I had no idea that ‘loneliness’ is quite a young word. That is quite a revelation.
It is so interesting to learn about ancient British saints and how they lived both in the presence of God and the world about them……there’s something in that for us modern folk. The landscape they inhabited somehow holds onto that which was in them….something timeless…the Holy Spirit? I don’t know but there’s food there for
us so please do keep writing…..what you discover and write about informs us and so we can inform others in many ways and so….it all becomes about God…not us…..all for His glory not ours…..we have to put our gifts out there for God to use….the words we write/speak perhaps land in unexpected place….but where they might be much needed.
I look forward to watching the interview, but can't help wishing there was no Internet signal on Mt Athos! I long to visit it one day soon but already feel a sense of anemoia or 'saudade' as the Portugese might express it, a nostalgia for a time and place I've never experienced first hand.
I was baptised along with nearly 200 others on Lazarus Saturday as part of a massively growing St Sophia's Catherdral of Divine Wisdom in Bayswater. A privilege indeed glory to God! ☦️
Yes, me too. I think Athos should have remained apart: unwired and unMachined. And there are certainly still parts of it that are like that: monks living in caves, unreachable by road. But until the 1990s there was not even a landline phone. I would have liked to have visited before then. But here we are.
Indeed. A Benedictine monk who showed me around a monastery in Salvador, Brazil earlier this year asked me if I was on Instagram so I could share a picture I took. It really is almost inescapable but all the more shocking in Holy places.
If you've ever been to the Monastery of St John the Baptist in Essex, there's a sign on the door of the church which reads something like "God is calling you, but not on the phone... please switch off your mobile!"
That said, I never felt such peace as the few days I spent there.
I visited a number of monasteries on Athos and found Konstamonitou impressively rustic. While I loved all the ones I visited, it had the least electricity and was the most out of place in the modern world. From memory, they had a single electric outlet that provided some limited power for an hour or so each morning if pilgrims choose to use it. I met one older monk with a dumb phone but don't recall seeing any technology otherwise. It was the first one that I visited and I was surprised when travelling to other monasteries to see so much modern technology in comparison. That said, even the most wired among them was a welcome change from my daily life which is filled with unnecessary emails, texts, and scrolling.
We're in an odd time when older monks grew up without a constant barrage of technology but younger monks were surrounded by it. I wonder what changes are in store for 10, 20, or 30 years from now when every one of them had a childhood that was filled with iPads, phones and constant connection. I hope that they find this a retreat from those things, but it's hard not to bring your knowledge and habits with you even into a place as holy and amazing as Athos. It's like Eden's forbidden fruit, once you bite into constant connection, it changes you. That said, I suspect that most men wanting to be monks are significantly better at focusing on the important things than I am, so I'm probably just casting my own shortcomings onto others.
I've never been to that monastery. Sounds like the focus for my next visit!
I wonder more broadly what on earth this tablet generation will do with the world in future. Will anywhere be offline? Will they even understand the concept? I am glad to be in my fifties at this point.
Go with someone fluent in Greek. I went with my son's Godfather and some of his Greek family, which made the visit there much easier.
I suspect they'll be some communities that are offline intentionally. My worry is more about the generation that didn't know a time before constant connection. I'm about 10 years younger than you, but wasn't tethered to a device until my mid/late 20s. I've tried to keep my kids away from this as much as possible, but even now we can't have a discussion without them deferring to a glowing box for answers. If, for example, we discuss the population of Mongolia, they'll just say 'search it up' instead of just throwing out ideas about what it might be. I'll generally refuse, but even then they know that the correct answer is on it, so why speculate.
We grew up wondering about things, making assumptions based on what we knew, and perhaps eventually consulting an out-of-date encyclopaedia (this is why I'm still fantastic at demographic data from 1980, but a bit shaky on what's happened since). Even if we live in an offline community, or home, it's hard when everyone else is connected and we've lived the connection. Like you, I'm glad I had the taste of pre-internet days.
