Fire in the Simono-Peter Monastery on Mount Athos

Among the twenty Svyatogorsk monasteries, in terms of beauty and picturesque location, the first place has always been occupied by the Simono-Petersky monastery, located on a steep and high above sea level rock, called the “stone of the sign.” “It stands, our pilgrim Barsky-Plaka describes the location of this monastery, it is surprisingly founded on some very sharp and hard-stone hill, like some kind of fortress impregnable, and from all sides has a natural, deep ditch, into which it is scary to look, as if from the north, a narrow passage, like a bridge, was deliberately created, to the monastery gates... It is cramped with a building, but very high-walled, like a pillar, and only the space is enclosed, because it is imitated by the sharpness of the hill, as there is by no means a clear courtyard there, but in total the church is surrounded by cells, of which there are about a hundred, one above the other, up to five and six rows made, with wooden stops, outside the wall, hanging over the surrounding abyss, and it is impossible to look down from them without horror. From the shore, looking at the sea, great joy appears, for it stands in a cheerful place.” It is not surprising, therefore, that “for the sake of the deplorable and cruel among the stone, like a snake of a winding road,” the Simon-Peter Monastery is rarely visited by our ordinary simple pilgrims, and also that very few of the tourists, lovers of the beauty of nature, think about the “very inconvenient and difficult to approach” path, leading to the monastery, but most of them persistently overcome all difficulties and are fully rewarded by the beauty of the pictures and views that open to their eyes from the balconies hanging over the abyss and surrounding the entire massive building of the monastery on several floors. The gracious and intelligent elder Abbot Neophytos with his small brethren, always warmly disposed towards the Russians and in fact proving the strength of their sympathies during the years of terrible unrest that took place on the Holy Mountain. regarding the process between the Russians and the Greeks over the possession of the Panteleimon Monastery, when Fr. The neophyte, almost alone, openly defended the just Russian cause in the local Kareysky cinema - they provide their rare visitors with the most cordial hospitality and the more deeply imprint in their hearts and memories a pleasant memory of visiting the “very amazing" monastery. Their patriarchal hospitality is all the more recognized that it turns out to be sincere, without any premeditation, in simple, unartificial forms, in the midst of the most unpretentious and even to the squalor of the meager surroundings, in an area inhabited primarily by a nationality that has far from brotherly feelings towards us Russians and whose hospitality we are not spoiled by. In 1887, I personally had to live for about two weeks within the walls of the described monastery, where I studied in the library, which possessed, although not numerous, scientifically very interesting manuscripts (according to S. Lambros had 245 manuscripts, of which about 50 were parchment), and I must frankly testify that here I received the most cordial welcome from the abbot and the brethren and full assistance in successfully completing my studies. In particular, regarding the personal qualities of Fr. Abbot Neophytos, we do not need to expand much, since they are now well known to many in Russia, where he spent more than a year collecting alms for his monastery and has not yet left its borders. We personally only have to bear witness to the sad fact that this monastery has now been erased from the face of the earth of the Holy Mountain and in its place stands only its sad skeleton, in which the remains of the wooden beams that served as connections are still smoldering. The surroundings of the monastery are no less sad and depressing, since the fire from the monastery spread to the surrounding forest, which burned out over a significant area within three days. Some of the details of this sad event are very interesting; eyewitnesses talk about them with tears in their eyes and remember them not without a shudder of horror. The fire in the Simon-Peter monastery occurred on the night of May 28 at about 3 o'clock. The beams above the oven in the bakery caught fire, most likely from a burst chimney. The flames quickly penetrated the upper floors of the building and engulfed the only exit door of the monastery. One can imagine the horror and despair of the brethren when, awakened by the frequent sounds of the alarm, they saw that leaving the monastery was almost impossible. Those who were more courageous or distraught with fear rushed into the very flames and, not without being burned, jumped out of the monastery door, but others did not dare to follow the example of the daredevils and doomed themselves to voluntary self-immolation or certain death. The brethren took care of helping our 20 pilgrims who spent the night in the monastery that night, and were more confused than even the monks themselves. Ropes were found, with the help of which it was possible to save all the pilgrims and some of the brethren. There was no time to think about saving property or putting out a fire, since everyone thought only about saving their own lives. One of the hieromonks managed to enter the church and take out a vessel with relics and boxes with monastic acts from the skevophilakia, but that’s all. When the same hieromonk tried to enter the church a second time, a terrible flame blocked