Moscow, 26 August 2008 (Interfax):
The monks on the Holy Mountain of Athos are now connected to the Internet. This pilot project, under the auspices of the Greek telecommunications company OTE, was accomplished in a practically-isolated area, due to the mountainous terrain and the lack of cable access and electrical power supply. To overcome these obstacles, the company built six stations powered by solar-panels that shall ensure Internet access for all the monasteries on Athos. Three monasteries and one skete are already participants in a special project to copy their most valuable manuscripts, frescoes, icons, and other treasures of the Holy Mountain into an easily-accessible electronic format. Of this data, some 10 percent shall be for general access on the Internet and the remainder shall be accessible to specialists and monastics on the Mountain, the website Blagovest-Info reported on Tuesday. Athos is an autonomous Orthodox monastic republic in Northern Greece comprised of 20 constituent ruling monasteries. The only permanent residents are male monastics, and there are some 1,400 monks living there today.
Interfax-Religion
http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=26186 (in Russian)
