Monastic Magnet

The Editors: René Gothóni is Professor of Comparative Religion in the University of Helsinki, a life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge, and life member of the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters. He is also President of the Finnish Society of Friends of Mount Athos. He is the author of Attitudes and Interpretations in Comparative Religion (2000) and The Unknown Pilgrim (2006) and edited How to Do Comparative Religion (2005).Graham Speake studied classics at Trinity College, Cambridge, and wrote a doctoral thesis at Christ Church, Oxford, on the Byzantine transmission of ancient Greek literature. He is the founder and Secretary of the Friends of Mount Athos and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. He is author of Mount Athos: Renewal in Paradise (2002), which was awarded the 2002 Criticos Prize, and co-editor of Mount Athos the Sacred Bridge: The Spirituality of the Holy Mountain (2005).

• Contents: René Gothóni/Graham Speake: Introduction – Rosemary Morris: Where did the early Athonite monks come from? – Alice-Mary Talbot: Holy Men of Mount Athos – Ismo Pellikka: Monasteries as Bridges between Athos, Russia, and Karelia – Father Symeon: Mount Athos: A Centre of Pilgrimage – René Gothóni: Pilgrimage as Dialogue – Marco Toti: The Inner Dimension of Pilgrimage to Mount Athos – Graham Speake: The Way of a Pilgrim on Mount Athos – Nicholas Fennell: Parfeny Aggeev and Russian Pilgrimage to Mount Athos – Kallistos Ware: Two British Pilgrims to the Holy Mountain: Gerald Palmer and Philip Sherrard – Graham Speake: Angels of Peace: Encountering the Elders of Athos – Nikolaos Hatzinikolaou: Mount Athos: The Highest Place on Earth.