Roussanou

June 23, 2022

Day thirty-seven, Greece. Roussanou is one of six monasteries left on the Meteora rocks. There were once twenty-four. The first recorded hermitages go back to the eleventh century.

“Up here the monks and nuns could let go of everything worldly. These were fortresses that couldn't be taken,” says a guide, towing a bunch of tourists behind him. He describes the life: up before sunrise, prayer, work. When war went over the country, the people up here stayed out of it.

Today they are mostly keeping something alive. They want to stand as witnesses of a Christian life in an age they consider poor in spirit and in morals. Faith, as they see it, is a spring, and the thirst is real.

Photographs are not allowed in the chapel. Visitors come and go. A young woman is deep in prayer. Beside her an older woman wipes her face, crosses herself and leaves. The young woman does the same.

Why did those two come in here? I don't ask.

The guide's group arrives. A man with a bum bag looks at the icons without saying anything. His wife whispers to him. Outside the door a nun is reading her Bible.

This chapel has heard a great many prayers. You can see the work in the walls, and the work was not done quickly.

View from Roussanou monastery over red tiled roofs to Meteora rock towers, a green valley and mountains — When war came through the country, the people up here were left out of it.

Stone bell tower with red brick bands and an iron cross at Roussanou monastery, Meteora — Rise before dawn, pray, work, and someone pulls this rope.

Large monastery with walls, arcades and red domes on top of a Meteora rock under a blue sky — Of the twenty-four monasteries once on the Meteora rocks, six remain.

Wooden veranda at Roussanou monastery with a hanging wooden semantron, flower pots and a Meteora cliff beyond — Outside the chapel door, a nun is reading the Bible.

Tower of Roussanou monastery with a wooden oriel above red roofs, Meteora cliffs and forest behind — Up here the monks and nuns could leave everything worldly behind.

Meteora landscape with sandstone rock towers, a green valley and a small red-roofed monastery on a rock — The first recorded hermitages here go back to the 11th century.