In my area of New England, more and more schools seem to be limiting the use of tech. The alliance between Monsieur Musk and Monsieur Trump has shaken many in this very liberal area of the country, and induced some questioning about the trajectories of tech. Jonathan Haight's reporting on tech in schools has also shaken many educators out of their assumption that tech is good for education. A nearby school is about to ditch all their ipads and go back to an old fashioned computer lab (those who went to school in the 90's will remember what that was all about).
I hope that your message will also continue to spread, even to Mt Athos (as it seems it already has in part). Using tech to spread the message that we should be extremely suspicious of tech seems to me like a very good use of tech, all told. And since I'm on the topic, I'll just drop my favorite quote on technology, from Stephen Talbott—
"technology is our hope if we can accept it as our enemy, but as our friend, it will destroy us" (from an essay entitled, "The Deceiving Virtues of Technology").
He's like the Malcolm Gladwell of religion writers. He makes interesting observations about fascinating subjects and then draws conclusions that undermine his thesis.
re the attached interview:
Someone who says "a whole nuther" probably shouldn't come off as such a snob, broad brushing and straw manning a whole category of Christian and then slurring them as the basket of deplorables he seems to believe them to be.
Ahh Paul this warmed the 'cockles of me 'art' Its brought a smile and laughter back the is much needed! Yeah lets celebrate St George's day in merrie England, any excuse will do x x
One of the SW US Monasteries (Monastery of the Archangel Michael I believe) lamented in their newsletter that the first thing that pilgrims/visitors say when they arrive is “what is your WiFi password?”
There is an old fishing lodge in a remote region in Oregon at Diamond Lake. They had a sign near at the reception that said something like "No Wifi. Enjoy it!" I had a lovely conversation with the receptionist regarding the sign, which I highly approved of! She told me they have no plans of getting wifi. I was there in the off season, but I hung out with the staff in the bar, and chatted with the two other people staying at the lodge. A hidden gem!
Just read 'Unshruck" Laura Delano...being treated by the 'Best' doctors ... the well educated - the top notch people. Her youth was derailed by yrs of this medical 'help' . Eyeopening.
Hope you get some silent space time. It seems to be that there are many complaints about people reaching out to God and getting disappointed that they only hear silence in return. The joke of it is that God’s “language” indeed may well be silence itself, or at least a quieter vibratory place we wordy, noisy people only can touch with our own efforts at quietude.
Christ is Risen! I look forward to being able to read your FreePress interview in a few weeks. Just the week before,I had canceled my subscription in order to support you! Very ironic as the teaser thy sent also included a reference to St. John, who touched my life and that of our son. In the meantime, if anyone is in the Dallas area next week, Jonathan Pageau will be the Keynote Speaker at our 2nd Orthodox Christian Arts and Food Festval on May 2 and on May 3, several others will be presenting on the Arts (as well as a Gallery of iconographers, etc.) We can encourage the Arts to counter the Machine mentality! www.orthodoxartsfestivaldfw.com
Speaking of screens: "Children have probably never lived such sanitized, controlled physical lives as now, but they have trapdoors right in their bedrooms, in their pockets, that ooze the kind of putrescent muck that only the blood of a very special Lamb can wipe clean. People love to crow about how child mortality has plummeted over the past century or so, but no one wants to reckon with the fact that now we’re losing the kids to early spiritual death instead. So much for Progress."
Paul, I relish reading your current (and past) experiences on Athos. I look forward to a visit in October.
In listening to David Bentley Hart lately, I have noticed whispers of Orthodoxy before it was cool, so to speak. Before I had considered it or you had converted. In America, Hart warns (albeit passively/without urgency) about the risks of Westernizing the Eastern tradition.
Is that something you've seen, considered, or felt concerned about in any way? I suppose one who picks up his cross and follows on with his individual spiritual battles isn't so worried about that type of thing, but I find it an interesting contemplation nonetheless.
