Mount Athos

ATHOS MONTE

TAV. XXV

Top: MENOLOGY No. 5 of the Monastery of Dochiariu (12th cent.). Entries for Nov. 14.
Bottom: NEW TESTAMENT No. 8 of the Monastery of Dionisiu. Beginning of St. Matthew (1133).

Cape Sigeum. The city adorned itself with monuments and public works; artists and poets flocked there from everywhere. Dionysus, until then the god of the rural plebs, acquired the right of citizenship with the institution of the Greater Dionysia; tragedy and comedy arose from his cult. In 513 Hipparchus was killed by Harmodius and Aristogeiton: three years later the Alcmaeonids and other nobles returned to the city with the help of the Spartans, driving out Hippias. The Pisistratids had respected Solon's constitution; far from leading to an aristocratic restoration, their fall marked the triumph of democracy. The reform was carried out by the Alcmaeonid Cleisthenes, who, to definitively break the power of the gentile groups, divided all of Attica into demes or communes with autonomous administration, and distributed the population into 10 tribes, each comprising 3 trittyes or groups of territorially located demes. The organs of the State remained the same, except that Solon's Boulé of the 400 was increased to 500, chosen by lot in numbers of 50 for each from the 10 tribes, which exercised the prytany in turn. For the defense of the institutions, the people were given the power to banish dangerous citizens (ostracism), which became a terrible instrument of struggle for the parties against their adversaries. It was with this constitution that A. withstood the Persian onslaught, ensuring the freedom of Greece in two memorable battles (Marathon 490, Salamis 480); having acquired maritime hegemony, it found itself at the head of a maritime league, which in a few years transformed into an empire. The 5th century was the period of its maximum power and flowering: it became not only the economic and political center, but also the spiritual center of Greece. Letters and arts reached unsurpassed heights, and as the "school of Hellas" (Thucydides) it maintained primacy until the following century. Democracy developed in an even more radical sense: the limitation of the powers of the Areopagus to the advantage of the Council of the 500 and the Heliaia, which gradually ended up absorbing almost all civil and criminal jurisdiction, the selection of magistrates by lot, except for military and financial ones, the extension of the archonship first to the hippeis (487) and then to the zeugitai (457)—that is, practically to all citizens—and finally the institution of daily pay for the heliasts and then for the Ecclesia, made the government truly a matter of the people. This resulted in the formation of a class of politicians, the greatest of whom was Pericles, nephew of Cleisthenes, who for thirty years arbitrated the destinies of A. He resumed the expansionist and power politics of Pisistratus and Themistocles, but, whether due to his excessive audacity or insurmountable difficulties of circumstance, he barely managed to maintain the positions previously reached and prepare A. for the inevitable clash with Sparta. The Peloponnesian War (431–421; 415–404), which under the leadership of the two rival cities—representing respectively democracy and oligarchy—pitted almost the entire Greek world against one another, ended with the defeat of A. and put an end to its empire. The walls were torn down, democracy was declared overthrown, and under the government of the Thirty installed by the Spartans, A. experienced the oppression of one of its most extortionate tyrannies. The reaction was not long in coming, and in 403 the exiles returned under the leadership of Thrasybulus and with the help of Thebes, re-establishing democracy. During the 4th century, taking advantage of the struggles between Sparta and Thebes and alternating Persian aid with them, A. managed to regain a part of its lost positions and reconstitute a second Delian League (377) on federative and less imperialistic bases than the first. But by then a new power was appearing on the stage of history: Macedonia. The struggle waged by A. against Philip amidst general corruption—and gnawed away by the extreme form that democracy had reached, in which everything was at the mercy of the Assembly and therefore of the orators who dominated it—is one of the most dramatic pages of Greek history, which had in Demosthenes the last champion of its freedom. With the battle of Chaeronea (338) hegemony passed to Philip; an attempt at a revival after the death of Alexander (Lamian War) failed miserably at Crannon (322). What A. had been in the field of arts and letters in the 5th century, it was in the 4th century in the field of philosophy, which, opening with the death of Socrates (399), successively saw the founding of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum—veritable universities organized for the purposes of scientific research—and the rise of the two schools that would dominate the Alexandrian and Roman ages: Stoicism and Epicureanism. In the 3rd century, during the struggles of the diadochi and the kingdoms born from the division of Alexander's empire, A.—which, while nominally preserving its autonomy, was permanently under the surveillance of Macedonian commanders—followed the turbulent events of the era. Three times it attempted to regain independence, and three times it was crushed. In 267 it joined Egypt and Sparta against Antigonus Gonatas, but, besieged, was forced to capitulate (261). From then on, every political function of its own was finished. In 197 at Cynoscephalae Philip V of Macedonia was defeated by T. Q. Flamininus, and Greece fell under Roman influence. During the First Mithridatic War A. followed the revolt of the other Greek cities, but, besieged by Sulla, was taken in 86 and treated as a rebel. Both in the republican and imperial ages A. preserved its institutions, but it was nothing more than a quiet city of studies, laden with memories and monuments. In this regard, it still had a first-rate function that lasted until the age of Justinian, who in 529 AD closed its centuries-old university, which still remained pagan, and dispersed its masters.

