The Center for European and Russian Studies, in collaboration with the UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture and Department of Anthropology, is hosting a graduate student lecture by Paul Melas, entitled Mount Athos and its ‘World’: Orthodox Christian Monasticism in Contemporary Greece. This talk will include a presentation and audience Q&A, to be followed by a graduate student mixer. The lecture and reception will be held in Bunche Hall Room 10383 on Tuesday, December 3, 2024 at 4 PM. Graduate students and faculty of all disciplines are invited.

About the Talk

The all-male monastic community of Mount Athos, Greece has been an important center of Orthodox Christian spirituality and asceticism for more than one thousand years. Located on a bordered peninsula in northern Greece, the community is comprised of twenty monasteries that are today home to nearly two thousand Orthodox monks. Mount Athos also hosts tens of thousands of male pilgrims annually, and maintains dozens of dependency parishes throughout Greece and Europe. Based on 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork within the community, this paper will reflect on the communicative, material and symbolic circuits that connect Mount Athos and its monks to the ‘world’ that exists beyond its border.

About the Speaker

Paul Melas is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. His forthcoming dissertation examines the Orthodox Christian monastic community of Mount Athos within the context of contemporary spirituality in Greece and Europe.

About the Mixer

Graduate students of all disciplines are invited to attend the mixer following Paul Melas' lecture in Bunche Hall Room 10383. We hope that all students will enjoy the opportunity to connect over refreshments. Please register here in advance,

Venue

Bunche Hall Room 10383
(10th floor of Bunche Hall)
315 Portola Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90095

Sponsor(s): Center for European and Russian Studies, Department of Anthropology, UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture