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“What’s a monk?” Adonis asked.
“A man who spends his life worshiping God,” Dia said.
“Why does he live in a special house?” Nefeli asked. “Why can’t he love God from home?”
Dia peeked over her shoulder at the children and flashed them a smile. “Great questions. You keep asking them. I’ll keep answering. I can see today will be fun.” She focused on the road. “Monks thought they could focus better on God if they were away from the rest of the world. They built their homes and churches, and grew and cooked their own food.”
“I like God,” Nefeli said. “But I like my family more. I wouldn’t want to go away from them.”
“Me either.” Adonis nodded. “I want to stay with Nefeli and my papa.” He slipped his hand into his sister’s.
“No one has to go anywhere,” Stavros assured them. “You’re too young anyway.”
“Originally, there were twenty-four monasteries in the area. Six remain. We’ll see all of them and will tour the inside of three of them.”
“Which three will we see today?” Nefeli asked.
“The monasteries rotate their days off, so we rotate them on our tours. Today we’ll see the Great Meteoron, Varlaam, and Roussanou.”
“Cool,” Adonis said.
As they stepped out at the Great Meteoron monastery, Rose was surprised when Adonis took her hand. She thought he’d want to be with his father after being separated. He must have been starved for a woman’s affection. The children seemed to be surrounded by men most of the time.
Rose bent down to the child’s level. “Adonis, I need you to do a very important job for me.”
His eager brown eyes looked into hers. “What?”
“You must keep me safe from getting too close to the edge, or I’ll tumble over. Can you do that?”
From the corner of her eye, she saw Stavros watching them.
“Yes.” He nodded with a solemn expression.
“Thank you.”
As they approached the monastery, Dia asked, “Do you have a shawl?”
“Oh, yes.” Rose let go of Adonis’s hand long enough to dig the white shawl out of her handbag.
Dia helped her arrange it properly. “The monks require proper attire to tour their monasteries. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. Thank you.”
They entered the monastery.
“I’ll keep the history simple so the children won’t get bored, and you can appreciate the strength and beauty of the structure,” Dia said. “The first monk to summit Platis Lithos or Wide Rock was Athanasios. He and fourteen original monks scaled the 613 meters and toiled for nearly fifty years to build the monastery. Many of them never lived to see the completion of their work.”
Rose was struck by the vibrant colors of Christ and his disciples covering an entire stone wall.
Adonis tugged on her hand, and she bent down. “Are they alive?” He pointed to the wall.
“No. It’s a painting. But they look like they could walk right out of the wall don’t they?”
He nodded. “Are they ghosts?”
“No. Only pictures like the ones you see in the books you read.”
“Can I touch it?” He held up a hand.