This (Tuesday) morning I left Nea Skiti (red dot) on the Mikra Agia Anna speed boat, bound for Dafni. By God’s grace, I was given a ride in a car from the port of Dafni and taken to Karyes—the capital of Mount Athos. (I was picked up by a policeman, which is quite another story, for another time.).
This saved me more than an hour over waiting for the bus, and that allowed me time to see if I could find two old friends from my previous trip, monastics at St. Andrews, a Skete on the outskirts of the capital. Indeed, God let me find them both immediately upon arriving, and we had a most joyous reunion. They still remember me and our monastic community in their prayers, as I do them.
From there I walked the quarter mile into town, which looks like this:
Looking back you can see the domes of St. Andrew Skete.
I had much less time than I wished in the Protaton Church, which has absolutely stunning iconography since I needed to catch a van to Vatopedi (the blue dot in the map above). As I was about to board the van, the young monk in front of me turned and motioned for me to go first. Red hair and a bright face, he seemed full of joy. I insisted that he go first, but he proceeded to win the ‘insistence-battle.’ I entered the van and took my seat, which turned out to be the last seat available. He and two others stood in the aisle, which seemed fine—until the van driver boarded and proceeded to kick them off. No standing on the van. One man tried vociferously and persistently to give his seat to the young monk, but the monk just smiled all the brighter, gently but firmly refusing the offer. He won that insistence-battle, too. There was a strange power in his quiet demeanor. As he proceeded to disembark the van without the slightest outward indication of any displeasure or inconvenience, as if he really believed that God works all things work together for good for those who love Him, I thought to myself: “joyful humility.”
