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Mount Athos is located on a peninsula in northern Greece and operates as an autonomous community and is separated by a fence from the rest of the peninsula on which it sits, which is about 40 miles long. The largest city to Mount Athos is Thessaloniki, about 80 miles away.
To see another map about an ancient religious trail, see this post on the Kumano Kodo in Japan!
See the interactive Google Map at the bottom of the post!
Three key facts about this map
Mount Athos is under jurisdiction of an Orthodox Archbishop
Despite the fact that the community is within Greece, it is actually an autonomous community that is under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Church who sits in Istanbul. This is because the community is a religious community for those loyal to the Orthodox faith and pilgrims of the faith who wish to experience monastic life.
There are 20 monasteries throughout the region who host monks and pilgrims. Some of these monasteries are oriented towards followers of the Orthodox faith from various countries – for instance, most of the monasteries are Greek with several exceptions:
- Zographou is Bulgarian
- Hilandar is Serbian
- Saint Panteleimonos is Russian
You can only reach Mount Athos by boat
The region of Mt Athos is inaccessible by land – in fact, the monastic community is cut off from the rest of Greece with a 7 mile long fence rendering foot passage impossible. Residents (monks) and visitors can arrive by ferry from either the south (Ouranoupolis) which is most-popular, or from the north (Ierissos).
Women are not allowed in Mount Athos
The region is legally part of the European Union (by virtue of being technically part of Greece), but has a special exception to restrict the freedom of moevemnet and goods in its territory. What this means is that women are restricted from entering the region. This is due to religious tradition to ensure celibacy and due to Orthodox teachings that the Virgin Mary represents the mountain Mt. Athos and she alone is to represent her sex there (source).
Interestingly, this not only applies to human females but also female animals – including cows, goats and sheep. Female cats are allowed in Mount Athos due to their ability to control the rodent population.
Additional links and sources
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