Putin visits Mount Athos to mark 1,000-year presence of Russian monks in Greek peninsula

Russian President Vladimir Putin closed a two-day working visit in Greece on Saturday with a visit to the autonomous Orthodox Christian monastic sanctuary of Mount Athos to mark the 1,000-year presence of Russian monks in the northern Greek peninsula.

Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, who had received him also in Athens on Friday at the start of talks aimed to boost bilateral cooperation, welcomed him at Karyes, the administrative center of the all- male monastic community, along with representatives of the 20 monasteries of Athos.

"A great and significant work on moral values is being done here," the Russian leader commented after a mass held in his honor, Greek national news agency AMNA reported.

"Humanism, solidarity, justice and peace" are the values promoted, Pavlopoulos said, as abbots called on the world leaders to work closer and harder to restore peace across the world.

In his second visit to the "Holy Mountain", Putin reached the Saint Panteleimon monastery which hosts about 100 Russian, Ukrainian and other Russian- speaking monks to celebrate the millennial anniversary of the first Russian settlement in the peninsula.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Christian Church, who arrived on Friday, also attended the celebrations.

The Russian leader visited the monastery also in 2005 during his previous visit to Greece.

About 1,800 monks are living today in the rocky 335 square kilometers peninsula, according to the latest 2011 census.

Male pilgrims, including non Orthodox Christians, can visit upon invitation, while women are barred from approaching the area for 1,000 years under a decree issued by then Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomachos who established the sanctuary.

The prohibition on females' entry, which also applies to female animals, was introduced as a way to safeguard celibacy.

Under the Orthodox Christian Church tradition the reason behind the ban is that Athos is considered to be "the garden of Virgin Mary" and she should be the only one representing women on the peninsula.

According to the tradition, Christ's mother landed on Athos during a trip and impressed by the beauty of the landscape asked that this will be her garden.

Throughout the centuries there have been only a dozen cases of trespassing by women recorded in several times by females who were disguised as men.

Source: XINHUA