Carlo Diano
II. A. IN THE BIBLE. - Around 163 B.C., A. is mentioned as a free city (II Macc. 9:15).

St. Paul visited it during his second missionary journey, probably in 51 (Act. 17, 15-34; I Thess. 3, 1). Alone, he awaited the arrival of Silas and Timothy from Berea. He grieved at the sight of the noble city, which had fallen so low religiously: A. was indeed open to all cults and dotted with idols (Petronius, Satyricon, 1, 17; Livy, Hist., XLV, 27). He began his preaching to the Jews and proselytes in the synagogue, and to the pagans in the square or agora of Ceramicus, at the foot of the Areopagus (v.). Some Epicureans and Stoics led him to the Areopagus (according to many modern scholars, the royal portico located at the foot of the Areopagus hill). The Apostle, taking his cue from the inscription in honor of "an unknown god" (Pausanias, Descriptio Graeciae, I, 1, 4; V, 14, 8; Philostratus, Vita Apollonii Tyanaei, VI, 3, 5), announced to them the true God and the resurrection of Christ. The freshness of the local color is a guarantee of the historicity of the account.

Gaetano M. Perrella

III. CHRISTIANITY IN ATHENS

Among the first converts in Athens was St. Dionysius the Areopagite, who became the first bishop of that city according to the testimony of St. Dionysius of Corinth and Hegesippus, and was martyred like his successor Publius. The bishop Quadratus addressed an Apology to the Emperor Hadrian in 123-124 or 129 in defense of Christianity; the philosopher Aristides of Athens presented another to the same emperor; and the philosopher Athenagoras, a native of Athens, presented a plea for the Christians to Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus, defending Christians against pagan accusations. Under the Emperor Decius, Bishop Leonidas died for the faith. Still in the 4th century, when

St. Basil and St. Gregory of Nazianzus were studying in that city, paganism was predominant there. Theodosius II began to give a Christian imprint to Athens, ordering crosses to be raised above the pagan temples. Justinian I closed its school, a center of pagan influence. Alongside ancient monuments transformed into churches such as the Parthenon, the Erechtheum, and the Propylaea, new churches arose such as the great basilica on the site of the martyrdom of St. Leonidas. The first monastery of Daphni near Athens was probably built in the first half of the 5th century.

The bishopric of Athens previously depended on Corinth and, like it, belonged to Eastern Illyricum, which was directly subject to the Pope. The measure of Theodosius II annexing this ecclesiastical province to the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 421 was soon revoked following the protests of Pope Boniface and the admonitions of Theodosius's uncle, namely the Emperor Honorius. But Leo the Isaurian detached Eastern Illyricum from the competent authority of the Pope (732), and the protests of the Popes in subsequent centuries could not change that unjust situation. Thus Athens had to follow the historical destiny of Constantinople, even in the fundamental question of religious unity with the Catholic Church; nor did Latin rule (1204-1458) succeed in permanently establishing the bond of union with Rome. For two centuries the Greek metropolitan see was vacant; however, certain monasteries persisted, protected by the Holy See, and the clergy and even the faithful remained. The Metropolitan Michael Choniates (1182-1204, d. 1217 on the island of Ceos), a man of high culture, was able to preserve the

flock in opposition to the Roman Church through his correspondence from exile. During the Turkish period (1458-1830), due to the lack of schools, the Greek Church was in intellectual decline; it received intellectual and moral help from Catholic missionaries in the Greek islands who had schools and who were invited by Greek bishops to preach in their churches. In A. the Capuchins established themselves in 1665.

