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Meditations on Mount Athos

May 6, 2011 by Philip Sheldon

visiting Mt Athos with HE Travel

I was very moved on Easter Sunday 2011 to see the 60 Minutes story on CBS TV about the monasteries of Mount Athos in northern Greece. As the 60 Minutes narrator said, this peninsula has probably seen less change over the past 500 years than any other inhabited place on earth.

I led small groups of men on pilgrimages to the Holy Mountain in 1998 and 1999 and was welcomed by the monks into buildings that go back up to 1000 years, celebrating a man who inspired their faith by his words and deeds 2000 years ago. My visit there was my personal millennial experience. Following is a magazine article I wrote about the experience.

Click here to view part 1 of the 60 Minutes Special

Click here to view part 2 of the 60 Minutes Special

My Millennial Moment

While much of the world was carefully planning where they would be at midnight on December 31, 1999, my millennial moment occurred at sunset on a warm September evening, three months earlier.

monastery on the HE Travel Meditations on Mt Athos pilgrimage

The theocratic republic of Mount Athos is home to 20 Orthodox monasteries, spread across a peninsula in northeastern Greece. All affairs of The Holy Mountain are governed by the 20 abbots of this autonomous republic within Greece. The oldest monasteries were built 1000 years ago, and from the earliest days, all female beings, both human and animal, have been forbidden. (One legend has it that there were too many dalliances between young monks and the daughters of nearby farmers.)Twice I have been privileged to be one of the ten non-Orthodox men granted a four-day permit to visit Mount Athos, staying at a different monastery each night, and hiking or taking a small boat between the medieval fortress-like buildings by day.

hilltop monasteries on the HE Travel Meditations on Mt Athos pilgrimage

My very personal millennial moment came the first night on Mount Athos just after sunset. We had just stepped back into the Xenophontos Monastery from watching the sunset into the Aegean Sea from the belvedere, outside the monastery walls. After the massive wooden gate closed behind us and was locked for the night, I sat down in the courtyard to observe the scene in the fading light. In front of me was the “old” church, 1000 years old and much too small for any purpose other than individual meditation. As I sat under a fig tree, I could envision the workers 1000 years ago seeking shade under a long-ago ancestor of this tree. As the sky darkened, a light breeze brought the smell of incense over my shoulder, accompanied by the chanting in two-part harmony as the monks began an overnight vigil to the Virgin Mary, led by their 70-year-old abbot, a man with a remarkable tenor voice.

monastery in the hills on the HE Travel Meditations on Mt Athos pilgrimage

The monks were in the “new” church, only 600 years old, honoring a woman of 2000 years ago who had a son whose influence on the world included the calendar which was about to begin its third millennium. That night, as I lay in my bed in the guest quarters and looked out the window at the kaleidoscope reflection of the full moon in the sea, my communion across the millennia was complete, and it would not matter where I was when the clock passed midnight on December 31, 1999, heralding the start of the new Millenium.

Philip Sheldon is President of Hanns Ebensten Travel (HE Travel), the first company to offer tours for gay men in 1972. Today HE Travel offers a mix of leisure tours and active hiking, biking, kayaking, and other vacations for gay men, lesbians, and their friends.

Published in Courier Magazine (National Tour Association) 2004

Click here to read about our Greek Classics: Gay Travel Greece Cultural Tour.

Filed Under: Essays, Group Tour, The Gay Travel Blog, Travel, Uncategorized, Writings Tagged With: 60 Minutes, adventure, alaska adventure tour, Alyson Adventures, ATTA, gay, gay tour operator, Gay Travel, greece, greek orthodox, Hanns Ebensten, hanns ebensten travel, hetravel, holy mountain, IGLTA, Male, male only, millennial moment, Mount Athos, NTA, Phil Sheldon, pilgrimage, religion, Sheldon, travel, travel advice, travel agent

About Philip Sheldon

Since 2001 Phil has been the owner of HE Travel, which combines the best tours of Hanns Ebensten Travel, Alyson Adventures, and OutWest Global Adventures. Phil has lived in Japan and China, visited all 50 US states, 5 provinces and territories of Canada (including Yukon and NW Territories), and over 100 countries. On his travels, Phil especially enjoys hearing what people are uniquely proud of in their hometowns and also seeing the common threads that link us all together.

© 2025 Hanns Ebensten Travel

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