Between Orient &

Occident: Karyes
Medieval Capital of
the Monastic Republic of Mount Athos,
a Poetical Life of a city, a spiritual Way of Living,
at the crossroads between east & West,
perceived by East Asia
by Jean-Michel Sourd
(Ph. D candidate, Paris IV - Sorbonne - University, Head of French Dept., Diocesan Boys’ school, Hong Kong )
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mont_Athos_3D_version_1.gif?uselang=fr

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mont_Athos_3D_version_1.gif?uselang=fr
 MoUNT ATHOS

An Orthodox Christian Monastic Republic founded in 963 by

Saint Athanasios from Trebizond, under the ordinance of the
Emperor of Byzantium, Nicephoros Phocas.

First hermits already occupied the Mountain in the IXth

century, such as St. Peter (The Most Holy Theotokos appeared in a dream to St Peter and indicated the place
where he should live til the very end of his days: Mount Athos)

Karyes, the capital of the monastic republic was built,

according to the tradition, by Constantine the Great (272 -
337), but destroyed by Julian the Transgressor (331 - 363)
 A Long Journey to Karyes

HONG KONG - ATHENS: 8566 Km

ATHENS - THESSALONIKI: 272.9 km

THESSALONIKI - OURANOPOLIS : 139 km

OURANOPOLIS - DAPHNI: 20 km

DAPHNI - KARYES : 12 km
 The Holy EPISTASY

The Central Government of Mount Athos exercises its power

on the territory as it is now since May 10th 1924 (Julian
Calendar) with an assembly abbots and «proistameni» who
adopted an official Constitutional charter of the Holy Mountain
of Athos, coming from the Sèvres treaty (1920), ratified in
Lausanne in 1923.
 Articles 109-110 Greek
Constitution 1927
13 articles of the Charter.

Article 6: All monks living on the Holy Mountain, from whatever nationality become Greek national

Article 7: Justice is given by the authority of the monastery and the Holy Community, except those related to criminal
law, judged in Thessaloniki, according to tradition.

Article 8: The Greek representatives of the State on the Holy Mountain follow the decisions taken by the Holy
Community.

A
 Articles 109-110 Greek
Constitution 1927
Article 9: The monasteries are self-governing ... according to
rules adopted by the Holy Community

Article 10: All decisions by the Holy Community must be

taken legitimately, and must be received with respect and
compulsory by all the monasteries of the Mountain.

Article 11: The Holy Community is composed by 20

representatives from each sovereign monastery, siting in
Karyes, known as the Holy Community of the Holy Mountain
of Mount Athos.
 Articles 109-110 Greek
Constitution 1927

Article 12: According to old traditions, the Holy Mountain has

particular privileges and immunities, as long as they are
stipulated expressly in the disposition of the present charter.

Article 13: The administration of the properties of the

monasteries is put in the care of the vigilance of the community
who resides in each monastery.
 TrADITION & Crisis

2008: The Property crisis of Vatopedi

“Vatopedi Monastery —
they gave a lake, they took
Suspect land-swap deals with the Greek State. building plots.”

Vatopedi monastery (2nd in the Holy Mountain hierarchy of the

monasteries) had nearly clinched a deal to exchange Vistonida
Lake in Northern Greece - which it claimed through 1,000-
year old documents - for prime real estate

The deal would have meant a substantial loss to the state

The major liberal daily Ta Neahad this to say on its front page last week (15/09/2008) :“Karamanlis sinks in the Vatopedi swamp.”
 «Greece jails Abbot Ephraim in Mount Athos fraud case»
(28/12/2011)

The property scandal contributed to the conservative government's fall in 2009.

Greek Orthodox monks rallied outside the prison in support of Abbot Ephraim on Wednesday

Russia's foreign ministry and the Russian Orthodox Church also criticised the imprisonment of Abbot Ephraim.

The controversial deal saw valuable state land traded for less valuable land held by Vatopedi. It is said to have cost the state some 100
million euros (£83m).

