AFP Photo
Russian President Vladimir Putin made a long-desired private pilgrimage to Mount Athos, the first head of state of his country to visit the monastic community in northern Greece considered one of Orthodox Christianity's holiest sites.
Putin, who had to call off planned visits to "Agion Oros" (Holy Mountain) in 2001 and 2004, met with religious leaders and visited the Russian Orthodox Saint Panteleimon monastery, according to a Russian diplomatic official.
After arriving at the monastery's harbour of Dafni on board a private yacht, the leaders of the peninsula's 20 major monasteries, some of which date back over 1,000 years, welcomed the Russian leader at the Protaton Church at Karyes.
Putin "lit a votive candle, piously kissed the sacred icon Axion Esti (of the Virgin Mary) and listened to a religious service," according to Greece's semi-official ANA news agency.
An avowed Orthodox believer who has said he always wears a baptismal cross given him by his mother, the former KGB master spy has taken steps to repair the damage inflicted on the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church by decades of Soviet repression.
"Russia has always been united by strong ties with Mount Athos, all of our intellectual sources are connected to Mount Athos, all parts of our society have a great respect for Mount Athos," he was quoted as saying by ANA.
Though Russia is constitutionally a secular state, Putin has publicly declared himself a believer, is assiduous in observing the Russian Orthodox calendar, and has praised the church for helping to unite the multinational Russian society.
The majority of Russians proclaim themselves Orthodox believers, in a country that for centuries saw itself as the standard-bearer of Orthodoxy following the collapse of the Greek Orthodox Byzantine Empire in the 15th century.
In 2001, Putin paid special homage to Russia's religious importance during a visit to a White Sea monastery, declaring that the country "is bestowed with a special role as the guardian of Christianity."
During his more than six-hour visit, Putin also toured the Iviron monastery, founded in 979, and Saint Panteleimon, a Russian monastery founded in 1814, according to the Russian diplomat, who asked not to be named.
The Russian president met with the monastery's director, Father Iermias, whom he praised for his "role in the development of Greco-Russian spiritual development," said the diplomat.
Greek newspapers saw Putin's visit as a means to raise the profile of the monastery, which is home to about 60 mostly Russian monks, but also Ukrainians, Moldavians and Georgians.
Mount Athos is under the spiritual authority of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople (Istanbul), but in the early 20th century Greek and Russian monks vied for influence over the peninsula, each backed by their respective governments.
Putin had been scheduled to visit Mount Athos during his last official visit to Greece in December 2001, but it had to be scrapped due to bad weather.
A visit planned for last September was cancelled following the bloody conclusion of the Beslan school hostage crisis.
Putin ended his two-day semi-official visit to Greece late on Friday, with his plane leaving the northern Greek city of Salonika at 10:00 pm (1900 GMT) bound for Moscow, according to ANA.
He had arrived on Thursday in Salonika, where he met with Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.