Winter on the Holy Mount: Athos monks to see New Year in by the Julian calendar (PHOTO)

“The whole year of 2016 has passed under the aegis of 1000 anniversary of Russian Athos. It’s significant that the end of the jubilee year marked itself as a truly “Russian land” on the Holy Mount. As numerous pilgrims note, the Holy Mount looks like Holy Rus in these days of the nature’s explosion”, writes the resource.

The snowfall, which suddenly started in the Nativity of Christ’s night, has lasted on the Holy Mount for 5 days now.

It’s for the first time in over 20 years that it has snowed continuously and heavily. On average the snow cover height has reached 1,5 m, in some places approaching 2 m. The precipitation level per day and night is 20-30 cm, while the night temperature drops to -6 Celsius, which is a rare phenomenon for Athos as well. Transport traffic is problematic; in some monasteries it is difficult to move even around the territory.

Specialists think such snowfall to be the great divine grace, since it will moist the land’s rocky terrain.

One can see an amazing view near Athos shores of the vapor coming off the still warm sea, the vapor’s clouds being scattered by the wind across the sea slick.

It snows comparatively seldom on the Holy Mount and if it does, the snow melts quickly. The climate is subtropical (Mediterranean), it is mild and rainy in the winter, as a rule, and hot in the summer. That’s why monks, who are based on the Holy Mount and who are used to the warm climate, take the arrival of snow as a “tiny miracle”.

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