El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-02-26
MONKS Of ATH0S
FEAR AN ATTACK
Pilgrimage Made to Athens
to Appeal For Protection
to Mother Church.

I Karyes, Chalcidic Peninsula. Mace
J donia, Feb. 26.-The monks Of Mt. Athos
! have appealed to the Holy Mother
/ church Of Russia for protection. Dis
/ turbed in their quiet unworldly lives by
] the approach of the world war to
( Balkan battlefield several months ago.
/ the holy synod Of the community,
. which constitutes the thoroughly demo-
! cratic government OF the 90 converts,
I long deliberated the peril threatening
! them. They are not ignorant of war.
! At one time their convent walls were
mounted with cannon, and in the early
part OF the last century they took,
with sad results for themselves.
prominent part in the Greek war for
/ independence from Ottoman rule
War. therefore is a very positive hor-
ror to the monks of Mt Athos. So after
due elaboration, they decided to send
two OF their presidents (of whom there
8 are four named in rotation from each
of the converts each year, to Athens,
TO lay their fears before the represen-
tative of the SECULAR head of the Greek
church. In pursuance of this decision.
, armed with q loaf of black bread.
little pas sr Of salt and an ilSon Of great
beauty. l-1yly painted with loving
monIish care, the two black-rObed eld-
ers Of the ancient religious republic
left the protected peace of their cliffs
and walls, seagirt, and Ventured the
troubled waters Of the Aegean TO put
their difficulties before prince Demi-
dof. imperial Russian minister to
Greece.
Way to Gar Is Cut OFF.
The secular head and most powerful
defender Of the Greek church in the
world outside Of Mt Athos is the en-
peror of al the Russias. To him in per-
son they could not go. The way was
cut off. Neither through Bulgaria in
arms nor by way of the besieged Bos-
phorous could thss legates OF Mt.
Athos come TO their next friend and
protector. So they went as best they
could to his representative, dressed in
their ample, flowing robes, their pot
hats like outWorn tiles turned upside
down. and their uncut hair and patri-
archial boards. And the Russian min
lister received them. gave them food and
drink in his exquisite palace in Athens
in return for their bread and salt, and
treating them with great respect, as
Sured them their case would be put he
fore the emperor himself, and that
contingent of Russian marines would
be sent to guard the peninsula II they
had to come all the way from Arch
angel to get there. He told them not TO
fear for the Bulgarians too, are Of the
Greek church and themselves have a
convent all Of their own on Mt Athos;
and it was scarcely conceivable that
even the least scrupulous of Bulgarian
'komitadjis" bandits should lay hostile
hands upon the holy things of the
church
Fear for Their Treasures.
But what has bothered the monks of
Mt. AthOs has not been the Bulgarians.
The monks in a vague sort of way
know that their treasures of golden
images, brilliant studded altar utensils,
manuscripts centuries and centuries
old, are sufficient to tempt almost any
man. They fear, not perhaps an organ
lied attack, but a raid against which
their hired guard of so soldiers would
be helpless SO a second deputation has
just been dispatched TO Athens. and
some Of the more precious of their sa-
cred pOssessiOns-the bits of the true
cross, their sanity momentOes of the
holy founders of the various converts,
around which shrine after shrine has
been built through the ages-have been
placed in the security of the steel safe
Of the imperial Russian legation at
Athens
There are some 5000 monks and lay
brethren on Mt. AthOs. But there are
no women, nor any female animal of
any kind, not even a chicken. Women
have several times sought to penetrate
within the forbidden bounds of the
peninsula Notwithstanding the strin-
gent prohibition against their presence
They have almost always failed. and
their failure has often been very I'M
comfortable for them