I commented on the March Salon that I would be attempting a no-solid-food fast for Lent. Reporting back that the fast was a success, at least fidelity-wise (I did have an orange slice in late March, but in my defense a mischievous toddler sort of shoved it in my mouth while I wasn't paying attention...)
I ended the fast a little disappointed: while I managed to stick to my rule, work was such that I convinced myself I was too busy to take up a new spiritual practice, like frequent prayer or scripture-reading. On Easter Monday, however, I was surprised when one of my coworkers asked me to recommend a translation of the Bible for her to read. She was raised in the faith but fell away in college and presented as militantly atheist to me at least. I had mentioned the fast a few times in the office, and I am convinced that's why she came to me to ask. I've bought her a Bible and am now trying my best to nudge her in the right direction. Just a lovely reminder that even in our perceived failures, we are still tools in the hands of a God who prevails! Blessings to the Abbey.
Honestly, I mostly remember declining to have cake from the breakroom and needing an explanation! I think I may have mentioned where the practice comes from, the 40 days in the wilderness, but I was mindful of not coming off as boastful about it by going on and on.
Hehe that lovely monk is grilling you with a beautiful smile on his face! I feel like I have snuck onto Mt Athos!
Hello Paul, will your subscribers get to read your "The Patron Saint of Lost Americans" here?
Indeed, our Saviour is risen!
I'll be posting that up here in a couple of weeks.
I read your piece on the FP and it intrigued me, so I bought one of Rose's books. Looking forward to reading it!
My mother in law, who has not been at all friendly to Orthodoxy, nonetheless found that piece fascinating.
A beautiful conversation! Thank you for sharing this !
I had no idea that ‘loneliness’ is quite a young word. That is quite a revelation.
It is so interesting to learn about ancient British saints and how they lived both in the presence of God and the world about them……there’s something in that for us modern folk. The landscape they inhabited somehow holds onto that which was in them….something timeless…the Holy Spirit? I don’t know but there’s food there for
us so please do keep writing…..what you discover and write about informs us and so we can inform others in many ways and so….it all becomes about God…not us…..all for His glory not ours…..we have to put our gifts out there for God to use….the words we write/speak perhaps land in unexpected place….but where they might be much needed.
I look forward to watching the interview, but can't help wishing there was no Internet signal on Mt Athos! I long to visit it one day soon but already feel a sense of anemoia or 'saudade' as the Portugese might express it, a nostalgia for a time and place I've never experienced first hand.
I was baptised along with nearly 200 others on Lazarus Saturday as part of a massively growing St Sophia's Catherdral of Divine Wisdom in Bayswater. A privilege indeed glory to God! ☦️
Yes, me too. I think Athos should have remained apart: unwired and unMachined. And there are certainly still parts of it that are like that: monks living in caves, unreachable by road. But until the 1990s there was not even a landline phone. I would have liked to have visited before then. But here we are.
Indeed. A Benedictine monk who showed me around a monastery in Salvador, Brazil earlier this year asked me if I was on Instagram so I could share a picture I took. It really is almost inescapable but all the more shocking in Holy places.
If you've ever been to the Monastery of St John the Baptist in Essex, there's a sign on the door of the church which reads something like "God is calling you, but not on the phone... please switch off your mobile!"
That said, I never felt such peace as the few days I spent there.
I visited a number of monasteries on Athos and found Konstamonitou impressively rustic. While I loved all the ones I visited, it had the least electricity and was the most out of place in the modern world. From memory, they had a single electric outlet that provided some limited power for an hour or so each morning if pilgrims choose to use it. I met one older monk with a dumb phone but don't recall seeing any technology otherwise. It was the first one that I visited and I was surprised when travelling to other monasteries to see so much modern technology in comparison. That said, even the most wired among them was a welcome change from my daily life which is filled with unnecessary emails, texts, and scrolling.
