Summary
Elder Patapios Kafsokalyvitis
Aspects of the influence exerted by Athonite spirituality on local communities through the metochia: liturgical life – spread of the veneration of the saints honored on Athos
It is a well-known fact that one of the main reasons for the establishment of most of the Athonite metochia was the need to procure foodstuffs (particularly olive oil, a commodity that was so essential for the livelihood and devotional needs of the monasteries), as well as the need to create staging-posts in particular locations to facilitate the movement and accommodation of Athonite monastic fathers travelling or passing through those areas. However, in all those locations where an Athonite metochion existed and functioned, the relations between the Athonite monks and the local communities were not confined to the above. They also had a spiritual character, since the diffusion of the spiritual heritage of Mount Athos and the dissemination of the Athonite devotional experience appear to have exerted a strong influence on the local communities and their liturgical traditions. For example, as a result of the rites celebrated by Athonite hieromonks in the churches of the metochia over the course of many years if not centuries, as well as the ministries of confession and spiritual guidance exercised by those hieromonks, it was inevitable that the local communities would be influenced in both their devotional lives and morality by the monastic tradition and experience of the Athonite monastic republic. Typical examples of this influence are the dynamic revival of liturgical life in Athens due to the presence of Athonite clergy at the Metochion of the Ascension, a dependency of Simonopetra Monastery, and the influence exerted in certain islands, such as Skiathos and Skopelos, on the devotional tradition and, more generally, religious behaviour of the local inhabitants (see the relevant studies by Father George Rigas), and on the way in which church festivals and other rites are celebrated on these islands even today. At the same time, the presence of the Athonite monks in the local communities, with the constant, strong reminders of Athonite devotional life and the spiritual climate of Mount Athos that the monks had brought to the churches of the metochia, as well as the occasional conveyance of sacred relics and miracle-working icons from Athos, helped to increase the faithful's feelings of piety towards sacred objects. Examples of this are the impact made by the thaumaturgical presence of the True Cross at the metochion of Xeropotamou Monastery on Skopelos in 1894, the honor paid to celebrated Athonite icons, such as the icon of the Panaghia Portaitissa at the homonymous metochion of Iveron Monastery at Kydonies, and the reverence paid to sacred relics, such as the sacred girdle of the Virgin Mary at the Metochion of the Annunciation, a dependency of Vatopedi Monastery on Samos. In addition, through the metochia, many people came to revere the saints that were particularly honoured on Mount Athos. One such saint was Saint Michael, Bishop of Synada, to whose memory were dedicated two metochia of the Great Lavra on Skopelos and Samos, following the miracles performed on these two islands by the saint's sacred skull, which is kept at the Great Lavra. Furthermore, it was not uncommon for important Athonite figures (such as Benjamin ofLesbos, of Pantokrator Monastery, at Kydonies) to make their presence felt through the metochia, thus bringing their influence to bear on the spiritual activity and, more generally, the cultural climate prevalent in the local communities.