Among the Greek bishops of the Turkish era, several of whom were deposed by the Turkish government or even by the Synod of Constantinople, few emerge for special merits, e.g., Sophronius (1565-70) notable for his practical sense, Neophytus II (1596-1602) who twice became patriarch of Constantinople, Anthimus III who signed the decree of the Synod of Jerusalem (1672) against Calvinism, James I who submitted the surrender of the city of A. and the request for protection against the Turks to Morosini; the leader of the Venetian expedition entered the city on Sept. 29, 1687, but remained there a short time. In the times of Turkish rule several Greek monasteries could be founded; however, vexations and even killings of monks were not lacking, though caused by pirates. The founder of the female convent of St. Andrew, Venizelos, who had also become a nun, was beaten by Muslims because she had saved four young women driven by threats to embrace Islam; dying in 1589, she was canonized by a synodal sentence ten years later.

The independence of Greece followed by ecclesiastical independence (July 27, 1833), the proclamation of A. as the capital city of the new Hellenic kingdom (1834), the immigration of many, especially refugees from Asia Minor, gave an eminent place at least of honor (president of the synod) to the Greek metropolitan of A. Currently there are more than 80 parishes in the two cities of A. and Piraeus, and more than two-thirds of the population subject to the metropolitan is found there.

lita. Seven monasteries depend on him. The first dissident metropolitan of new Greece was Neophytus Metaxas (d. 1861), recognized also by the patriarch of Constantinople after a 17-year refusal. His successor Misael Apostolides (1861-62) had been commissioned to negotiate the autocephaly of the Greek Church with the patriarch, before becoming bishop of Patras in 1852. Theophilus Vlachopapadopoulos (1862-71) had very great difficulties with the monks and laity in matters of the catechetical instruction of the people and the material improvement of the secular priests.

Procopius Georgiades (1874-89) was very zealous, but strongly opposed by the government. On the other hand, Procopius Economides (1896-1901) enjoyed royal favor, but he dragged into his disgrace Queen Olga, who had favored him in the question of the translation of the Sacred Scripture into the vernacular, then considered by some a crime against the spirit of pure Hellenism. Theoclitus had various vicissitudes in the civil struggles between 1902 and 1922; he had pronounced the anathema against Venizelos in Dec. 1916, and the latter, having become head of the nation, had Meletius Metaxakis (the future patriarch) elected metropolitan; however, under King Constantine, Theoclitus was able to return only to be overthrown with him in 1922. Chrysostom Papadopoulos (1923-38), writer of many articles and historical books, earned merits in promoting the sciences (he is the founder of the journal Θεολογία) and the catechetical instruction of the people, but showed himself several times as a violent adversary of the Catholic Church. For the intellectual life of A. in modern times, preponderance was held by the faculty of theology of the local University, founded in 1837, whose professors were trained abroad and underwent its influence even for their work at home, not always for the good of orthodoxy. The initiative for the first congress of Orthodox theology in A. from Nov. 29 to Dec. 4, 1936, was taken by the professor of canon law at the University of A., Hamilcar Alivisatos.

To the Justinianic period belong several churches and monasteries, such as the old cathedral or Catholicon; the churches of the Asomatoi or incorporeal beings (the Angels), and of the Apostles (domed), built on the site where the precinct of the Twelve Gods once stood; and the church of SS. Theodore, rebuilt in 1049 (domed with three apses), the best preserved of the ancient churches of Athens. Between the end of the 9th century and the beginning of the 13th century, other Christian buildings arose, such as, for example, the churches of the Haghia Triada, of the Most Holy Savior (now St. Nicodemus), of the Panaghia Kandeli on Tripodon Street, of St. John the Precursor, of St. Nicodemus or Panaghia Lykodemon on an octagonal plan, dating prior to 1044, of the Panaghia of the Great Monastery (Monastiraki), of St. John Manoutis (year 871), of the Small Metropolis (or rather the ancient private chapel of the bishops, also called Panaghia Gorgoepikoos, a domed church of the 9th century, today St. Eleftherios, with decorative panels on the exterior), of the SS. Anargyroi (Cosmas and Damian), today the Metochion of the Holy Sepulchre, of the Kapnikarea, dating to the 12th century and later remodeled; two churches dedicated to St. Athanasius, one in the Payré district, and the other called St. Athanasius Chalkouri to the northwest of Athens; the churches of St. Demetrius Loumbardiaris near the Pnyx, of SS. Simon and George (Anaphiotica), of St. Cyriacus (on Athena Street), of St. Elijah (on Eponymon Street), and the now-destroyed churches of St. Paraskevi and St. Nicholas.

