Sacred Summits: Greece’s Ancient Mountain Sanctuaries

Sacred Summits: Greece’s Ancient Mountain Sanctuaries

There’s a second, simply earlier than the summit, when the air grows skinny, the trail narrows, and silence settles like a veil. In that stillness – excessive above the tree line, past the noise of the world – you start to grasp why the traditional Greeks...
Restoring Sacred Power to the Parthenon

Restoring Sacred Power to the Parthenon

Giving substance to the divine For de Lara, the Parthenon functioned as a machine for metaphysical notion, fastidiously calibrated to supply awe via structure, optics and the alchemy of supplies. The spectacle of Athena was not solely devotional – it was astonishing....
Sacred Solitude: Inside the World of Greek Orthodox Monks

Sacred Solitude: Inside the World of Greek Orthodox Monks

Within the pre-dawn hours, a lone monk strikes silently by way of the shadowed corridors of a monastery on Mount Athos (Aghion Oros, or the “Holy Mountain”), the self-governing monastic republic in northeastern Greece. The scent of burning incense lingers within the...