre of
these uniqne rocks of Meteora.are the
holes and caves which literallypepper
the face of the cliffs in places.r
In many cases these retreats of the
hermits of St. Anthony are merely
cages. At a distance they look, some
OF them, like big bird cages hung up
against the face of the cliff As dwell
ings they are all exceedingly print
tive.
The Th~essalian hermit did not ask
much of life. A rocky floor to lie on,
bars or ratings to keep him from fall
ing out Of his hole, a shaky ladder
down which he might now and then
descend to earth, and a basket and
string to let down for supplies were,
WI IO ACCSlCu LII lbttlelOn W LIS CltlC1.
fix and other religious necessities.
These aerial caves were occupied in
the fourteenth century. Thousands
OF hermits, Judging from the remains
OF habitations, must, at one time or
another, have sought refuge in these
cliffs. Few of them can now be en-
tered, for the ladders have for the most
part fallen away.
Seemingly, the way a hermit pro-
ceeded was to choose a hole that took
his fancy; up to this he ran a ladder;
then driving poles into the rock before
the cave, he built out a little plat
form; this he rooted in and surrounded
with a wall made of sticks or dried
grass. From one platform to another
these anchorites ran up their ladders
until the whole face of the rock was
alive with these hermits of st. An
After the time-honored fashion of
religious recluses, the clif-dwelling
hermits of st. Anthony depended
on charity for their sustenance.
Far up in their airy they spent
their days and nights in prayer and
contemplation. When hungry or
they let down their baskets to
The ground, and when these were filled
they pulled them up again.
The devout people of Kalibaki be-
lieved that these hermits were a
charge upon them, aud kept
hem we'll supplied with bread and
water. Every morning men, women
md children could be seen tramping
cliffs to fill the baskets that were
ct down by strings from above. And
the hermits were able to live their
luiet lives without a single worldly
are.