In the early decades of the 14th century, a monk named Athanasios left the ancient monastic republic of Mount Athos, driven away by raids from Catalan and Turkish pirates who had made the Holy Mountain increasingly dangerous. He wandered through mainland Greece with a small band of followers, seeking a place where the spiritual life could be pursued in absolute peace — a place so remote, so inaccessible, that no army could reach it and no worldly temptation could penetrate its walls.
0%
Prophets & Pilgrims·1/1·1′
The place
Meteora
Athanasios the Meteorite — The First Ascent
How the first hermit climbed the impossible rocks and founded a monastery in the sky
14th century (c. 1340)Meteora
Moral of the Story
“The greatest spiritual achievements require the willingness to attempt what seems impossible. Faith is not the absence of fear but the decision to climb regardless.”
Characters
S
Saint Athanasios the MeteoriteT
The monks of Mount AthosT
The hermits of ThessalySource
Meteora monastic chronicles, Nikephoros Gregoras's Roman History, D.M. Nicol's "Meteora: The Rock Monasteries of Thessaly" (1963)