And the Russian foreign ministry said: "We are deeply concerned by the ruling of the Greek judiciary to put him under pre-trial
detention, despite the recommendations of the European Court of Human Rights".

"They rushed Ephraim to jail on Christmas Eve while others who have embezzled Greek people's money remain at large," said Laos
leader George Karatzaferis.

Justice Minister Miltiadis Papaioannou hit back, accusing the critics of "interfering in the work of the justice system".

The real culprits, they said, were in Athens. "There are many bad people who want to blame the padres"
 The «EPHRAIMITE
MOVEMENT»
Quote from video clip Greek ERT {Greek Radio and Television} broadcast of Pandora’s Box
Quote from video clip Greek ERT {Greek Radio and Television} broadcast of Pandora’s Box
Quote from video clip Greek ERT {Greek Radio and Television} broadcast of Pandora’s Box

Quote from video clip Greek ERT {Greek Radio and Television} broadcast of Pandora’s Box. of Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis addressing the Greek Parliament:
“…This brings me to the scandals related to Vatopedi. Forgetting their spiritual mission, some have operated against the interests of the country… I ought to say, and I
outright admit it that I underestimated the issue…I know that the scandalous events at Vatopedi have hurt the citizens. I forthrightly assume our share of
responsibility…” Kostas Baxevanis – Journalist reporting the Vatopedi scandal for Pandora’s Box on ERT – (HELLENIC RADIO AND TELEVISION)

After the scandal was revealed, we learned that from 2007 to 2008 the monastery raised capital amounting to 360,000,000 Euros, amounts the biggest companies in
Greece do not move around. From Interview with Yannis Matzouranis – Lawyer

Yannis Matzouranis: “Suddenly, two political parties decide in record time that Lake Vistonida and its shore lands belong to the monastery. The whole government
machine is set in motion to find expensive properties in prime locations to exchange with the Vistonida lands to the benefit of Vatopedi. And when the monks do not
like the properties they cancel the contracts, they choose new ones and exchange them for just thousandths of the lake’s area and the lakeshore properties which
were both appraised [as they saw fit].

They choose their properties and when later they discover better ones they return them and get the new ones. In one of their scouting trips they came across
properties at Grammatiko {mountainous village in east Attica} for which they had inside information that these properties will be incorporated in the city plans. They
returned other properties in order to get these specific ones. They did the same thing with the Olympic Village {residences for the Olympic athletes built at the
northern suburb of Athens Thrakomakedones} which they discovered too late. They operate as if they are the State proper.

Reports from the Bank of Greece show that within the period from 30/6/2006 (June 30, 2006) to 8/8/2008 (August 8, 2008), the monastery received through its off-
shore companies 156,988,000 Euros. The bank had approved a total of 173,600,000 Euros but they did not use all of it. The reason behind the loan is “the financing of
the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi with working capital to help it cover its investment needs.”

This is one side of the scandal. The other side is equally fascinating.The Vatopedi team appears to sell properties in order to get money for the ‘good of the
monastery’. But the properties are sold to companies whose shareholders are off-shore companies that belong to them.
 THE Vatopedi SYNDROME
From the Interview with Dimitiris Tsironis:“To say that all was legal, that they were covered and there were guarantees and so on, of course this is debatable. Simply
stated the Bank and MIG and its companies used the monastery also for its tax exemptions that it enjoys in its stock market transactions, as do the rest of the Mount
Athos monasteries. They used the monastery to play games in order to fool mostly the investors by showing huge capital increases which in reality were bogus. The
5,200,000,000 Euros increase was bogus because the loans they gave ‘to friendly individuals’, besides the monastery, rose to 850,000,000 Euros of which 732,000,000
Euros were actually used. These numbers were given to us from the Bank of Greece and they are indisputable. So the loans were given by MARFIN BANK to buy shares
in companies of MIG. Some claim that MIG and MARFIN BANK, then EGNATIA BANK, are not related and that is just a small percentage relationship, a laughable
argument since both belong to the same interest group.”

