The Cats on Mt. Athos

The cats of Mount Athos: the secret of obedience

As you know, many cats live side by side with monks on Mount Athos. They are everywhere: near monasteries, temples, in workshops, in gardens ... Cats circle around the numerous pilgrims of the Holy Mountain, like to sit in the arms of monks. Almost all of them are tame and affectionate. I will tell you about why there are so many tailed "novices" in the monastic republic
The main reason for the presence of a large number of cats on Athos is that there are many small rodents on the Holy Mountain, which can easily sneak into warehouses with provisions for the brethren and destroy food supplies from monasteries in a matter of days. To prevent this from happening, the inhabitants of the monasteries keep cats that exterminate pests and keep supplies intact. In addition, cats hunt snakes, the bite of which can be fatal to humans.
Thanks to this useful "obedience", felines occupy a privileged position on Mount Athos. Everyone knows that women are not allowed on the Holy Mountain. This rule even applies to livestock, but the monks made an exception for cats.
One pilgrim who visited Athos in ancient times recalled that he saw many cats on this peninsula. There were no cats at all. (And today not only women, but also female pets are forbidden to step on the Athos land). At the ringing of the bell, the monks gathered for a meal. The cats, who were sitting on the sidelines and humbly waiting for their turn, were also pulled up. The cats began their meal after the brothers, having tasted the food, fed the animals.
It is worth noting that cats on Athos differ significantly from their fellow tribesmen who live in ordinary cities.
They are a kind of ascetics: they share with the monks their difficult monastic exploit, fulfilling, willingly or unwillingly, the monastic vows of celibacy, poverty, and obedience. Of course, cats sometimes violate the monastic ban on eating meat: they catch mice, birds and other small animals, get their own quick food for themselves. But, basically, they eat everything the same as the inhabitants of monasteries: crackers, vegetables and fruits. Cats bear their obedience with dignity - from time immemorial they have been protecting the monastery's food reserves from rodents. They also protect the cells of the inhabitants from the creeping poisonous reptiles, which are found in large numbers on the peninsula.
It is known that, with the blessing from Athos, the first Christian monastery was founded in Kievan Rus - the Kievo-Pechersk Lavra. And it is believed that the first domestic cats in Russia appeared precisely after the adoption of Christianity. From time immemorial, these animals have lived in monasteries, fulfilling their feline obedience - to protect the monastic food from harmful rodents, and, sometimes, as, for example, on Athos and from poisonous snakes.
The pilgrims arriving on the peninsula are greeted by cats at the pier. On the territory of any monastery (they also live in monastic cells), there are numerous variegated mustachioed. One cat calmly walks around the square, the other warms up, basking in the rays of the morning sun, he washes on the bench or sleeps, this one is thinking about something ... For the Athonite pilgrims, the cat's neighborhood, the presence of tailed beasts on Athos is usual, the cat's world creates a kind of comfort ...
Here is how one of the monks describes in his travel notes the process of feeding cats on Mount Athos: “The monk takes a long bucket out of the refectory, knocks on it - and then meows from all sides: the cats are gathering. Where do they come from? About forty! They line up in dense rows around the monk. They begin to hang on a bucket, on a sleeve, on a monk. Cats are generally great, they eat crackers, potatoes, peelings. They even fast, like the monks. In a word, they are real monastic cats, so lean, ”the pilgrim writes.
The Athonite monks love their cats, and caress the cat, pet it, although the famous Svyatogorsk elder Silouan believed that the cat is good, but caressing it, stroking it is not good: it distracts from the main thing.
The cat has long been a companion of a monk. He will calm, and sympathize, and share sorrow, and joy, and heal, and listen, and advise, and talk. The constant monastic prayer of the cat calms.
The monastery doctor (who is also a janitor and gardener), Father Kosma, has several black cats in obedience. All are called the same Minka. He will call once:
- "Minka!" - and all the cats run to eat the meal prepared for them.
Pilgrims share their impressions of everything they saw on Athos:
- Athonite cats are really very similar to monks: what they think about - no one knows ... gentle, quiet. Their home is everywhere and nowhere. They look at you attentively, are silent and seem to know something about you, penetrate into your very soul, into a secret that you yourself cannot comprehend.