Mount Athos date question

[Threadkiller]

In the article on the Mt. Athos monastery
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010209.html

It says that

Mount Athos’s history as an organized religious community dates from the ninth century AD. In 885 the Byzantine emperor formally recognized the peninsula as the
province of monks and forbade anyone except religious men from living there.

However in an article in the August 1999 issue of Smithsonian
http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues99/aug99/athos.html
it says the following:

Male visitors are welcome, but they come as pilgrims, not tourists. To the displeasure of feminists, women are not allowed in the community at all; they were formally banned in 1045 when Mount Athos was set aside for the veneration of the Virgin Mary.

Were there two different dates or is someone confused?

crc
(edited to correct post formatting)

[Edited by Arnold Winkelried on 02-09-2001 at 07:38 PM]

[John_W.Kennedy]

There may be some other explanation, but in case there is none to be found, it’s not uncommon for a new king/emperor to issue that sort of law over again if it looks like it’s being ignored.

[jezzaOZ]

Male visitors are welcome, but they come as pilgrims, not tourists. To the displeasure of feminists, women are not allowed in the community at all; they were formally banned in 1045 when Mount Athos was set aside for the veneration of the Virgin Mary.

**Were there two different dates or is someone confused? **

Three documents control entry and use of Mt Athos.

The first document basically assigns ownership of the peninsula to the monks. This was done 885 when the Emperor Basilios the 1st issued a *Chrysobullo * (imperial edict) officially recognising Athos as a territory belonging exclusively to monks. It declared that only religious men should live there and all other laymen, shepherds etc, were forbidden to enter the “Garden of the Virgin”.

The second document covering rules and disciplines of Athanasios were formulated in the time of Byzantine Emperor Ioannis Tsimiskis who through his representative Euthymios confirmed the powers of the big monasteries.

This second document Typikon (Charter) was written in 971 AD and it still governs life on Athos today. It was written on a goat skin and for that reason it was called Tragos (Billy-goat).

The final document formalises controls over entry to Athos. These are defined in a Chrysobullo (edict) which was issued by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomahos, in 1060 AD. It is still valid and decrees that:

(a) Women are never admitted into Mount Athos,
(b) a permit is required for anyone entering the territory and
© overnight stay is forbidden except for those who have proven religious or scientific interests and are over 18 years old.

The reference to the 1045 date may well relate to an administrative decision, but the Emporer’s Chrysobullo of 1060 is the defining legal document

[beekeeper]

Re this male only thing–how do they secure the air space to keep pesky female birds/insects from flying in?

*Originally posted by jezzaOZ *
**

Male visitors are welcome, but they come as pilgrims, not tourists. To the displeasure of feminists, women are not allowed in the community at all; they were formally banned in 1045 when Mount Athos was set aside for the veneration of the Virgin Mary.

**Were there two different dates or is someone confused? **

Three documents control entry and use of Mt Athos.

The first document basically assigns ownership of the peninsula to the monks. This was done 885 when the Emperor Basilios the 1st issued a *Chrysobullo * (imperial edict) officially recognising Athos as a territory belonging exclusively to monks. It declared that only religious men should live there and all other laymen, shepherds etc, were forbidden to enter the “Garden of the Virgin”.

The second document covering rules and disciplines of Athanasios were formulated in the time of Byzantine Emperor Ioannis Tsimiskis who through his representative Euthymios confirmed the powers of the big monasteries.

This second document Typikon (Charter) was written in 971 AD and it still governs life on Athos today. It was written on a goat skin and for that reason it was called Tragos (Billy-goat).

The final document formalises controls over entry to Athos. These are defined in a Chrysobullo (edict) which was issued by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomahos, in 1060 AD. It is still valid and decrees that:

(a) Women are never admitted into Mount Athos,
(b) a permit is required for anyone entering the territory and
© overnight stay is forbidden except for those who have proven religious or scientific interests and are over 18 years old.

The reference to the 1045 date may well relate to an administrative decision, but the Emporer’s Chrysobullo of 1060 is the defining legal document **