There are lots of questions. How did the Bank give to the monastery a loan guaranteed by RASSADEL, Vatopedi’s offshore company, since it was not a legal entity back
then and with a capital of barely 1,000 Cypriot Pounds? It accepted as a guarantee the shares it bought, this can happen, but did it ask as a guarantee the difference in
shares when their price dropped? What is the Bank going to do now that the loan cannot be paid off and has become obvious that no real collateral exists at all. Why
did the Bank of Greece and the rest of the auditing committees allow this to happen when it was jeopardizing the banking system?

The Monastery got involved in real estate through its own companies or companies it participated in. These companies are suspected by the authorities of being part of

Vatopedi’s off shore company buys in 2007 a property in

a money laundering system.

Belgrade from the company SASA GERUM for 704,500 Euros. A

year later it sells the same property to the company DIGITAL
PRINTING CENTER for 2,450,000 Euros, 3.5 times higher in price.
• The companies of PAPISTAS, partners of the monastery, buy 3 properties that had been sold even the same day for a second time, through Jordan Papaioanou. The
PAPISTAS GROUP buys at a price many times higher than Papaioanou did. Furthermore, the money does not go to Papaioanou but to the previous seller
 Beyhond VATOPEDI

The Vatopedi financial crisis seems to have shaken (but not

stirred) the politicians from all boards and the Greek state.

It is easy to accuse in a general way Mount Athos, but as the

conclusion of this video http://www.ert.gr/webtv/index.php/component/k2/item/1933-%CF%84%CE%BF-%CE%B2%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%BF%CF
%80%CE%AD%CE%B4%CE%B9-%CF%83%CE%B5-%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%8D%CE%BC%CE%B5%CF%81%CE%B1-%CE%BC%CE%AD%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%82-%CE%B2%CE

said: «The scandal of Vatopedi is not a scandal of Mount Athos, but of the team
%84.html#.UZR2-lrAUiM

Ephraim, a team that seems to have replaced the Holy Bible with a thick checkbook. »

“The Association of the Friends of Vatopedi Monastery issued the following statement: ‘Any serious-minded person, particularly anyone who is dealing with
ecclesiastical issues, is well aware that such persecutions have identical motives with the ones used against righteous people throughout the centuries’ ”,
reported London Daily News. See link at:http://greece.greekreporter.com/2011/12/24/a-monastery-cell-for-abbot-efraim/

Have we reached a point where the Greeks in their collective perspectives of their Faith manage their judgment? Or are we at a stage where truth, law
and moral conduct are kept out of their critical thinking? Is Elder Ephraim of Vatopedi really being “persecuted”?
 THE HOLY COMMUNITY
&
The Greek STATE
May 14th 2012, the Holy Community in an extraordinary
session have asked the Greek state to keep her fiscal status, as
it has always been since more than a thousand years.

The Holy Mountain is an integrated part of the Hellenic State.

The Holy Community try her best to cooperate in a

constructive way in order to solve the problems of this
economic and spiritual crisis that Greek people
The REAL SIDE OF ATHOS
SPIRITUAL LIFE

Athos: the Monastic Magnet (Gothoni)

The spiritual adoption: the pilgrim on his personal quest.

Mount Athos, a place of security, a place of rediscovering

himself, in repentance, confession, humility, and experience.
Meeting A SPIRITUAL GUIDE

Pilgrims come to have a spiritual guidance, and the economic

crisis has tremendously increased the number of Greeks
seeking assistance of a spiritual guide, a «geron», or a staretz,

The phenomenon brings pilgrims, even simple visitors to

experience the speech of an Elder, such Elder Paisios until
1994. But his works have been popularly compiled in books
available in different languages that even the Wall Street
Journal talk about it.
The TEACHING of ATHOS
 Elders from ATHOS:
The Way for redemption?
This "Revert Monk" gives something to the Greek people that (most but not all) past and present leadership did/does not. HE GIVES
THEM HOPE and all mankind runs on hope. That is all one has to understand about the message this wise monk gave and this article
proclaims. Richard Sachs (Comments on The Wall Street Journal)

