Mount Athos, located on a Greek peninsula in the Aegean Sea, is home to one of the oldest surviving monastic community on Earth. The mountain has been inhabited since ancient times and is known for its nearly 1,800-year continuous Christian presence and its long historical monastic traditions, which date back to at least the 9th century. Today, there are twenty Eastern Orthodox monasteries in this region, where over two thousand monks live an ascetic life, isolated from the rest of the world.

Most of the monks live together in a monastery doing various chores such as growing vegetables, making wine, fishing, wood carving, tailoring and so on. Others choose to live in small cells called skete, where they live in complete isolation.

Photo credit: mountathos-eshop.com