Thessaloniki, 26 May 2026. Presentation of the Volume of the IAO on Mount Athos
The Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO) presented in Thessaloniki its new publication entitled “Mount Athos and the Orthodox World. The Radiance of the Monastic State in the Years of Ottoman Dominion (1423/24-1912)”. The first presentation of the volume was held in collaboration with the Society for Macedonian Studies and the Mount Athos Center.
The purpose of this volume is to offer the reader a concise yet essential account of the presence of Mount Athos among Orthodox Christian peoples and its radiance during the period of Ottoman rule.
During the presentation of the Volume, the IAO Secretary General, Dr. Maximos Charakopoulos, underlined that: “the new publishing initiative of the IAO comes after the Volume on the Hagia Sophia Churches, which from 2021 to the present, translated into 15 languages, has literally traveled around the world, as part of a global campaign to awaken international public opinion about the conversion of Hagia Sophia Church into a mosque by the Turkish leadership.
The choice of Mount Athos was not accidental. The Garden of the Virgin Mary, which Elder Emilianos of Simonopetritis had characterized as a “spiritual sanctuary of our traditions” and a “God-sent plank, through which many are constantly saved from the clutches of sin and fill the kingdom of God,” is the condensed embodiment of what the Russian Dmitry Obolensky characterized as a Byzantine commonwealth.
The spiritual union of peoples and peoples on the basis of common faith, common principles and common traditions. A distinct culture in which we are almost all the peoples of the Balkans, as well as the greater part of Eastern Europe and the Byzantine fragments of the Near and Middle East. The heirs of what the Romanian historian and politician Nicolae Iorga called “Byzantium after Byzantium”.
Furthermore, the IAO head added, “in the IAO, we firmly believe that the Orthodox dimension can today offer its own substantial contribution to the agonizing search for the identity orientation of the European Union. It can strengthen the European vision, in a world that is rapidly changing, moving towards an unclear and rather dystopian future, and turn it back to its humanistic and Christian foundations, transcending its exclusively econo-centric perception. Let me remind you that our “European” initiative also began here with the Thessaloniki Appeal on Christian Values, which was co-signed by organizations from the Catholic and Protestant European world.”
In addition to the IAO Secretary General, the Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Simonos Petra on Mount Athos, Elder Elissaios, the scientific editor of the publication, emeritus Director of Research of the Institute of Historical Research of the National Research Foundation, Mr. Kriton Chrysochoidis, the IAO advisor Dr. Kostas Mygdalis, and the member of the Board of Directors of the Athonite Home, Mr. Nikolaos Makrantonakis, spoke about the Volume. The wishes and patriarchal blessing of His All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople were conveyed by the His Eminence Metropolitan Nikiforos of Amorion.
The event was attended, among others, by the representative of the Metropolitan of Thessaloniki, Father Grigorios, the members of parliament of Thessaloniki, Mr. Dimitris Kouvelas and of Chalkidiki, Ms. Kyriaki Malama, the former Deputy Minister, Mr. Christos Pachtas, the coordinator of the Prime Minister’s Office in Thessaloniki, Mr. Yiannis Papageorgiou, the director of the Mount Athos Center, Anastasios Douros, and representatives of institutions and the academic community. A congratulatory message was also sent by His Eminence Metropolitan Irineos of Batska, from the Patriarchate of Serbia.