I never met Elder Paisios. I do know one person well who did meet the "revered elder" and I have have met others who also knew him. I
have, however, read a number of books by and about him, including his biography published in english this year which does recount his
prognostications for the future.But to suggest that his "Nostradamus" abilities are the central attraction for his admirers would be, in my opinion, a
misread of this man's life. In nearly 700 pages of his biography "Elder Paisios of Mount Athos" by Hieromonk Isaac relatively few are devoted to his
predictions of the future. Rather, the picture which emerges is of someone totally denying himself so that Christ may live through him. This life of
Christ manifested itself in enormous love for his fellow humans, demonstrated through counsel, prayer and some healings. Indeed, his selfless giving
became widely appreciated in Greece during his life, so much so that eight months before his death, during one day, it is said 30,000 people passed
by him and received his blessing.A constant theme of the elder was humility, achieved through repentance. To one inquiring fellow monk he once
said, "if repentance comes, so will humility, and then, afterwards, grace." Extreme humility and overwhelming kindness are the features which drew
people to him, not powers of prediction. He literally gave himself up so that others might be healed and prosper. We would do well to follow his
course.To those in Greece and, indeed, all the world, personal sacrifice and humility would seem a surer path to our individual and collective grace

and salvation than trusting in prophetic pronouncements, however true they may prove to be. Russell Komline (Comments on the Wall Street
Journal)
A Millenium of FASCINATION
In 1963, Irenee Doens from Chevetogne Abbey in Belgium
mentioned 1860 book references about the Holy Mountain

The oldest one is from Pierre Belon du Mans, a botanist envoy

of French King François 1rst

A Greek book by Sabbas Mavridis and Carla Primavera-

Mavridou, published in 2005 relates all foreigners who visited
and published books about the Holy Mountain: Belon (1550),
Cousinery (1798), Leake (1806), Tafel (1838), Barth (1839),
Fallmerayer (1838) Hahn (1855), Kern (1892)
 ETERNAL ATHOS

1842?
ETERNAL ATHOS I
ETERNAL ATHOS II
ETERNAL ATHOS III
ETERNAL ATHOS IV
ETERNAL ATHOS V
ETERNAL ATHOS VI
ETERNAL ATHOS VII
ETERNAL ATHOS VIII
 ETERNAL ATHOS IX

circa 1900?
 ETERNAL ATHOS X

1926
ETERNAL ATHOS XI
ETERNAL ATHOS XII
 ETERNAL ATHOS XIII

1929
ETERNAL ATHOS XIV
 ETERNAL ATHOS XV

1933
 ETERNAL ATHOS XVI

1942
 ETERNAL ATHOS XVII

1954 Jacques Lacarrière

 ETERNAL ATHOS XVIII

1955
 ETERNAL ATHOS XIX

1956
 ETERNAL ATHOS XX

1957
 ETERNAL ATHOS XXI

1959
 ETERNAL ATHOS XXII

1969
 ETERNAL ATHOS XXIII

1978
 ETERNAL ATHOS XXIV

1981
 ETERNAL ATHOS XXV

1984
 ETERNAL ATHOS XXVI

1984
ETERNAL ATHOS XXVII
 ETERNAL ATHOS XXVIII

1987
 ETERNAL ATHOS XXIX

1988
 1990:MuraKAMI meets ATHOS

Uten Enten ( 雨天炎天 ) Greece: In the Holy Mountain ギリシャ編 アトス―神様のリア

ル・ワールド
road essay with his friend, photographer MATSUMURA Eizo, visied Turkey. They travelled around there within 21 days.

