The monasticism of Meteora over the centuries

Throughout the centuries, the monastic life of Meteora includes the different types of monasticism found within Orthodox Christianity. For over a thousand years, Meteora gave shelter to those who wished to retreat forming a monastic community that at its peak had over 24 monasteries. Today, only six of them remain active, perched on the massive sandstone cliffs. Meteora remains still the second most important monastic center of the Eastern Orthodox church after Mount Athos. Monasticism makes Meteora, not just a natural wonder or an archeological site for tourists to visit. Nor is yet another Instagrammable place to share pictures.

Meteora above all it’s a spiritual site! An official holy place of Greece that still has to this day an active, centuries-old monastic life practicing the different types of monasticism.

What is the Orthodox Church?

The Eastern Orthodox Church, also known as the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian Church, with over 250 million members. Some will even address this church as the historical church because the succession of its bishops goes back to the Apostles. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, it has played a prominent role in the history and culture of Eastern Europe, and the Near East, including Slav and Greek peoples.

Eastern Orthodoxy developed in the Greek-speaking Eastern part of the Roman Empire, known today by the name of the Byzantine Empire. During the first centuries AD, most major intellectual, cultural, and social developments in the Great Christian Church took place within the Byzantine Empire. There the Greek language was widely spoken and used for theological writings. In reference to this legacy, it was sometimes called “Greek Orthodox”.

What is Christian monasticism?

Christian monasticism is the devotional practice of individuals who live ascetic and typically cloistered lives that are dedicated to Christian worship. It began to develop very early in the history of the Christian Church, modeled upon scriptural examples and ideals, including those in the Old Testament, but not mandated as an institution in the scriptures. It has come to be regulated by religious rules and, in modern times, the Canon law of the respective Christian denominations that have forms of monastic living.

Those living the monastic life are known by the generic terms monks (men) and nuns (women). The word monk originated from the Greek monachos “monk”, itself from monos meaning “alone”. There are monasteries for men (monks) or monasteries for women (nuns) solely. So, the Christian monks and the nuns they’ll never mix to live together within each monastery.

Are there many different types of monasticism?

Within Orthodox monasticism there are no religious orders as in the West and the Roman Catholic Church, so there are no formal Monastic Rules rather, each monk and nun is encouraged to read all of the Holy Fathers and emulate their virtues. Within the Eastern Orthodox Church, exist three types of monasticism: eremitic, cenobitic, and the skete. The eremitic or the so-called hermit-like (Greek word eremos; meaning the dessert) is a name derived from the first Dessert Fathers who withdraw from society to live in isolation in the deserts of Egypt during the 3rd century AD.

The first recorded Dessert Father was St. Anthony from Egypt. The skete is a very small community, often of two or three, under the direction of an Elder. They pray privately for most of the week, then come together on Sundays and Feast Days for communal prayer, thus combining aspects of both eremitic and coenobitic monasticism. The cenobitic or community-based monastic life, where the monks or the nuns live in individual rooms or cells but work, eat, and worship in shared space within a well-organized compound called the monastery.

What types of monasticism exist in Meteora?

Interestingly enough for the past 1000 years all 3 different types of monasticism mentioned above were present here. Today we have Orthodox monks and nuns who practice still the cenobitic and skete types. At a place called Badovas, hidden between the giant rocks one can still see the evidence of these 3 types coexisting in the ruins of the last hermit, the skete of St. Anthony and the small monastery of St. Nikolas of Badovas.

How do the monks earn their living?

The monks and the nuns even to this day, they’ll have to work hard to earn their living. Hard labor is still an integral part of the monastic way of life. The brotherhoods in each monastery they’ll all have to share the workload among them. Each monk will contribute according to his skills to produce goods to sell or to maintain the monastery’s property. The brotherhoods need to be self-sufficient as much as possible. Another important source of income is donations they receive from pilgrims. Pilgrims donate money, goods, services, property, different things that monks need to support their lives.

A lot of the monasteries after centuries of accumulating donations of land, today rank among the bigger landowners. In the past, the exploitation of the land or any other property the monastery possessed, was the main source of income for the monks. The monks are unable to sell any of the monastery’s property, but they can financially exploit it like, for example, to lease it for a specific period. The main source of income for the monasteries of Meteora today is the 3 euros entrance fees visitors pay on the entrances of monasteries.

What are the differences between the Roman Catholic and the Greek Orthodox church?

The 2 churches used to be the one single Catholic Church, but in the year 1054 AD amid growing disputes and differences accumulating for centuries between them the “Great Schism” takes place. The biggest and most fundamental difference though between the 2 churches is a cultural difference that permeated the Roman empire since the beginning of Christianity. In the Western part of the Roman world, the dominant language and culture were Latin, while in the East people endorsed mostly the Greek language and culture.

This cultural difference became even more apparent during the Dark Ages and the isolation of the West from the Greek-speaking world in the East that followed. Centuries of divergence and development of the two Christian regions, under totally different conditions, eventually led to the “Great Schism” of Christianity in 1054 AD. Subsequently, this gave rise to the formation of the Roman Catholic Church under the rule of Pope in the West, and the Greek Orthodox in the East. To this day the Greek Orthodox Church doesn’t recognize the Pope as the supreme leader of Christianity and perceives the Roman Catholic church as a schismatic church.