FRIENDS OF MOUNT ATHOS REVIEWS

© 1998

The Towers of the Holy Mountain (in Greek) By Markos Kambanis. Athens: Armos Editions, 1998. 139 pages. 32 linocuts and 20 sketches. Price h/b 5000 drachmas. ISBN 960 527 086 2.

Among the first things one sees on approaching Athos by boat are the seaside towers or arsena; indeed, there is one even before you leave for Athos, at the port of Ouranopolis. The Towers of the Holy Mountain is a welcome introduction to these bastions, both the arsena and those which are attached to the monasteries themselves.

But this is an introduction with a difference: the linoprints, pencil drawings, thoughtful layout, and quality binding grace the book itself with a certain charm, and the anthology of anecdotes, poems, and descriptions helps the reader to see the towers as human places. And it is encouraging to see a book on Athos with an ambience more personal than the increasing number of glossy editions (welcome as these are). As Kambanis writes in the Prologue, 'This small album takes the form of a travelogue or a guide which presents a point of view other than the usual photographic reproductions. The increasing "popularity" of the Holy Mountain has led to a surplus not only of tourist guides but also of volumes illustrated chiefly with colour photographs. And so the prints of this book aspire to give another feel for the monuments; similarly the anthology of texts relating to the towers attempts to give, as much as possible, information different from that of strictly scientific or informative works.'

The original idea was to include prints by other artists, but as these were not forthcoming (this reviewer is one of those guilty of not submitting promised prints!), we have the book in its present form, with all the works made by one person. This has given the book a pleasing unity, however, and also, since the artist knows and loves Athos, a warmth.

Kambanis studied printmaking in London, and in 1991 went to Athos for the first time. There Hieromonk Ioustinos of Simonopetra introduced him to the world of Athonite copperplate prints. Subsequently he helped establish a small studio at Karyes with the aim of printing old Athonite plates, creating new prints, and also with the hope that monastic printmakers would gradually emerge. In 1997 he established another print studio in Athens, where he lives, called To Oros (The Mountain).

The prints are about 4 x 3 in. and are pleasingly simple and bold; the one illustrated in this review is characteristic of the others. The Abbot of Iviron once said to me that there is a perfect imperfection and an imperfect perfection. The 'imperfection' of the linocuts' lines and their simplification of the subject-matter are precisely what make them perfectly comfortable to the eye. And yet while the forms are executed with a freedom and boldness, the artist has clearly composed the various elements within each work carefully, including the lettering. Kambanis's experience as an iconographer (he has studied fresco painting) has also left its mark, particularly in the playful calligraphy and in a certain freedom with perspective. To my mind the pencil drawings are not as consistently successful as the prints. Although many have grace in their simplicity, a few are too rudimentary to do justice to the book.

The texts are sensitively chosen, and their variety and intensity make the book seem larger than it is. Some of the texts narrate the life of an ascetic associated with the tower illustrated on the opposite page. For example, we are told about Fr Hilarion who lived enclosed in the fastness of New Skete. He had an arrangement that a certain Fr Gerasimos would deposit dried bread outside his door every fifteen days - this served as his sole food until the next visit. But one time Fr Gerasimos forgot to come, and so the anchorite continued without any food for the fifteen days. When the forgetful disciple eventually came, he found his Geronda barely alive. To avoid such a situation again, they agreed that in time of need Fr Hilarion would hang a cloth outside his window as a sign. Another time the roof collapsed from the weight of snow and buried the anchorite for three days. With such stories the book transforms towers of inanimate stones into holy places.

Other texts are more anecdotal, like that by a bibliophile who describes his grief on discovering a library of valuable manuscripts abandoned among rubbish at the bottom of Pantocrator's ruined tower. He relates how he managed, with great difficulty, to gather three of the volumes. But having been exposed to the elements for years, these disintegrated into pieces in his hands, 'like dried bread'.

There are also five poems. Salient historical facts for the fortified towers of Athos are given by the architect-restorer Ploutarchos Theocharidis in an appendix.

Even if you do not read Greek, this is a book worth having for the pleasure which the prints give. It is also a voice for humble and loving craft in the face of high technology. Although the crafts of iconography and incense-making are continuing on Athos, most other crafts are dying out. There are no longer Athonites making the donkey-hair bag or dolva, or the monastic cap or scoufia, and virtually no one is carving anything like the box-wood crosses of the past. May the craft and human scale which this book and the print workshop at Karyes stand for revive and flourish in the Garden of the Mother of God.

RASOPHOR MONK AIDAN

Shropshire