The contemporary renewal of Mount Athos

This article by Hieromonk Macarius of Simonos Petra traces the monastic renaissance of Mount Athos in the twentieth century. Taking the form of a historical and spiritual study, it first analyzes the causes of the demographic decline of the Holy Mountain — wars, the Russian Revolution, idiorhythmy, pietist influences — which had reduced the monastic population to fewer than twelve hundred monks by 1971. The author then shows how a living hesychast tradition had been maintained, notably through figures such as Elder Joseph the Hesychast and his disciples, Elder Ephrem of Katounakia and Elder Paisios. Finally, he describes the cenobitic renewal of the years 1968–1990, marked by the arrival of outside communities and the conversion of all the monasteries to cenobitism. The contribution of the article lies in situating this renewal within the continuity of the great Orthodox spiritual movements, by identifying its key figures, its ecclesiological causes and its distinctive characteristics.