Sunrise at the Holy Mountain

 

Ανατολή στο Άγιο Όρος

 

Dawn has made its daily promise, but the sun has yet to appear. The wild beach at Sykia faces the Holy Mountain: there are no sunbeds, no umbrellas, not even a kantina. An old hippy, in his sleeping bag, begins to stir and the dog, asleep beside him on the sand, opens an eye. It is as if they know something is coming.
 
Mount Athos rises steeply out of the sea, its magnificent peak pointing surely to heaven. Above it, as we wait, a glow that is becoming ever-richer: pink > peach > orange.
 
I am expecting the sun, any moment now, and am guessing over which part of the silhouette it will break. But no. It bursts the horizon over the sea, beside the great mountain. In just a few moments: spot > arc > full circle - balancing on the rim of the water, then taking to the sky.
 
It is as if we have witnessed a birth. The birth of a day.  
 
Text: Richard Devereux.
Photograph: Yvonne Devereux.
Sithonia, August 2023.