Mount Athos is the Garden of the Panagia. “Panagia” is the Greek word for the Virgin Mary, meaning “All-Holy,” and it is the name every Greek uses when speaking of her. When monks and pilgrims call the Holy Mountain “Το Περιβόλι της Παναγίας” — the Garden of the Panagia — they are invoking the exact same ancient tradition: that Mary, caught in a storm while sailing to Cyprus, was given this peninsula by her Son as her personal domain, a paradise and haven of salvation. For over a thousand years,