Things of the Hidden God

For well over a thousand years, Mount Athos, a small peninsula in the Aegean Sea, has been the center of Eastern Orthodox Christian monasticism. Once home to 10,000 monks, its twenty monasteries and countless hermitages continue to attract hikers and pilgrims (only men allowed), including Merrill, an exhausted poet and essayist. Searching for grace, he made five visits to Mount Athos between Lent of 1998 and Easter of 2000. This book is not so much about personal renewal--he offers little concrete information about his own struggles--as it is an extended reflection on the common sources of faith and poetry.