Daily Life of the Monks - Holy Mount Athos

Have you ever wondered how the monks on Mount Athos spend their days? The daily life of the monks is divided into 3 parts: Eight hours for study and individual prayer, eight hours for work, and eight for rest.

A Day in a Monk’s Life

When you visit Halkidiki for the summer or set sail for a short trip around Mount Athos, one thing comes to mind: how is the daily life of a Mount Athos monk? Confined within the sacred world of Mount Athos, the life of the monks hasn’t changed much since their predecessors first arrived in the 9th century AD. They have chosen to live away from any temptation, but their lives are far from easy and mostly dedicated to praying.

The clocks on Mount Athos follow the Byzantine Time

A day in a monk’s life is devoted to praying, working, and resting. The interesting thing is that most monasteries on Mount Athos still reckon the hours of each day in accordance with the Byzantine Time and so time 0:00:00 starts at sunset. That’s when the monks wake up to pray, confess their sins, and study. This cycle of reading, praying, confessing, and resting starts and finishes a monk’s day on Mount Athos.

The days in a monk’s life are full of hard work, studying & praying

The monks on Mount Athos devote 8 hours for each: praying, working, and resting. The monks pray alone, and with the rest of the monks and visitors. They mostly pray from late at night till early morning since it’s quieter and thus they have more privacy. There’s often a misunderstanding that the monks spend their day praying without working at all. And while they continue praying, the monks work very hard for many hours. They get instructions from the father superior and spend their days fishing, making wine, cleaning the guest rooms, preparing dinner, reconstructing parts of the monastery, etc.

Their meals are modest, including fresh vegetables, water, and often fish and wine while most products are local. The monks eat without talking and often listen to another monk praying out loud. Of course, there are several monks who live entirely secluded and their spare rooms just hang over the sea. That’s the last scenery one brings along their farewell trip when they hop on a sailing boat to return to the secular world.