The church of the Parthenon was enriched with gifts in 1019 by Basil II after his victory over the Bulgarians (Cedrenus, Hist. compend.: PG 122, 208; Zonaras, Annal., 17, 9; PG 135, 168), and later by Michael Choniates (1182-1220), who established his residence near there; at the beginning of the 13th century Archbishop Berardo took possession of it, while the Latin clergy officiated in the church of the Virgin in the Parthenon. In the Middle Ages, this sanctuary became a destination for incessant pilgrimages, so much so that in 1291 Pope Nicholas IV enriched it with abundant indulgences. At the end of the 14th century, Neri Acciaiuoli provided in his will that the doors of this church should be covered in silver and that all the looted treasures should be restored.

To this period also belongs the largely ruined chapel called Hypapantou or of the Presentation, built at the foot of the Acropolis on the site of the temple of the Magna Mater.

Travelers who visited Athens during the Turkish domination still reported 300 to 130 Christian churches in Athens, a number that steadily decreased following demolitions or archaeological exploration work, reducing the count to about 50. The modern Latin Catholic cathedral located near the Academy is dedicated to St. Dionysius the Areopagite; the Greek-rite Catholics have their church near a monastery.

The Grand Metropolis or new Cathedral of the dissidents is a modern building constructed in the mid-19th century using the remains of many demolished churches and chapels.

Among the ancient monasteries, the most famous is the one that stood at Daphni (v.), 10 km from Athens toward Salamis. Also worthy of mention are the monasteries of St. John on Hymettus, that of the Beautiful Church near Patissia, and that of Kaisarianie with its adjoining Small Church of the 10th century (J. Arnott Hamilton, The Church of Kaisariané, Aberdeen 1916).

A room in the central museum has been designated for the few Christian sculptures, among which is the statuette of the Good Shepherd known as the Patissia statuette; the other antiquities are gathered in the restored church of Daphni, which has been turned into a museum. In 1892, the praiseworthy Christian Archaeological Society was founded in Athens.

Greek rite, subject to their respective prelates. Since 1929, the Latin archbishop has also been apostolic administrator of Thessalonica. The Assumptionist archbishop Ludovico Petit (1912-26, d. 1927) acquired international fame among scholars.

ATENEO URBANO « DE PROPAGANDA FIDE » (PONTIFICIO). - The A. U. d. P. F. owes its origin to Propaganda Fide (v.). Pope Urban VIII (Barberini) in fact, in erecting the College with the bull Immortalis Dei Filius on Aug. 1, 1627—a college which perpetuates his memory also in its name—wished to grant it its own schools with all the privileges and immunities of the « Archigymnasium Romanum » (University of Rome La Sapienza) and with the faculty for the Rector « pro tempore » to confer on its students a doctorate in Philosophy and Sacred Theology.

The classrooms, in which important chairs flourished—the chair of Controversies, which was later established in all the pontifical athenaeums of the City, was famous—were located, together with the premises of the College, in the Palazzo Ferratini (Piazza di Spagna), later enlarged by the work of Bernini and Borromini and which also became the seat of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda. In 1772 Clement XIV confirmed to said schools the right to confer « lauream magistralem seu doctoratam, iuxta consuetudinem et cum privilegia in Archigymnasio imperitiri solitis », specifying that the conferring of it with the relative insignia be done by the Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide.

After having gone through stormy days due to the sad political events of the times of Napoleon I, the Athenaeum resumed a new life, and students from the Irish, Greek, Maronite, Armenian, North American, Canadian, Bohemian Colleges and other Institutes were admitted to attend II. Leo XIII endowed it with larger and more convenient classrooms, moving its seat to the Palazzo Mignanelli on the piazza of the same name. In 1928 it was transferred to the Gianicolo Hill, where, thanks to Card. G. van Rossum (v.), a magnificent building was constructed, which on April 24, 1931, was visited by Pius XI, who came to inaugurate the new building of the Collegio Urbano.

To the faculties of Philosophy and Theology was added, by decree of the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Universities of Studies, dated Sept. 1, 1933, the « Institutum missionale scientificum », which grants a degree in missiology and gives young people the opportunity to follow special courses in ethnology, medicine, philology, history, and missionary geography. This institute is the logical development of the chair of missiology, erected within the theological course in 1919. Finally, in 1943, by a rescript of the same Sacred Congregation, a juridical section was incorporated into the missiological institute with the power to grant to those who attend it a doctoral degree in law « in locis missionum ».

In its three centuries and more of life, the Athenaeum Urbanum was illustrated by talented professors and saw pass within its walls students of every color and every race, who rendered distinguished services to the missionary cause in the world.