Holy Hut of Saint George – The Skete of Saint Anne, Mount Athos
Straight after the New Skete, the panorama of the Skete of Saint Anne opens. The Huts emerge through the dense vegetation, perched on the north and south side of a deep ravine. The highest built Hut can be found at an altitude of 450 meters, while the main church at an elevation of 300 meters.
The gray rocks and the steep uphill remind us that we approach the Desert of Mount Athos and that the Cloister is nothing but an oasis. The layout of the settlement of the Skete could be likened to an inverted w. The left rocky arm north of the inverted w, ends up into the sea and at its mountaintop the great church of St. George of the Hut of Kartsonaion prevails. It was designed and built by the architect Pavlos Mylonas, who has devoted a large part of his work to Mount Athos.
The Kartsonaion Brotherhood was founded by the monk Gabriel Kartsonas the Spiritual (1876-1956), who originated from the Arfara region of Messinia in Greece. He was a great hagiographer and former student of Theofilaion. His 3 younger siblings lived in the Skete as well. The Hagiographic House of Kartsonaion became famous. Among the younger members of the brotherhood, the chanter Dionysius who passed away in 1959 and Panteleimon who passed away in 1992 stood out. The Hut produces excellent wax-creams, genuine monastic products which comply with the European Union Cosmetics Regulations, as well as unique incense. Their handiworks are available in the Mount Athos product exhibition (link: http://www.artionrate.com/index.php/eshop/monasthriakes-therapeies/keraloifes )
The late fellow Father Gabriel Kartsonas founder of the Brotherhood of Kartsonaion
The late fellow Elder Father Gabriel Kartsonas descended from the historic and gracious family of Kartsonaion. He completed with honors his general studies in Kalamata and was then admitted to the Faculty of Fine Arts at the National Technical University of Athens, where he distinguished for his extreme diligence, his hard study, curiosity, language skills and great talent in general. After completing his studies he went to the Skete of Saint Anne on Mount Athos in the year 1896, where he remained until he slept quietly in 1956. He excelled as an important portraitist of prominent personalities of his time, including Queen Victoria of Great Britain. A large number of his artworks are presented in galleries abroad. Furthermore, the late fellow Elder painted a great number of sacred images that brighten many churches in Greece and abroad.
The venerable monk Gabriel Kartsonas, was an important tutor of the ancestral hagiographic art and contributed substantially to the free instruction, education and hospitality of several students. Furthermore he was the protector; mentor and sponsor of numerous talented, devout, young people who came as new monks at the hut of St. George of Kartsonaion and whom he “studied” In Greece and abroad. Among these, the later Archbishop of Thessaloniki – Panteleimon Papageorgiou-Kartsonas and Bishop Gerasimos of Abydos; who was elected professor in German and American universities and was the dean of the Theological School of the Holy Cross in Boston, Massachusetts distinguished.
Today the Hut of St. George is famous for its healing wax-creams and the high quality scented incense that it produces. For the monks of the Holy Hut the incense production is a special art in which they specialize. These excellent handiworks stand out for the intense and unique fragrance that they leave during combustion and can be found exclusively in the renewed e-shop of the Mount Athos product exhibition as well the new, beautiful space in the center of Thessaloniki. Keramopoulou 7, next to the church of Hagia Sophia, where NAK was located.
With regards to the Mount Athos product exhibition ( www.artionrate.com ) it has managed to attract public attention as it hosts a wide variety of the best goods that are being produced on Mount Athos. The handiworks available are made exclusively by the Athonite Fathers by using the finest materials of the Athonite Land.