We're in an odd time when older monks grew up without a constant barrage of technology but younger monks were surrounded by it. I wonder what changes are in store for 10, 20, or 30 years from now when every one of them had a childhood that was filled with iPads, phones and constant connection. I hope that they find this a retreat from those things, but it's hard not to bring your knowledge and habits with you even into a place as holy and amazing as Athos. It's like Eden's forbidden fruit, once you bite into constant connection, it changes you. That said, I suspect that most men wanting to be monks are significantly better at focusing on the important things than I am, so I'm probably just casting my own shortcomings onto others.
I've never been to that monastery. Sounds like the focus for my next visit!
I wonder more broadly what on earth this tablet generation will do with the world in future. Will anywhere be offline? Will they even understand the concept? I am glad to be in my fifties at this point.
Go with someone fluent in Greek. I went with my son's Godfather and some of his Greek family, which made the visit there much easier.
I suspect they'll be some communities that are offline intentionally. My worry is more about the generation that didn't know a time before constant connection. I'm about 10 years younger than you, but wasn't tethered to a device until my mid/late 20s. I've tried to keep my kids away from this as much as possible, but even now we can't have a discussion without them deferring to a glowing box for answers. If, for example, we discuss the population of Mongolia, they'll just say 'search it up' instead of just throwing out ideas about what it might be. I'll generally refuse, but even then they know that the correct answer is on it, so why speculate.
We grew up wondering about things, making assumptions based on what we knew, and perhaps eventually consulting an out-of-date encyclopaedia (this is why I'm still fantastic at demographic data from 1980, but a bit shaky on what's happened since). Even if we live in an offline community, or home, it's hard when everyone else is connected and we've lived the connection. Like you, I'm glad I had the taste of pre-internet days.
In my area of New England, more and more schools seem to be limiting the use of tech. The alliance between Monsieur Musk and Monsieur Trump has shaken many in this very liberal area of the country, and induced some questioning about the trajectories of tech. Jonathan Haight's reporting on tech in schools has also shaken many educators out of their assumption that tech is good for education. A nearby school is about to ditch all their ipads and go back to an old fashioned computer lab (those who went to school in the 90's will remember what that was all about).
I hope that your message will also continue to spread, even to Mt Athos (as it seems it already has in part). Using tech to spread the message that we should be extremely suspicious of tech seems to me like a very good use of tech, all told. And since I'm on the topic, I'll just drop my favorite quote on technology, from Stephen Talbott—
"technology is our hope if we can accept it as our enemy, but as our friend, it will destroy us" (from an essay entitled, "The Deceiving Virtues of Technology").
I'm making my way through Christian Smith's new book, "Why Religion Went Obsolete".
All in all, it's just another brick in the wall.
I'll be suing Christian Smith for getting into my head and stealing my observations.
I've heard about this. Is it any good? What's the key argument?
I'm at work, but here's an interview.
https://www.homebrewedchristianty.com/2025/04/21/christian-smith-why-religion-went-obsolete/
He's like the Malcolm Gladwell of religion writers. He makes interesting observations about fascinating subjects and then draws conclusions that undermine his thesis.
re the attached interview:
Someone who says "a whole nuther" probably shouldn't come off as such a snob, broad brushing and straw manning a whole category of Christian and then slurring them as the basket of deplorables he seems to believe them to be.
Ahh Paul this warmed the 'cockles of me 'art' Its brought a smile and laughter back the is much needed! Yeah lets celebrate St George's day in merrie England, any excuse will do x x
One of the SW US Monasteries (Monastery of the Archangel Michael I believe) lamented in their newsletter that the first thing that pilgrims/visitors say when they arrive is “what is your WiFi password?”
There is an old fishing lodge in a remote region in Oregon at Diamond Lake. They had a sign near at the reception that said something like "No Wifi. Enjoy it!" I had a lovely conversation with the receptionist regarding the sign, which I highly approved of! She told me they have no plans of getting wifi. I was there in the off season, but I hung out with the staff in the bar, and chatted with the two other people staying at the lodge. A hidden gem!
