Agion Oros - Mount Athos

The tears of Panagia: I was at Mount Athos in order to purchase handmade items from the Monks. The handmade objects I am referring to are items which the monks make for example, incense, prayer ropes and other items which they sell or exchange in order to get by. I was told in Karyes, the capital of Mount Athos, that I would find the “Tears of Panagia” and small portable Icons made from bees wax in Kapsala (a remote area of Mount Athos, near Karyes). They showed me a cell on a local map where I could purchase “Tears of Panagia”.          Tears of Panagia are prayer ropes (Komposchini) or if you like worry beads (kompologion) made from the fruits of a certain plant which is called the tear of Panagia. Gerasimos Smyrnakis, in his book titled Mount Athos, which was published in 1903, writes the following: “The tears are harvested from the fruits of a bamboo like plant from the months of July until October. The fruit is...

At The capital of Mount Athos, Karyes, the historical cell of St. John The Forerunner of Koutloumouiou Monastery can be found. This cell was built by the great teacher of Orthodox Iconography, Hieromonk Dionysios of Fourna (1670 – 1746). The Hieromonk Dionysios was born in the town of Fourna in Euritania Greece. He was born in the year 1670, his father was the Priest Panayiotis Chalkias. When his father died, the young Dionysios was forced to leave for Constantinople at the ages of 12 years, for work. He stayed in the city for 4 years and at the age of 16 he departed Constantinople for Mount Athos. In Karyes, he completed his schooling and was taught Byzantine Iconography. He was also tonsured a monk and then a Hieromonk in Karyes. In the year 1711, he began building his Cell in Karyes and the chapel, which he dedicated to St. John the Forerunner, he also did all of the Iconography for the chapel, including all of the frescoes and movable Icons. From 1724 to 1728, Dionysios returned t...