Russian Athos in the Diaries of Russian Pilgrims
Te diaries of Russian pilgrims who visited the Holy Mountain are of particular interest this year, when we celebrate the millennium of Russian monastic presence on Mt. Athos (1016-2016). Tese diaries reflect their interaction with compatriots, whom they met on the Holy Mountain. Two of many such pilgrims were Prince Sergey Shirinsky-Shikhmatov, the future Hieromonk Anicetas (in 1835-1836), and Viktor Kaminsky (in 1857). Fr. Anicetas describes the uneasy relationship between Russian and Greek monks at St. Panteleimon’s Monastery, as a result of which he was forced to relocate to St. Elias’ Skete with some of the brotherhood. Tere, through the efforts of Fr. Anicetas, the church of St. Metrophanes of Voronezh was built and consecrated. Fr. Anicetas and Viktor Kaminsky visited the same monasteries, but twenty years apart. Comparing their accounts, one can get a sense of the changes that had occurred in the lives of monastics there. Tis article offers further observations about the fate of St. Panteleimon’s Monastery, which began to recover following the difficult events of 1915-1917, and of the St. Andrew’s and St. Elias’ sketes, where the Russian monastic presence was lost and the sketes were transferred to Greek monastics