The monastery is one of 20 in the autonomous all-male monastic community of Mount Athos, known in Greek as Agion Oros, or Holy Mountain. (AP video by Srdjan Nedeljkovic.

Photo Gallery: From Greek monastery on island cliffside, prayer lift up wonders of the night sky The Associated Press April 11, 2025, 6:53 PM ...

MOUNT ATHOS, Greece (AP) — The medieval monastery clings almost impossibly to sheer cliffs high above the shimmering turquoise of the Aegean Sea. Rising from the rugged granite rock, its walls enclose ...

For more than a millennium, Orthodox Christian monks have woken up in the predawn darkness to start their day with prayer at the Panagia Hozoviotissa Monastery, built high into a cliffside on the ...

Greece Monastery Night Sky Photo Gallery In this picture with a slow shutter speed is seen the cliffside Hozoviotissa Monastery under the starry night sky on the island of Amorgos, Greece ...

In this picture with a slow shutter speed is seen the cliffside Hozoviotissa Monastery under the starry night sky on the island of Amorgos, Greece, Thursday, March 27 , 2025. (AP Photo/Petros ...

"Here one is closer to God, and better understands creation," says Father Spyridon, who's spent more than 50 years at the monastery as a monk. "All of mother nature is God's creation.

“Here one is closer to God, and better understands creation,” says Father Spyridon, who’s spent more than 50 years at the monastery as a monk. “All of mother nature is God’s creation.

The monastery welcomes anyone who would like to visit — provided they are male. In a more than 1,000-year-old tradition, women are banned from the entire peninsula, which is deemed the Virgin ...

The attempts and failures of Greek courts and police to remove them from the 10th-century monastery have provided a repeated spectacle for Greek media. Over the years, the ships that supply the other ...

The monastery is one of 20 in the autonomous all-male monastic community of Mount Athos, known in Greek as Agion Oros, or Holy Mountain.