Chapter 3 & 4 are From Dafni to Karyes

• ダフニからカリエへ
• From Karyes to Stavronikita
• カリエからスタヴロニキタ
 MURAKAMI’S TRAVEL
WRITINGS
«Murakami's travel writings share many of the characteristics found in this kind of
contemporary travel writing: a concern for memory, a nostalgic sense of loss, as well as
a foregrounding of the limits of knowledge and representation.' Related to all this-
specifically to notions of memory, loss, and limits- the trajectory of Murakami's writing
follows a repeated pattern, a path out- wards that in the final analysis spirals inwards,
an ostensible attempt to confront the exotic and the unfamiliar that ends up obsessed
with the familiar.» Philip Gabriel «Back to the Unfamiliar» p.152

«the whole book is written in an autobiographical mode: one often learns more about
Murakami's thought processes than about Greece or Italy.» p.153
MURAKAMI’s STATEMENT

«The point of his writing this book, he says, is not to describe new places, or self
discovery, but rather writing as a means of self-preservation: "I am a permanent
traveller who writes in order to maintain my self' (2 1)»
 MURAKAMI ON ATHOS
Uten enten (subtitled in English "In the Holy Mountain, on the Turkish Road") is labelled a
henky6 kik6 (literally, travel to far-off borders). The book describes two hurried trips, one to
the sacred Athos monasteries of Greece, the other a jeep trip around Turkey.

The first half of the book, describing the short backpacking trip around the Greek
monasteries, is best understood as an extension of this search for the ultimate quiet place.
Failing to find the quiet he needs in a string of rented residences throughout Italy and
Greece,

Murakami hikes around a series of isolated monasteries.

Although at the end of the trip-limited by regulation to four days-he breathes a sigh of relief
to be back in a normal town where he can have a beer and listen to the Beach Boys, what he
most re- calls are the words of a monk inviting him to convert to Greek Orthodoxy and
come live in a monastery. Murakami laughs off the suggestion of becoming a believer, but
concludes that, "If you search the world you'll probably never find a place of such depth and
conviction as the mountains of Athos"

One understands that, even if living there is not a viable option for him, he has finally found
a suitable model for the type of life he seeks, a life of utter quiet, cut off from the world at
large. Which of the two, he muses in the final lines, is the "real world" (89), that of the
sacred mountain, or the world outside?
 When Far EAST WRITER
meets GLOBALIzATION

Writing in Murakami's travel works is also seen as inextricably linked to a lonely

struggle for self identity.

This struggle to write and to preserve the self takes on life-and-death proportions;
despite comments in Uten enten that he is someone who has "almost no concern about
religious matters" (88), in Toi taiko (1990., Tokyo: Kodansha) )Murakami writes: «In
the mornings when I woke up, I first went to the kitchen and filled the kettle, and
turned on the switch on the electric heater. In order to make coffee. And while I waited
for the water to boil, I prayed: "Please-let me live a little bit longer. I need a little more
time." But who should I be praying to? My life up till now had been too self-centered
to allow me pray to God.»
 MURAKAMI’s initiatORY
VOYAGE
"I can't express this well, but no matter how far away I travel, no, actually the further I
travel, the more I realize that what I discover is none other than myself. The wolf, the
mortar shell, the war museum darkened by a blackout . . . they all are, in the final
analysis, nothing but parts of myself. . ." And he adds: "Probably the only thing I am
able to do is not,forget" (190)

In the travel writings of Murakami Haruki, then, contemporary Japanese travel writing
depicts a path outwards that in the final analysis spirals inwards, an ostensible attempt
to confront the exotic and the unfamiliar that ends up obsessed with the familiar. In this
case, "the familiar" equals several things: a nostalgic sense of a lost Japan and of lost
community; also more negative things such as a just-below-the-surface potential for
violence in Japan, as well as a negative type of conformism; and in the end, the loss of
one's personal past.
 MURAKAMI’s
«NOSTALGIA»

As noted earlier, in Murakami's travel writing there is the further twist in that one
travels to re-discover the familiar, only to find that it is now defamiliarized. In the
essay on Kobe, this takes the form of a "You-can't-go-home-again" sentiment.(14)A
similar feeling is found in the ending of the earlier book Tai taiko. There, returning to
Japan after a three-year absence, Murakami finds the country-at the peak of the bubble
economy- fundamentally changed. The tremendously "speeded up" pace of
consumption he finds disconcerting, alienating even, as Japan itself is now "a gigantic
absorption device in which everything and every event is swallowed up,
indiscriminately chewed up, and spit out like discharge" (493).
 ETERNAL ATHOS XXX

