Routledge Handbook of Mount Athos

Graham Speake was educated at St Paul’s School, Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read classics, and Christ Church, Oxford, where he wrote a doctoral thesis on the Byzantine transmission of ancient Greek literature. Over the past forty years he has made twenty pilgrimages to Mount Athos. In 1990, he founded the Friends of Mount Athos, of which he is now President. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. His publications include Mount Athos: Renewal in Paradise (2nd edition 2014), for which he was awarded the Criticos Prize, and A History of the Athonite Commonwealth (2018).

• Introduction Part One: Historical 1. Before 963 2. From 963 to 1204 3. From 1204 to 1453 4. From 1453 to 1912 5. From 1912 to 2020 6. The Greek Tradition 7. The Georgian Tradition 8. The Russian Tradition 9. The Serbian Tradition 10. The Bulgarian Tradition 11. The Romanian (Moldo-Wallachian) Tradition 12. The Exclusion of Women (Avaton) 13. The Athonite Commonwealth Part Two: Spiritual 14. Eremitic Monasticism 15. Cenobitic Monasticism 16. Idiorrhythmic Monasticism 17. Hesychasm 18. Saints and Elders 19. Pilgrimage 20. The Philokalia 21. Monastic Routine Part Three: Culture and Society 22. Architecture 23. Icons 24. Mosaics and Wall Paintings 25. Music 26. Libraries, Book Production, and Archives 27. Sculpture, Woodcarving, Minor Arts 28. The Myth and Lore of the Mountain 29. Legal Status 30. Landscape, Flora, Fauna, and Fungal Diversity 31. The Athonite Economy 32. Ecology and Conservation 33. Athos and the Modern World Appendix. The Twenty Monasteries