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this musical epicentre that everything else must radiate.
“If anybody wishes to understand me”, he continued,
“they must listen to my music; if anybody wishes to
know my ‘philosophy’ then they can read any of the
Church Fathers; if anybody wishes to know about my
life, then there are things that I wish to keep closed …
unlike our friend John [Taverner]!” It was clear that my
proposed project was running into difficulties before he
suggested that we headed for the monastery.
The Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist
is home to around 25 monks and nuns. It was established
under the spiritual guidance of Archimandrite
Sophrony, who died in 1993. Sophrony had arrived on
Mount Athos in 1925 and entered the Russian Monastery
of St. Panteimon where he began scribbling down
the teachings of his elder St. Siluoan. Many of his
works are to be found in the monastery bookshop. The
monastery itself is a mixture of richly ornate old timber
buildings that blend beautifully with newer, more
modern constructions. The monks and nuns spend their
day in prayer, icon-painting, and in the general upkeep
of the monastery. A large section of land enables them
to grow various fruits and vegetables, and thus remain
largely self-sufficient.
When showing me around the monastery, Pärt’s
demeanour visibly changed. He came to life again,
BUY Arvo Pärt music online from and
like he was during the rehearsal of Miserere, prowling
cat-like from one icon to the next as he explained to
me their origin and symbolism. He was clearly relieved
to have left the ‘intellectual’ atmosphere that we had
created earlier, and to breath instead a more ‘spiritual’
and aesthetic air. I was even treated to a duet by Pärt
and his wife in one of the Churches.
At 5pm, the bells called all the monks and nuns to eat
(as it was Lent, this was their only meal of the day). After
a monkish chant that seemed to be taken straight from
one of Pärt’s works, we ate our simple meal of olives
and pulses in silence, listening to a reading from the
teaching of Johannes Climacus. Humbleness prevailed.
Soon afterwards Arvo and Nora Pärt presented me with
a gift: Archimandrite Sophrony’s spiritual biography of
‘Saint Siluoan the Athonite’. We talked no more of my
own proposed book; it just didn’t seem appropriate in
the surroundings.
As I left the monastery and made my way slowly
home, I recalled Pärt’s words and decided to put my
book project on hold for the time being: “If anybody
wishes to understand me, they must listen to my music;
if anybody wishes to know my ‘philosophy’, then they
can read any of the Church Fathers; if anybody wishes
to know about my private life, there are things that I
wish to keep closed.” �
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