Plgrimage to Holy Mountain 35

35

Sex on Holy Mountain:

I leave very early the next morning following the eastern coast of the peninsula toward Pantaleimon and Stavronikita monasteries which I have heard are unusual “must sees”.

The trail winds across the hills and valleys of the mountainside. Often there is a choice of trails to follow and there are few signposts but orienting north is easy–just keep the big mountain off your left shoulder.

I am dozing beside the path under some scrub brush out of the sun, when another pilgrim, the first pedestrian I have seen, approaches. He wears an outdoorsman’s hiking clothing and heavy cleated boots–of course, he is another American from California.

We talk for a while and he tells me that this is not his first visit to Holy Mountain. He visited here fifteen years ago. He says he is gay and tells me on his last visit he met a young gay monk and they hit it off quite nicely. He said the biggest mistake of his life was to leave Holy Mountain since he had gotten hopelessly messed up back in the states. He said he never knew what had happened to his Greek lover but had given up trying to find him and was going to make this hike around the peninsula his last walk in Greece. His last words to me has he hiked off toward Great Lavra were: “If I had only stayed here, life would have been perfect.”

Maybe so.

There seems to be some homosexual activity among the men on Holy Mountain, but it is not officially condoned and is, in fact, officially discouraged.

Homosexual contact seems easy to avoid if you wish or, perhaps, easy to have if that is your way--since homosexuality has always been a more or less accepted part of Greek culture.

There are no females on Holy Mountain—not even female mules or other animals though I have heard that female cats are allowed to reproduce to keep the mice under control and there may be some hens for eggs though I saw none. There is little or no opportunity to indulge in any male/female sexual contact so if a man is drawn to sexual activity he will have to find a male partner.

Tomasito


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