Meteora

It was almost evening as we were approaching the town of Kalambaka and from a distance the great Meteora came into our  view .

The Meteora has been declared a world heritage by UNESCO. It is a formation of immense monolithic pillars and huge rounded boulders that dominate the area which was believed to have been built on the location of the ancient city of Aiginion. We had planned to spend some time around this location to explore the various existing monasteries. Second only in importance to Mount Athos the Meteora is associated with one of the largest and most precipitously built complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Greece.

Early morning view as we drove to the Meteora.

At their peak in the sixteenth century there were 24 monasteries at the Meteora. Most of these are perched on high cliffs which are now accessible by staircases cut into the rock formations. Only six of these monasteries are still functioning to serve monks and and nuns who are following the teachings of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Today, of the six functioning monasteries, the Holy Monastery of St. Stephen and the Holy Monastery of Roussanou are inhabited by nuns while the remainder four are inhabited by monks. At the time of our visit I was given to understand that the total monastic population of the Meteora monasteries was 66 with 41 nuns in the two mentioned above and 15 monks in other four.

The first monks appeared in this area at the beginning of the 11th century. But the monastery complex appeared to flourish only after the conquest of the Byzantine empire in 1453 by the Ottoman. Orthodox monks sought refuge in the remote locations at the Meteora because of persecution concern. The monks originally had to climb a series of ladders tied together or be dragged up there by a large net. Steps have since been carved into the rock and we were able to reach the Monasteries by foot.

The Hand-powered winch used for hoisting.

The Monasteries

“The scenery of the Meteora and the ascetic life are two very similar things. Prayer, deep and wholehearted prayer needs something like the meteora. Something hard and imposing. It requires bare stone and sky. Lots of sky!“- Athanasios Kouros.

I believe that from early Christian times the vertical cliffs of the Meteora were probably regarded as the perfect site to achieve absolute isolation. To some it probably provided a perfect environment for deeper spiritual experience and the deepening of man’s everlasting desire to connect and unite with the Divine.

The Holy Monastery of Saint Nicholas of Anapafsas (Agio Nikolaos) was suppose to be the first Monastery we had earlier intended to visit because I had learned that Anapafsas has to do with the monastery’s position. It is situated at a location to be encountered first on the way up the Meteora. This Monastery probably served the pilgrims and other visitors as a resting place before continuing further up the Meteora. We were there on Friday November 4th. The Monastery was closed because it closed on Friday. We rescheduled our visit to the following day.

The limited surface of the rock forced the building of the monastery to be vertically constructed one level on top of the other The different floors are accessible through an inbuilt staircase. At the entrance of the Monastery lies the Chapel of St. Anthony. The chapel of St. Nicholas, which is the katholikon of the monastery, is on the second floor. The frescoes from the narthex of the Monastery’s katholikon were painted in 1527.

Chapel of St. Nicholas (the Katholikon) located  on the second  level of the Monastery

We visited all six of the monasteries but managed only to enter three of them i.e. the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, the Monastery of St. Stephen and the Monastery St. Nicholas Anapafsas particularly described above. The other remaining three of the functioning monasteries which we were able only to view from the outsides are listed below. I realized that in our time the monks and nuns are still trying (sometime under difficult circumstances) to preserve traditional orthodox monasticism to give us (who seek spiritual peace) guiding principles along our lifelong journey…

Dusk at The Monastery of the Great Meteoron.

Setting sun shining on The Monastery of Varlaam

Monastery of Rousanou viewed from the road below. We had actually walked up to this Monastery by a footpath and many steps (built on the side of this cliff ) but due to time constraints we managed only to see its exterior and the surrounding area.

The following photographs will be without captions… People very often use words such as “serene, spiritual, magical, mystical, extraordinary, breathtaking, impressive” in an effort to describe the Meteora. Sometimes it is better just to let the photographs tell the stories themselves. Everyone looking at them will interpret according to their own individual imagination…

However there is a little story of a lovely cat featured in two of these photographs that I like to share with those who  care. While we were sitting on a roadside barrier admiring the distant view of the Monastery of St. Nicholas Anapafsas, a cat (which was probably from the Monastery of Rousanou nearby) jumped over the gap of the barrier, approached me and sat on my lap. I was wondering why a cat which I had never known before would do that. She lifted her head and we looked at each other in the eyes. She purred as she continued looking at me…Nigel said “Dad, the cat loves you”.  At that moment I was reminded of the time I had to talk to a crying donkey in a village near Villafranca Del Bierzo while we were walking on the Camino (Ref: Camino de Santiago). Perhaps God has created some of them with the ability to see the third person in some of us. Although nowaday I no longer have a pet animal at home but years ago I used to have an adorable Japanese Spitz whom I named Rex. One day my Rex sneaked outside the fence of the backyard where we lived and was accidentally killed by a passing car. I gave him a “royal” burial on the slope of Signal Hill where we were in the process of building a new home…I have never had a pet dog ever since…

Just a thought:

The Meteora is truly inspiring with overwhelming rock formations. At the outset I thought I was just going on this trip for the purpose of enjoying an exquisite landscape but it turned out that I really went for another. This turned out to be more of a journey than a trip. This was a pilgrimage to a sacred destination. This was a journey into a deeper understanding of God’s wonderful creation.

I am thankful for the opportunity to be able to visit so many sacred places around the world. I realized that perhaps for centuries Christianity managed to flourish in part because of the large and impressive cathedrals and monasteries. In most countries with Christian heritage, strong buttresses and towering cathedrals and religious buildings dominated the landscape. One of the first things Christian settlers built in foreign lands were impressive churches, cathedrals and religious buildings. The same is even true in Canada, a country without an official state religion. Most of these magnificent cathedrals are still standing today but popular cultures out there put blames on the people who built them. In modern time we no longer enter monasteries, cathedrals or even churches just because they are there. To me, holy places were and are still important. They have served and I believe can still continue to serve to anchor communities in faith for the common good. Perhaps it is true that we, in conformity with popular secular culture, prefer to remember the ills of some but choose to have the good of so many interred with their bones…