1991
 ETERNAL ATHOS XXXI

1991
 ETERNAL ATHOS XXXII

1991
 ETERNAL ATHOS XXXIII

1993
 ETERNAL ATHOS XXXIV

1993
 ETERNAL ATHOS XXXV

1994
 ETERNAL ATHOS XXXVI

1996
ETERNAL ATHOS XXXVII

1997
ETERNAL ATHOS XXXVIII

1997
ETERNAL ATHOS XXXIX
 ETERNAL ATHOS XL

2000
 ETERNAL ATHOS XLI

2002
 ETERNAL ATHOS XLII

2003
 ETERNAL ATHOS XLIII

2005
 ETERNAL ATHOS XLIV

2006
 ETERNAL ATHOS XLV

2007
 ETERNAL ATHOS XLVI

2007
 ETERNAL ATHOS XLVII

2008
 ETERNAL ATHOS XLVIII

2008
 ETERNAL ATHOS XLIX

2009
 ETERNAL ATHOS L

2009
 ETERNAL ATHOS LI

2009
 ETERNAL ATHOS LII

2010
 ETERNAL ATHOS LIII

2010
 ETERNAL ATHOS LIV

2011

http://billbuschel.wordpress.com/2011/12/29/a-conversation-
with-veronica-della-dora-author-of-imagining-mount-athos-
december-29-2011/
 ETERNAL ATHOS LV

2011
 ETERNAL ATHOS LVI

2011
 ETERNAL ATHOS LVII

2012
 ETERNAL ATHOS LVIII

2012
 ETERNAL ATHOS LIX

• 2013: AND KOREA BECAME HAGHIORITE LOVER!

 Korean Booming economy:
Korean Spiritual crisis
• Since the glorious American economic booming to the Chinese
1966 Cultural Revolution:

• The new Korea that emerge from

• the Korean-American war is a

• supreme capitalist country which

• is transmitting since 1991 its pulse

• to “Modern China” generating ...

 A East-Asia Spiritual crisis?

• Korea is now facing

• a crisis, not economical

• but really spiritual

 “The Greek School of Life”
(avec / with Alphonse LI)

•  'Ecole grecque de la Vie' / “Greek School of Life” titre / title

• Des précédents: un grand écrivain coréen (Lee Yun-Ki) a écrit sur les mythes grecs dans les années 90 et a fait un immense succès. et il a sans doute mentioné le
Mont Athos au niveau de son histoire.

• Primo, c'est un livre facile à lire, en forme du récit de voyage (visé le grand public sans doute), écrit par un journaliste-écrivain confirmé dans le
domaine de la spiritualité. Secundo, le titre du livre dit tout : 'Ecole grecque de la Vie'. Cela représente tout simplement l'air du temps en Corée
actuelle. Comme les Coréens d'aujourd'hui sont stressés et se sentent perdus dans une ambiance ultra-pressante de la société hautement
compétitive, ils cherchent désespérément la voie alternative de leur vie. Le mot 'healing' est en train de dominer les livres, les articles, les
programmes de TV, etc. C'est dans ce contexte-là que ce livre est publié après avoir vu paraître tant de livres sur le Bouddhisme et Taoïsme. 
•  
 L’auteur:
Cho Hyun

• Il avait beaucoup erré pendant sa jeunesse en refusant d'aller à l'école et commencé sur le tard à faire les études universitaires dans une ville
provinciale (diplômé de licence en Communication). Depuis qu'il est devenu journaliste (Journal quotidien indépendant 'Hangyoré), il a activement
écrit les articles sur la spiritualité. Parallèlement, il gère le site d'internet qui diffuse les contenues du fameux 'Healing' (well.hani.co.kr).
 Questionnaire autour des
motivations de l’auteur:

• 1. Pourquoi avoir choisi d'être allé à l'Athos?

• 2. Les motivations de l'auteur?

• 3. qui est l'auteur?

• 4. Est-il orhodoxe?

• 5. Qu'a-t-il appris auprès des moines?

• 6. Est-ce qu'il a été transformé par son voyage?

