Putin pays visit to holy Orthodox Mount Athos in Greece
Russian President Vladimir Putin paid a visit to Greece's Mount Athos, an autonomous polity and a center of Eastern Orthodox monasticism. The Cyrillic alphabet and Orthodox Christianity have long bound the two nations.
A plume with a view
An Orthodox monk enjoys his smoke at the dock of Dafni, a port settlement near Mount Athos. Two thousand five hundred monks and pilgrims live in this autonomous part of the Greek state.
High-security in a holy place
Special police forces guard the scene of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit.
Priest meets president
A priest in a formal Orthodox gown waits to welcome Putin.
Visiting the Stations
Putin crosses himself as dictated by the Orthodox faith.
A welcome snack
Local police officers wait to offer Putin Greek coffee and sweets as per the local tradition for all visitors.
President meets president
Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos welcomes Putin to Mount Athos.
Pan-Orthodox place of piety
Putin was at Mount Athos to commemorate 1,000 years of Russian monks at the monastery.
Our daily gender-segregated bread
Men wait to buy bread at a traditional bakery in Karyes, the clerical and secular administrative center of the autonomous monastic state of Mount Athos. For a millennium, women - and even nonhuman female animals - have been banned from within 500 meters (1,550 feet) of the autonomous territory's coasts.
History preserved
A monk walks in front of the murals of Byzantine-era painter Emmanuel Panselinos in a ninth-century Orthodox church - the oldest on Mount Athos.