Life on Mount Athos Filmed by 60 Minutes

On Easter Sunday, the news program 60 Minutes broadcast the following report on the monastic communities of Mount Athos in Greece. This was the first time in 30 years that television cameras were allowed to film on “the Holy Mountain”, as it often called today, offering us a very rare close look at the monastic life of the Orthodox Church, the liturgy, the buildings, the artistic treasures, and the tremendous natural beauty of the Athos peninsula.

Part 1


Part 2


The program's website also offers a number of supplementary videos related to those which were broadcast. (Scroll down to Web Extras.) I am very taken with the description of the role of monasteries in the Church given by the producer, a Greek Orthodox American: "like a blast furnace for prayer for the rest of the world...while you and I are going about our business Monday to Saturday, they're picking up the prayer for us while we're paying the rent and taking the kids to school."

Part 3