• 7. Philosophiquement, est-ce que cela a eu une incidence sur sa vie?

• 8. A-t-il visité tous les monastères? 

• 9. Lequel d'entre-eux l'impressionne le plus?

• 10. Comment décrit-il la Sainte Montagne?

• 11. A-t-il des moyens de comparaison spécifiquement oriental avec par exemple le bouddhisme, le taoisme? etc.
 Entre rationnalisme &
spiritualité

• L’auteur, qui est boudhiste,

• a un constant désir de trouver l'équilibre

• entre la spiritualité et l'intellectualité raisonnable.

• Il a senti en eux une certaine incarnation de deux valeurs

parfaitement combinées, c.-à-d., la liberté intérieure idéalisée
par les anciens Grecs et la Grâce voulu par les Chrétiens.
 Impressions:
entre Orient & Orient Extrême

• Il s’est concentré sur quelques monastères:le Skite Agia Anna. Il voulait monter
jusqu'au monastère de Sinomopetra mais abandonné par le mauvais temps. (On a
l'impression qu'il a mal préparé le voyage et en plus il était tout seul sans aucun
compagnon)

• En tous cas, il est profondément impressionné par l'Agia Anna. Il l'a même considéré
comme un paradis terrestre. (c'est justement le titre du chapitre 2)
ETERNAL ATHOS MOVIES

1955? http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhxngz_les-moines-
du-mont-athos_creation#from=embed

1963 http://www.ina.fr/video/CAF93012448

2011 http://vimeo.com/34719392
 ETERNAL ATHOS MUSIC

Robert Charlebois : «Sur Le Mont Athos»

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeLCzLNUsDU
 CONCLUSION
• Modern travel writing, at least in the West, falls into three periods.

• The first period is that of traditional 18th-19th century travel writing depicting far off
places readers may never go to;

• the second period is that of tourist-oriented writing, depicting places many readers will
go to;

• finally, the third period-what Blanton calls "post-tourist travel writingn-is a product of
a saturated climate, the been-there-done-that school of travel writing, in which the
writer reports on places already visited by many of his readers.

• There exists, in short, an increased demand for travel writing at a time when, in a
traditional sense, there is less and less to write about.
So why
Andthen
to take
writethe trouble
about to travel?
travel?

In fact this question-and the attendant word play on the

Japanese pronunciation of travel and trouble- is one explored
by both Murakami and by fellow novelist and travel writer
Shimada Masahiko. Murakami says, "Travel is a showcase of
troubles" (Henkyo kinkyo, 196), while Shimada dubs himself
both a "Travel Writer" and a "Trouble Writer" (1993.
Shokuminchi no arisu. Tokyo: Asahi shinbunsha. 26)
 POSTFACE
If Henkyo might be defined as this re-discovery of the familiar through a process of
defamiliarization in Murakami's term the creation of a "nostalgic sense of alienation- then
his travel books, I believe, show exactly that.

Of earlier travellers Syed Islam (1996. The Ethics of Travel: From Marco Polo to KaJka. Manchester and New York: Manchester
University Press. )writes of "the trajectories of two very different kind of travellers: one

sedentary and the other nomadic." The sedentary traveler (a kind of oxymoron, as he
notes) "mov[es] only from point to point, folded in the inside . . . failing to encounter
difference, and returning the same" while the nomadic traveler crosses borders and
experiences "the intensities of encounter, never returning the same" (2 10; emphasis in
original). If Murakami Haruki's travel writing is any indication, we might call the modern
Japanese travel writer a "Troubled Traveler," one who is both sedentary and nomadic,
inward looking and often reluctant to encounter difference, yet never returning from the
journey the same.(This troubled nature of Japanese travel writing, however, has not kept Murakami from continuing to be productive in
the genre. Since the books discussed here, Murakami has published Moshi bokura no kotoba ga uisuki de atta nara (1 999), a report on Ireland and
Scotland's whisky industry, and Shidoni (2001), about Australia and the Sydney Olympics.)
σας ευχαριστώ
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THANK YOU
MERCI