How to became a monk on Mount Athos

[JohnTh]

We receive again and again questions about this and, also, there is a lot of misinformation on the web - that's why we wrote a (hopefully) clear post about this.

If something is unclear and/or missing, please let us know.

 

[ArmyMatt]

great post

 

[E.C.]

Not bad.

It could be used as an article for becoming a monk anywhere. As nice as Mt Athos is, it is not the only monastic place in the world. Too many people try to become monks there to the point that local monasteries suffer. I like to think if someone really wanted to become a monk than they could be just as happy at their nearest monastery instead of Mt Athos.

 

[JohnTh]

It could be used as an article for becoming a monk anywhere. As nice as Mt Athos is, it is not the only monastic place in the world.

Sure.

Too many people try to become monks there to the point that local monasteries suffer.

Hmmm... I don't think that this is the case. Not too many at all. Well, of course, it depends of the monastic settlement but no, not at all.

The local monasteries suffer (more) because of
1.) the materialistic way of thinking of our society
2.) lack of Elders capable to attract the novices.

I like to think if someone really wanted to become a monk than they could be just as happy at their nearest monastery instead of Mt Athos.

The monk is happy in the place in which is God's will for him/her to be.
Besides that, yes, we can say that some places are more favorable than others - generally speaking.

Like in IT: Silicon Valley is more favorable for an IT career than many other places in the world (no offense intended, - it is just the way it is).

 

[E.C.]

The monk is happy in the place in which is God's will for him/her to be.
Besides that, yes, we can say that some places are more favorable than others - generally speaking.

Like in IT: Silicon Valley is more favorable for an IT career than many other places in the world (no offense intended, - it is just the way it is).

No worries, no offense taken.

I think some of it comes from the parish level as well. Yes, Mt Athos is the crown jewel of monasticism, but it isn't the only one. My old parish rarely mentioned the local monastery that was only an hour drive away, yet always encouraged interested people in visiting one eighteen hours away. The All Merciful Saviour Monastery (home of Fr Tryphon) gets more Coptic visitors than anyone else. The ROCOR doesn't encourage people to visit because they don't worship in Slavonic. The Greeks don't encourage pilgrimages because they don't do things the Greek way, and so on. The Copts are just happy to have a nearby monastery to visit. Mt Athos isn't going to lose support anytime soon, but our local monasteries can and will. We need to support them.