The Mount Athos

Once upon the time,
Athos threw a colossal rock
Against Poseidon and the stone
Dropped into the Aegean Sea
And has become a mountain.

Deinokrates envisaged carving
To Alexander a statue
Larger than the life itself
Off that magic mountain.

While the Blessed Virgin Mary
Sailing with John the Evangelist
To the stopover at Lazarus’s grave
Exiled in the Cyprus Island
A storm tossed their boat
To the shores of Mount Athos.

Walking ashore the Virgin
Perceived that she arrived
In Her Son’s kingdom.
Enthralled of the heavenly beauty
Of the wildflowers blossom
Of the clear streams of water 
The Virgin asked Jesus
That the mountain remain
Her garden, paradise on earth
Refuge for the holy men
Praying for the world’s salvation.

An angelic voice from heaven
Revealed that the Holy Mountain
Forever be called Virgin Mary’s Garden.

It is said that at Mount Athos 
Long time ago an orphan was brought
And now that child is the elderly brother
Who has never seen the face of a woman
Other than the face of the Virgin Mary
In the miraculous icon Prodomita.

HOMO LITURGICUS 
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