Situated on a steep and rocky peninsula in Northern Greece, Mount Athos is an autonomous monastic federation comprising twenty major monasteries, dozens of smaller monastic dwellings, and even a few hermits hidden among the crags and cliffs of its shores. Inhabited solely by monks since the ninth century, Mount Athos is a bulwark of Orthodox monasticism, and a beacon of piety for the Orthodox Christian preserving incorrupt the Holy Orthodox Christian faith and the unbroken sacred Tradition given by our Lord Jesus Christ to His Holy Apostles.

The Chapel of St. John the Forerunner
at Small St. Anne's Skete

“Only good deeds done for God will remain and will follow a man beyond death. And what is better than working for God all one’s life so that one takes the profit of this work with him when he goes to God! Truly this person is the wise merchant who found the pearl of great price.”

– Geronda Ephraim

Saint Joseph the Hesychast
1897–1959

Geronda Ephraim
1928–2019
former abbot of the Holy Monastery of Philotheou and spiritual father of St. Anthony's Monastery

Gerontissa Makrina
1921–1995
former abbess of the Panagia Hodigitria Monastery in Portaria, Greece