Remembering Athos One Year Later

It hardly seems like a year has passed since I was on Mt Athos but indeed one year ago today I was on the Holy Mountain. How memorable was our first 24 hours with the all night services of Theophany.  As I mentioned elsewhere the services at Xeropotamou Monastery were our induction into the rhythm of monastic life that has existed there for some 1000 years.  Of course, who can forget the amazing holy relics housed at the monasteries.  Where most of us are use to seeing tiny pieces of cloth or bone fragments of the saints in our own churches, on Athos relics are life-size.  Venerating the hand of St. John Chrysostom, the Skull of the Apostle Andrew, the largest piece of the True Cross of Christ to name just a few was an everyday occurrence.  When I touch the small cross I wear around my neck I recall how that day at Xeropotamou the priest took it and touched it to the relic of the True Cross.  How easy it is to forget such blessings!  God bless and preserve the Holy Mountain of Athos, its monastics, and the many pilgrims like me blessed to have tasted of its heavenly fruits.