1. When I first arrived we were eating three apples a day, one after each meal. At my fifth meal here (at Nea Skiti), I didn’t eat my apple. When it was time to get up from the table, Geronta exclaimed, “What’s wrong? Don’t you like fruit!”
2. Geronta Paisios: “We have a saying on the Holy Mountain,’If you are known in Athens, you’re not a monk.’
3. Geronta to me, “You don’t understand Greek time!”
4. Conversation with a trying-to-be-kind pilgrim at dinner: offering me the bowl of cheese, I say, “No thank you.” He persists, and so do I. Finally he says, “It’s cheese.” “Hmm,” I wonder, “does he really think I don’t know what cheese is?” A few moments later he says, “Would you like a lemon?” Again I say, “No thank you.” “Are you sure?” he replies. “Yes, I’m sure.” “I’ll share some of mine with you.” “No thank you.” “It’s good,” he says, “a sour, yellow fruit.” “Hmm,” I think to myself, “Do I really look that dumb?”
5. Geronta to me, “Don’t be shy in matters pertaining to the Church.”
6. Fr Paisie during early Sunday morning Liturgy, before my turn to do an ekphonesis, “In English; it will sound better.”
7. Hieromonk at St. Andrew’s: “We have a saying on the Holy Mountain, ‘Any monk who doesn’t take care of a brother until the brother dies is worthless.’”
8. I’ve been buying lots of things and thought it might be useful if I learned how to say, “How much?” in Greek. πόσο κάνει; This was working very well until the first time I tried it ... at which point I realized I don’t know the Greek names for numbers, and thus couldn’t understand the shopkeeper’s reply.
9. Vatopedi feels like a small cosmopolitan city, without loss of the personal kindness of a village. There are 130 monks here from 18 countries, many I would guess to be in their 20sand 30s, though they have all adult ages represented plentifully. The Giftshop would not be out of place on Madison Ave, and the quality of the monks singing would be at home in the Lincoln Center (though the monks themselves wouldn’t be). Among the many gifts I received here was a lengthy visit with Fr. Matthew before leaving Wednesday morning.
