Author: Yana Vinetskaya, exclusively to VK
There are many natural and historic attractions in New Athos, or Anacopia as it was known in ancient times, one of the most attractive sights on the Black Sea coast, located between the towns of Gadauta and Sukhumi. Among them are the grotto and church of St. Simon the Canaanite, the ruins of an ancient church and fortress on top of the Iverian Mountain. However, the heart of New Athos, its main attraction today as well as more than a hundred years ago, is the monastery of St. Simon the Canaanite. "The road to it is very picturesque and interesting by land as well as by sea," a tourist guide of the last century tried to attract tourists there. "A majestic monastery with its temples, services, monastic cells, farm buildings, factories, workshops and other various structures, widely spread at the foot of the Iverian Mountain, and then crawled and stretched almost to the top, creating a very special cultural island on the coast." The monastery was founded in 1875 by several monks from the Russian monastery of St. Panteleimon on Mount Athos, hence the name. In 1888, in the presence of Emperor Alexander III and the entire royal family, the foundation of a new cathedral church in the name of the great martyr and healer Panteleimon, Prince Alexander Nevsky and Mary Magdalene was built. The cathedral was of great size and splendour not only by local standards - the temple housed three thousand people, while the frescoes and interior decoration of the monastery cost 70,000 rubles! "The buildings of the mountainous monastery impress with their beauty and grandeur," the guide told tourists from the capital.
The church of St. Simon the Canaanite is located behind a hill and is covered with trees and gardens and is not visible from the monastery. The church was rebuilt by the monks on top of the ruins of a wooden church from the fourth century. Grigoriy Moskvich writes in his guidebook that "this church is very much venerated by the local residents, because, according to an Abkhazian legend, Apostle Simon the Canaanite was buried there." In addition to religious buildings, the monastery had many other places that deserve attention: a mountain waterfall with a mill, built by the monks, which supplied the monastery with electricity. On the shore, where there used to be swamps, which were the source of malaria, the monks constructed ponds with man-built bed and shores, in which the monks had farm-fishing. The visitors must have been amazed by technical innovations: "The bed goes down gradually from west to east, and therefore the water which comes from the Psyrtskhi River constantly refreshes the ponds. In the middle of one of the ponds there is a fountain. A bridge is built over a waterfall, where you can admire the fall of water, foam and the rainbow in the sun." In addition, the monastery has its own quarries, brick and iron foundry, mechanical shop, carpentry, turner, tailor, metalwork and shoe shops. However, the major economic activity of the monastery was its exemplary horticulture and viticulture. It produced up to 93 thousand buckets of the wine "Isabella" annually.
Tourists usually came to New Athos by sea, although there were stagecoaches, carriages and cars from Gadauty. The way from Sukhumi was longer, the road was worse due to frequent landslides, while the price was higher: 3 rubles, instead of 50 kopecks. The boat journey was more comfortable. The boats docked close to the shore, and the passengers were transported further on monastic longboats. The tourists could stay at the monastery for two or three days to familiarize themselves with the abode and surroundings. Moskvich recommended fastidious tourists to take not only blankets to keep themselves warm, but also provisions, "because the monastic food is too meagre and rotten fish is always served." It was impossible to refuse monastic food. The "Illustrated Practical Guide to the Caucasus" warns that tourists should remember "that life in the monastery should be in agreement with the strict monastic regime: beds in the cells are hard, there are no spring mattresses, a room has 3-4 beds, while the whole hotel is not very neat; there are no sinks, and people have to wash themselves in the common washroom; there are only fast and simple dishes (soup, porridge, salted fish); in addition to canned food one can find bread, fruit, sparkling water at the monastery; milk and eggs can be ordered from villagers."
In addition to the monastery, tourists were encouraged to explore the Iverian chapel on top of the mountain, a miraculously preserved church altar from the 6th century and the ruins of the Genoese fortress of Nikopsia. In 1912, to the delight of tourists, an electric cable car was built from the bottom to the top. And certainly there were excellent views of the coast on top of the mountain. Struck by the hard work and hospitality of the monks, Anton Chekhov described his visit to New Athos: "People who conquer the Caucasus by means of their love and feats of enlightenment are worthy of greater honor than that which we can reflect in words."
