Mihailo Tolotos spent his entire life without ever seeing a woman. He was a monk who lived on the Mount Athos peninsula in Greece.
Mount Athos is a unique place in Europe. It is home to 20 monasteries and roughly 2,000 monks. For more than a thousand years, women and female animals have been prohibited from entering. The monks live simple lives, praying and getting their hands dirty in their gardens. Dr. Graham Speake, the author of Mount Athos: Renewal in Paradise, explains that this rule helps ensure celibacy and is also connected with an Orthodox tradition involving the Virgin Mary.
There is a story of the Virgin Mary traveling to Mount Athos and liking it so much that she prayed to her son to be given the land. Speake says, “It’s still called ‘the garden of the mother of God,’ dedicated to her glory, and she alone represents her sex on Mount Athos.”
As a result of the ban on women including female animals, dairy products and eggs are few and far between on Mount Athos and have to be brought in from outside.
Mihailo Tolotos was handed over to the monks of Athos after his mother passed away during childbirth. He grew up there and never left. He died at the age of 82 in 1938.
Because of the ban, Tolotos died without ever laying eyes on a woman. However, this may not be true. In the 1920s and 1930s, two brave women secretly visited Mount Athos. The first woman was a French writer named Maryse Choisy, who dressed like a sailor to enter unnoticed. The second woman to secretly enter was Aliki Diplarakou, the first Greek Miss Europe.
In the years after Tolotos passed, a few other women have also managed to visit Mount Athos. During the Greek Civil War, some women entered in pursuit of animals. In 1953, Maria Poimenidou, a Greek woman, dressed as a man and visited for three days, causing Greece to pass a law prohibiting women from entering Athos. In 2008, four Moldovan women were dropped off there by people smugglers but were later forgiven by the monks.
Is it possible that Mihailo Tolotos unknowingly crossed paths with one of these women? The intriguing story of the monk who probably never met a woman and the mysterious Mount Athos continues to captivate people all around the world.
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Why are women banned from Mount Athos?
Mihailo Tolotos: The Man who Never Saw a Woman
Mihailo Tolotos lived his whole life without ever seeing a woman. He was a monk who lived on Mount Athos in Greece.
Mount Athos is home to about 2,000 monks. For more than a thousand years, women have been stopped from entering. The monks live simple lives, praying and getting their hands dirty in their gardens. Dr. Graham Speake is the author of a book about the monks. He says there is a story of the Virgin Mary traveling to Mount Athos. She liked it so much that she prayed to her son to be given the land. Speake says it’s called ‘the garden of the mother of God,’ …and she is the only woman allowed there.
Because female animals are also not allowed, dairy and eggs are few and far between. They must be brought in from outside.
Mihailo Tolotos’ mother passed away during childbirth. He was handed over to the monks at Athos and never left. He died at the age of 82 in 1938.
Because of the rule, Tolotos died without ever laying eyes on a woman. However, this may not be true. During his life, two women visited Mount Athos. The first woman was a French writer named Maryse Choisy, who dressed like a sailor to secretly enter. The second woman to secretly enter was Aliki Diplarakou, the first Greek Miss Europe.
In the years after Tolotos passed, a few other women have also managed to visit Mount Athos. During the Greek Civil War, some women entered while looking for animals. In 1953, Maria Poimenidou, a Greek woman, dressed as a man and visited for three days. This caused Greece to pass a law stopping women from entering Athos. In 2008, four Moldovan women were dropped off there, but the monks forgave them.
Is it possible that Mihailo Tolotos crossed paths with one of these women? Whatever the case, the story of the monk who probably never met a woman continues to interest people all around the world.
Read More: Why are women banned from Mount Athos? Mihailo Tolotos: The Man who Never Saw a Woman
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