his way into it. Thus, there was only one thing left for the brethren, to leave their monastery as a sacrifice to the flames and escape through the basement emergency door, arranged by the monastery for a similar case no more than thirty years ago. The fathers did not remember this emergency door from the beginning of the fire, but thanks to it the misfortune did not occur without casualties, although not without serious bruises and injuries received by the inhabitants of the monastery during their air travel on a rope. As for help in extinguishing the fire, although it was provided by the monasteries and in particular by our Russian Panteleimon Monastery, from which fire extinguishing agents and up to 40 brethren were sent, this help was already belated. We had to worry not about saving the monastery, which was being devoured by flames, but about stopping the fire that had started in the forest surrounding the monastery. It was possible to do this with great effort only on the third day. The unfortunate brethren of the Simon-Petersky Monastery were thus literally left in the clothes they had left the monastery in, and found themselves without shelter in the open air. All the monastery buildings and outbuildings burned down, the cathedral church in honor of the Nativity of Christ and four paraklis (i.e. small churches) were destroyed. All property, although not rich, church utensils, sacred vestments, icons and iconostases, a library, with its very interesting parchment codices (see the description of some of them in the “Journey to Athos” by the Right Reverend Porfiry Uspensky), the monastery’s vital food supplies, and so on. all this became the prey of the flame. It was possible to save, as we said, only the ark with the relics, documents and ancient chrisovuli of the monastery. The brethren are now scattered in their cells: some of them are placed in cells on the Arsians, that is, on the monastery pier, some are sheltered at the steamship pier in Daphne, where the monastery has a small house for novices who go out every time to meet ships coming to Mount Athos; some of the elders occupy the premises of the workers of the monastery, etc. As for food, the brethren are provided with it for two or three months. According to the wonderful custom that exists here, the other nineteen Athonite monasteries, having learned about the misfortune that befell the Simon-Petrians, ate them bread, wine, clothing and some other items necessary for household chores, which they had to start anew. But now it’s summer, what will happen to the fathers in the coming winter, where will the fire victims find shelter and food then? Anyone who has visited Mount Athos involuntarily asks himself this question. This question expresses itself more often and more persistently to the unfortunate fire victims who have not yet recovered from the horrors of the unrest they experienced... Need, oppressive need crushes their thoughts. True, thanks to last year’s alms collections in Russia, the monastery will be rebuilt, the monks will again have a church and shelter for themselves, but hopes for paying off the debts from which the monastery hoped to be freed with the help of these collections must now recede into the realm of a distant and unlikely, without new offerings from the Christ-loving and generous Russian people, a feasible future. And who will bring back what was lost, what each inhabitant lived with, what I looked upon as my own property?.. At the site of the ashes, active excavations and clearing of debris are underway. Despite the fact that more than a month has passed since the fire, the smoldering under the debris still does not stop, which has finally incinerated all the connections in the skeleton of the building. Therefore, some naturally have a question as to whether the monastery should be built in the same place. Since the remaining skeleton cannot be used to renew the monastery, but must be dismantled to its foundations, on Athos and among the very brethren of the Simon-Peter monastery, voices are expressed in favor of establishing a monastery near the sea. One cannot help but sympathize with this opinion, since from bitter experience (the Simono-Petra monastery has burned for the third time since its foundation), the Simono-Petra monastery must be convinced that they should protect their monastery from the repetition of such accidents. On the site of Arsyan, the monastery will be more accessible to visitors, safer from fire (removal to an inaccessible rock during the rule of pirates in the Mediterranean had its justification in ancient times), and the benefits for its renewal will be the same; quarries of excellent stone will clear the very place for the monastery and there is no need to transport it on mules over a long distance along a difficult path. Of course, the “holy place” cannot be left empty, with which ancient monastic legends are associated, encouraging opponents of this opinion to stand for observing the statu quo.ante... In place of the ashes, it is necessary to erect a paraklis, which will not be forgotten by either the brethren or travelers who love the beauty of nature... In general, before starting construction, the brethren of the Simon-Petria Monastery need to seriously think... I conclude my present brief news about the sad event that took place in the Simon-Petria Monastery of the Holy Mountain with the confidence that it will evoke in the kind hearts of the Russian people complete sympathy for the grief of Fr. Abbot Neophytos and his brethren... St. Mount Athos Russian. 1891 July 3rd. You might be interested in: