Evening star., 1935-03-10

miles south.
The sheriff, who has sway over
this elongated bailiwick, is Duke
Kahanamoku, erstwhile world
swimming champion. But the
duke, although he is a good
swimmer. admits he seldom goes
to the limits of his domain.
of Santa Sophia in 537, to the glory
of God.
But what sort of people are these
monks, after 80 generations without
women and without children?
To answer that question we must
first understand what sort of men
come here-and why they come. They
come mostly because the Eastern
Orthodox Church in Greece, Russia,
Serbia and Bulgaria has so empha-
sized the literal bliss of a physical
heaven and literal torments of a
physical hell, that simple and SuScept-
ible-minded youths particularly in
times past) have fled to Athos, be-
lieving that only by life of abb
stinence and self-mortification can
they hope to escape from eternal fry
ing in the fires of hell. With lot
of women around, Standardization
would be much harder.
There are other monks, with ro-
mantically inclined natures, who have
had their souls slain by the infidelity
and inconstancy of some woman. With
broken hearts, seeking refuge in re-
ligion and solitude, they come to
Athos. They are through with wom-
en- and never want to see one again.
Dream Of Immortality.
There are many, too, who are phil
osophers, whose whole mind and heart
are taken up with life, death and i'm
mortality. And the absence of all
women is supposed to help clear their
path in their quest for spiritual truth.
Further to protect this class of monks
against the distractions of the flesh,
all females of the animal and barn
yard kingdoms are likewise vigorously
kept out, lest their mating shock the
modesty of the sanity monks and
divert Christian minds from holy
communion with angels.
Absurd or not, the law against
women has been successfully enforced.
Cases where this prohibition has been
defled are so few that the entire
community remembers them and talks
of them for years after with as much
interest as other countries talk of
past wars and revolutions
One case, famous by now, I'm sure,
happened during my own residence in
AthoS. Two German painters ma
rooned in a monastery (as I also
was) by week of violent snow
storms that blocked the trails, were
about to be rescued from the direction
OF the sea by their adventurous wives
who, coming from the isthmus and
along the coast in a big motorboat,
approached the inVolate shore at the
foot Of the monastery-slope, and ran
in behind a small private breakwater
used by the monks. There the ladies
climbed out of their boat and sounded
their horn as signal to the two
husbands in the monastery above.
The horn caught the attention of
the monks as well. As the German
painters ran recklessly down the path
to greet their wives, the old abbot,
followed by a score of his black
garbed angels, came racing after,
screaming at the top of his lungs;
Throw those damned demons out!
Throw those damned demons out!'
The damned demons stood their
ground, and got their husbands safely
away.
The episode rocked Mount Athos
like an earthquake.
Queen Breaks Law.
Another damned demon" who
broke the law happened to be ESQ the
story goes) famous European Queen
(the late Queen Elizabeth of Rumania,
who died in 1870, whose country had
contributed so generously to the sup
port of the monks that she was given
special permit to approach the front
door of one of the biggest monasteries
"a favor rare in history. The door
was to be left open in order that she
might look inside the sacred court
yard without entering.
All went well, up to certain point.
The queen gazed for several moments
into the forbidden area where for
1000 years no woman had ever set
foot. Then, to the horror of the
assembled monks, she suddenly
walked resolutely and quickly on
through the doorway-just because
she wanted to-and into the court
yard :. straight toward the entrance
Of the church itself-the church where
the unspeakable holy relics lay
pieces of the True Cross, girdle of the
Virgin Mary, foot of a saint that lived
on top of column for fifty years.
The monks were almost paralyzed.
They couldn't seize the woman bodily
she was a Queen and their bene-
factreSs. But every step she took,
further wrecked the accumulated holi-
ness of the centuries. The monastery
would be cheapened and de-sanctified
in the eyes of all the other monasteries.
While the poor abbot, in despair, was
wondering what to do, the Queen,
having seen all she cared to see,
calmly walked out again, and down to
her boat, and away
For seven days and seven nights the
monks of the profaned monastery
didn't stop praying to God for abso-
luton for the disgrace they had al
lowed to befall His sacred courtyard.
tcopyrigNht Nsvsn. 1872 ,.nNs bg North American
STEAMSHIPS.