THE OLDEST MOXASTERY IX GREECE 



323 



CLASS DISTIXCTIOXS AND PHOTOGRAPH V 



After breakfast I gathered the pil- 

 grims and people who had come up for 

 the morning service for a picture. Most 

 of them were as pleased as children, and 

 they joked and jostled one another as 

 the}' took their })laces, as any American 

 holiday crowd would do under the same 

 circumstances. But again I ran counter 

 to prejudices based on class distinctions; 

 three women, somewhat better dressed 

 than the others, together with the aristo- 

 cratic Georgios. unmoved by my excla- 

 mation, "Pliotograf^hia!" refused to be 

 taken with the peasants. However, they 

 were not nearly so interesting and pic- 

 turesque as their humbler coimtrymen, 

 and their absence meant no loss. 



It seems almost ungrateful for one 

 who has enjoyed the hospitality of the 

 monks of Megaspelreon to speak a word 

 in criticism, yet if the truth be told they 

 are an idle lot and have a bad reputation 

 for honesty. 



A striking commentary on the place 

 and the people is that I found each of 

 their little terraced gardens strongly 

 hedged in or fenced off from the main 

 path and from the neighboring gardens. 

 They were to be entered only by gates 

 and the gates were padlocked. Similarly, 

 even in remote parts of the monastery, 

 the rooms were securely locked. What 

 must be the conditions when the faithful 

 have to take such extreme care to guard 

 their possessions from their own num- 

 ber! 



TTIR XEGLECTED STATE OF MEGASPEL-TIGX 



Further, the shabby, neglected state of 

 the monasterv gives the visitor an un- 



pleasant nnpression. A century ago. 

 when the monks were under the scrutiny 

 of the Turks, there was reason for their 

 simulating poverty ; but now the ruinous 

 condition of their main building, in sharp 

 contrast to their reputed wealth, gives 

 their indifference the character of sac- 

 rilege. 



A British minister. Sir Thomas W'yse. 

 who visited Megaspelaeon in 1858, well 

 characterized it as a "great dormitory of 

 religious commonplace, sleeper succeed- 

 ing to sleeper." Their building may be 

 taken as an index of the general life of 

 the mona.stery; all is today much as it 

 has been for centuries, while the sun, the 

 rain, and the winter storm have slowly 

 carried on their work of destruction, 

 making no slight havoc on the miserable 

 wooden upper structure, in the repair of 

 which the inactive monks have employed 

 only the merest makeshifts. 



On retracing the path leading to the 

 \alley. as I turned and caught my last 

 glimpse of the monastery, in the distance 

 no longer dirty and dilapidated, but thor- 

 oughly picturesque as it hung half way 

 u]:) the cliff like a huge swallow's nest. T 

 could not helj) thinking what a miserable 

 life is that of the monks of .Megaspekeon. 

 They send out no missionaries or preach- 

 ers to the neglected peo])le : they go 

 through their services with considerable 

 indiff'erence ; they have no interest in 

 study ; they write no books, nor do they, 

 like certain orders in the Roman Church, 

 care for the sick and the poor. 



AMiat a living death ! Dionysos' pallid 

 face, his sad. yearning expression, and 

 his quick hiuigry response to a few words 

 of interest still linger in my memory. 



