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Christian communities - in Greece and Turkey

Malcolm Billings is on a personal pilgrimage to the all-male Greek Orthodox enclave on Mount Athos; Diana Darke learns why Syriacs from around the world are returning to Tur Abdin

Owen Bennett Jones introduces two stories of Christian identity and life in small communities built on faith. Malcolm Billings is on a personal pilgrimage to the world-famous - and all-male - Greek Orthodox enclave on the peninsula of Mount Athos. He finds an unspoiled landscape and a calmly measured rhythm to life, as well as the unexpected detail; even monasteries, it seems, occasionally resort to buying frozen food from a corner shop these days. In southeastern Turkey, Diana Darke learns why the long-scattered world community of Syriacs is beginning to regroup and return to their long-derelict homes and churches in the Tur Abdin region. In 1915 many of their number were massacred, but there's a resurgent sense of pride and an ongoing process of reclamation.,

Producer: Polly Hope

Photo: Students from a priestly school walk in Karyes, the seat of the clerical and secular administration of the Mount Athos monastic state, on October 9, 2011. (SAKIS MITROLIDIS/AFP/Getty Images)

Available now

11 minutes

Last on

Thu 24 Jul 2014 19:50GMT

Broadcast

  • Thu 24 Jul 2014 19:50GMT