I've looked into spending time at that monastery before. Northern New Mexico, right? What I love the most is their Wish List from their website:
Prayers
Inner Stillness
4 Wheeler
Don’t miss the blockbuster ny times story admitting adhd is a hoax:
https://gaty.substack.com/p/the-emperors-new-clothes-are-fading
And Happy Easter!
Just read 'Unshruck" Laura Delano...being treated by the 'Best' doctors ... the well educated - the top notch people. Her youth was derailed by yrs of this medical 'help' . Eyeopening.
Sorry, the title of the book Is 'Unshrunk'
Christ is risen!
The discussion is excellent. I watched it and shared it with others. A former Silicon Valley Athonite - there’s something I never thought I’d hear.
Truly He is risen!
It's great having a snippet of your recent Athos trip on video - something I didn't expect.
Hope you get some silent space time. It seems to be that there are many complaints about people reaching out to God and getting disappointed that they only hear silence in return. The joke of it is that God’s “language” indeed may well be silence itself, or at least a quieter vibratory place we wordy, noisy people only can touch with our own efforts at quietude.
There is a lovely book called "The Language of Silence" by J Allen Boone if you're looking for a kindred spirit author. One of my favorites!
Christ is Risen! I look forward to being able to read your FreePress interview in a few weeks. Just the week before,I had canceled my subscription in order to support you! Very ironic as the teaser thy sent also included a reference to St. John, who touched my life and that of our son. In the meantime, if anyone is in the Dallas area next week, Jonathan Pageau will be the Keynote Speaker at our 2nd Orthodox Christian Arts and Food Festval on May 2 and on May 3, several others will be presenting on the Arts (as well as a Gallery of iconographers, etc.) We can encourage the Arts to counter the Machine mentality! www.orthodoxartsfestivaldfw.com
Speaking of screens: "Children have probably never lived such sanitized, controlled physical lives as now, but they have trapdoors right in their bedrooms, in their pockets, that ooze the kind of putrescent muck that only the blood of a very special Lamb can wipe clean. People love to crow about how child mortality has plummeted over the past century or so, but no one wants to reckon with the fact that now we’re losing the kids to early spiritual death instead. So much for Progress."
From a piece we recently published at the FPR: https://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2025/04/an-inside-job/
That's a great way of putting it. I will read that.
Thank you. We hope you enjoy it and that you're feeling better.
Paul, I relish reading your current (and past) experiences on Athos. I look forward to a visit in October.
In listening to David Bentley Hart lately, I have noticed whispers of Orthodoxy before it was cool, so to speak. Before I had considered it or you had converted. In America, Hart warns (albeit passively/without urgency) about the risks of Westernizing the Eastern tradition.
Is that something you've seen, considered, or felt concerned about in any way? I suppose one who picks up his cross and follows on with his individual spiritual battles isn't so worried about that type of thing, but I find it an interesting contemplation nonetheless.
I commented on the March Salon that I would be attempting a no-solid-food fast for Lent. Reporting back that the fast was a success, at least fidelity-wise (I did have an orange slice in late March, but in my defense a mischievous toddler sort of shoved it in my mouth while I wasn't paying attention...)
I ended the fast a little disappointed: while I managed to stick to my rule, work was such that I convinced myself I was too busy to take up a new spiritual practice, like frequent prayer or scripture-reading. On Easter Monday, however, I was surprised when one of my coworkers asked me to recommend a translation of the Bible for her to read. She was raised in the faith but fell away in college and presented as militantly atheist to me at least. I had mentioned the fast a few times in the office, and I am convinced that's why she came to me to ask. I've bought her a Bible and am now trying my best to nudge her in the right direction. Just a lovely reminder that even in our perceived failures, we are still tools in the hands of a God who prevails! Blessings to the Abbey.
This is so uplifting to read!
Do you remember specifically what you said about your fast while around your coworkers?
Honestly, I mostly remember declining to have cake from the breakroom and needing an explanation! I think I may have mentioned where the practice comes from, the 40 days in the wilderness, but I was mindful of not coming off as boastful about it by going on and on.