60 Minutes did a wonderful 30 minutes on the monks of Mt. Athos for Easter. It was respectful, beautifully filmed, and captures the spiritual power of Orthodoxy. Highly recommended. The entire show can be seen by hitting this link.
Monday, April 25, 2011, 11:39 PM
April 26th, 2011 | 8:04 am
Happy coincidence! I was reviewing some of St. Mark the Ascetic’s texts yesterday for another thread on this blog and today you point out a visually stunning news story with the Holy Mountain as the subject. Thank you!
April 26th, 2011 | 8:06 am
It was a generally well done piece, and most encouraging to see that kind of coverage given to the Holy Mountain, as it is often called. But the interviewer was more than a little credulous on at least two occasions in the face of some of the usual claims by Athonites, as I note here: http://easternchristianbooks.blogspot.com/2011/03/mount-athos.html
April 26th, 2011 | 10:24 am
Like Adam, some of the claims made by the Holy Fathers made me chuckle a bit, but those were minor glitches in what was a surprisingly respectful and insightful segment on a show I haven’t watched for ages because, well, it usually is neither respectful or insightful about anything.
I don’t blame Simon for not catching some of the more outrageous statements of the monks, because he’s neither a Byzantinist nor a theologian specializing in Eastern Christian theology. I would not blame him if he swallowed some of the whoppers casually tossed out by a lot of Roman Catholic traditionalists for similar reasons. In any case, those claims were not central to the story, which was about the life of the monks on the Holy Mountain.
April 26th, 2011 | 8:03 pm
Like Stuart Koehl, I had not watched 6o Min. in ages.
This was a breath of fresh air.
April 26th, 2011 | 8:30 pm
I’m sure the monks are holy, and their lives are inspiring.
But it fits the idea that holiness is only for the elite, so ordinary folks don’t have to bother with such things.
April 26th, 2011 | 9:40 pm
“But it fits the idea that holiness is only for the elite, so ordinary folks don’t have to bother with such things.”
No, in Orthodoxy, monasticism is normative for all believers, each according to his gifts and stations. it has merely been given to the monastic to devote his whole life to becoming a living witness to Christ, while those of us whose vocation lies in the world are charged with becoming living witnesses throughout our lives as well. Thus, e.g., we are taught that (as per John Chrysostom), “the nuptial chamber can be as holy as the monk’s cell”. Moreover, man and woman receive crowns in marriage that make them kings and queens of their domestic kingdom, priests of the domestic Church, charged with making prayerful decisions that will lead them into greater holiness. The call to holiness extends into all aspects of our existence, including our work, which, like the monk’s prayer, should be an offering to God. And finally, just as the monk prays ceaselessly, so the person in the world is not exempted; many Orthodox Christians also recite the Jesus Prayer endlessly throughout the day, seeking to empty the mind of disruptive passions, so that they might attain the inner stillness (hesychia) through which we can perceive the uncreated energies of God.
In short, the difference between the monastic and the person in the world is a matter of degree, not of type.
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