Holy Men of Mount Athos

"Often simply called the Holy Mountain, Mount Athos was the most famous center of Byzantine monasticism and remains the spiritual heart of the Orthodox Church today. This volume presents the Lives of Euthymios the Younger, Athanasios of Athos, Maximos the Hutburner, Niphon of Athos, and Philotheos. These five holy men lived on Mount Athos at different times from its early years as a monastic locale in the ninth century to the last decades of the Byzantine period in the early fifteenth century. All five were celebrated for asceticism, clairvoyance, and, in most cases, the ability to perform miracles; Euthymios and Athanasios were also famed as founders of monasteries. Holy Men of Mount Athos illuminates both the history and the varieties of monastic practice on Athos, individually by hermits as well as communally in large monasteries. The Lives also demonstrate the diversity of hagiographic composition and provide important glimpses of Byzantine social and political history. All the Lives in this volume are presented for the first time in English translation, together with authoritative editions of their Greek texts."-- "This volume presents selected Lives of holy men who lived on Mount Athos, the most famous Byzantine center of monasticism; it was often termed simply Hagion Oros, or the Holy Mountain. These vitae provide insights both into the history of monastic development on Athos between the ninth and fifteenth centuries, and the varieties of monastic life practiced communally in large monasteries as well as individually in huts and caves. We have chosen six vitae of five different saints, who were celebrated for their ascetic practices, gift of foresight and clairvoyance, and, in most cases, the ability to perform miracles. Euthymios and Athanasios were also famed as founders of monasteries. We offer two versions of the Life of Maximos the Hutburner, to demonstrate how hagiographic accounts of the same saint could vary, even when composed very close in time. It should be noted that, with the exception of Athanasios of Athos, the cult of these saints was essentially limited to the Holy Mountain, as can be seen by the manuscript tradition; all the surviving manuscripts of these Lives were copied on Athos."--Provided by publisher.