Ouranoupoli, Athos, Greece
Welcome back! exclaimed Nicolette. Alices flat is waiting for its mistress! Coffee?
I opened the door to the balcony and smiled, Hello, City of Heaven! Hello, Sun and Sea! Hello, Athos and the Holy Mountain!
Suddenly the phone rang, but the number wasnt identified.
Hello, Alice, a familiar male voice said. Welcome back!
Ray?! I couldnt believe my ears.
Where are you now? he asked.
On Athos Listen
Athos? he seemed surprised.
Im always on Athos in August Ray, listen
In August?! he was even more surprised.
Yes, listen to me! How can you call me? You are a ghost!
A ghost, so what? You have communicated with ghosts, havent you?
Like this as with you now, not yet!
So its time to start it that way as well!
What do you want to tell me? I asked, almost relaxed and resigned to the opportunity to communicate on the phone with ghosts calling live to Athos from unidentified numbers.
Well, nothing special Okay, I get it. See you.
Where? Here, on Athos? I got surprised.
Who will let me, a magician, go to Athos? In a dream! Ray laughed, and the connection was cut off.
***
There were only two crowded streets in Ouranoupoli the sea one, with cafes and shops, and the central or main one, two houses from the sea one, mostly with icon shops. The streets met at the Tower.
Dimitras icon shop was located on the main street directly opposite the Tower, and St. Marina, wielding an ax at the devil, the icon, purchased from Dimitra, was my first Athos icon. Dimitra and her family were Greek. We communicated in English.
Hello, Alice! I hope Kostas rushed you here at lightning speed! How is the sea?
Im in Paradise, thank you! I smiled and glanced at the wall with hand-painted icons.
You have Marina already, and the Holy Family, too, Dimitra remembered all the icons that I had already got. By the way, how is Marina doing? Has she already chopped up the devil with an axe?
Still in process, I sighed. I need the icon of St. Peter.
Ive got Peter and Paul!
I have Peter and Paul. By the way, I go to the church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, the Metochion of the Optina Pustyn Monastery. Do you know what they symbolize?
Im not so pious, thats why Im asking you about icons, taking advantage of the fact that you like coffee, Dimitra smiled.
Peter and Paul are a symbol of the duality of the world, black and white, merged into one, left and right paths. Peter was considered the main Apostle in Catholicism, while Paul in Orthodoxy. The Athos image presents them embracing in the shape of a heart.
White and Black Magic?
You can say that also, but I need Peter with the keys, I clarified, continuing to inspect the hand-painted icons, but many of them I had already seen there a year before.
With the keys to Paradise? Dimitra asked.
He has two keys, I laughed, its not a fact that both are to Paradise!
Here on Athos, you are already in Paradise! said Dimitra, taking out a notebook, in which she kept a record of all the icons ordered on Athos, their receipt and sale. No, Ive never ordered Peter with keys. Ill call the twin monks at St. Annas hermitage tomorrow, perhaps theyll have time to paint the icon before you leave.
I entered the icon shop of Janis family. His parents spoke Greek, but Janis studied Russian. He always congratulated me on Orthodox holidays by sending a photo of a hand-painted holiday icon from their shop. Janis had got a daughter recently.
Alice! Welcome, dear! How are you? How is your cat?
The cat wasnt mine, but periodically he visited me and, walking around the flat, including open shelves with Athos icons, he put his forehead to the icons, just like a person. I photographed the cat to show to the Athos locals.
Janis father greeted me in Greek and immediately asked the girls who worked in their shop to make coffee. Janis showed me the new icons and shared the latest news, while I slowly walked around the space greeting the Saints, and they greeted me in return. Janis used to say that I felt alive icons. There were also watching ones, the Saints on them looked directly at you, following your movement in space.
You have already Nicholas, and Alexandra too, Janis remembered all the icons that I had already got. What dont you have?
The Stairs, I admitted.
Rare icon! Tomorrow Ill call the cell of St. Nicholas to find out if they have a painted one, if not, Ill order it to get the icon before your departure! You just need to choose an image. Ill show you how we paint it, and the size. That icon helps souls to go through the Postmortem Ordeals. I hope nobody of yours died, Janis opened an Internet page and showed me the options.
Having chosen the image of the Stairs, I looked around to find the desired size, and my gaze stopped on the bottom shelf in the corner rack, from where the Virgin Mary, clearly alive, was staring at me, and I involuntarily shuddered,
That size.
We used to drink coffee outside, at the entrance to Janis shop. It was customary there, shopkeepers drank coffee, chatting with passers-by, then crossed the street to have coffee with those opposite, exchanging news or silently examining tourists packages the ones flashing more often indicated the most prosperous shop in Ouranoupoli. Janis usually told me about Athos, since he visited the cells, talked with the monks and took tourists to the Mountain.
Have you ever met 12 hermits? I asked.
To meet them, you have to be a Saint, Janis sighed and dived into the shop to the customers who had just entered it.
Im so glad youre back with us! exclaimed Leah, a Georgian of my age, who had lived there for almost ten years, an employee of Janis. Thank God you are alive and well! You are very bright, even the mistress said, there is another kindness in Alice, a real one, from Heaven.
Thanks, Leah! Do you know the name of that icon, the Virgin Mary? I showed it to Leah through the window.
I dont even remember where we got it from. Ill tell you tomorrow!
Janis was Dimitras nephew. Kiriyaki, or simply Kiri, was Dimitras niece. In that village, almost all were relatives, although not everyone was friendly with the others. Kiri inherited the icon shop of her father, who had retrained as an ice cream vendor two years before. The shop, like Dimitras, was small, but Kiri bought mostly big and expensive icons. I liked one of the icon painters who painted for her for reasonable money.
Hello, Alice! Im pregnant again, as you see! she smiled.
And a boy again?!
Yes, she laughed and after some welcoming questions proceeded to review her new icons.
Alice, its great to see you! having entered the shop, Kiris father said, hugging and kissing me on cheeks three times. For how long? You know, youll never leave! Youll stay on Athos forever!
Do you happen to have St. Barbara with the cup? I asked Kiri, pondering her fathers words.
Not with the cup, another one. What do you need it for? It protects against sudden death, doesnt it? Thus, you dont want to die without communion, right?
Kiri promised me to find out about St. Barbara, and I headed for Socrates.
Socrates was a friend of Dimitra, native Greek, but we communicated in Italian, although he spoke English as well. No one understood us in Italian, and it was useful to practice. Socrates was fond of rare icons and told me about them emotionally! similar to the Italian temperament.
Oh Alice! Welcome back! Well, Ill show you something! he shouted from afar, and then pulled out his phone and found a photo, They wrote an article about me in National Geographic! Look! Do you see it? Heres my name, the name and address of my icon shop! And those are my icons, from this wall! Imagine, some journalists came here and didnt even say who they were and where they came from! You know, I always tell the truth about icons, and I told them everything! And they wrote it!