The mountains to the east of the monastery look like a monolithic face. But as the sun sets, shadows reveal that there is a ridge, with an intervening valley and mountains beyond. The hermitage of Saints Galakteon and Episteme is in the valley. It is said that when the Elder Paisios was living in the hermitage, at night he would climb to where he could see the monastery below in the distance, and from there he would pray for the members of the community.
I recently visited the monastery for the second time and to this day I walk around as if intoxicated by this place. I came across this blog. Thank you – I will check it out.
Dear Father Justin,
That’s true, at the very beginning I could see the silhouette of a face.
Grateful to you for all the photos!