February 16, 2015
Mount Athos now has its own smartphone application. The user can download the free application that will remind them of religious holidays, days of fasting, Greek Orthodox feasts, while also provides all the information about monasteries.
The application includes the old calendar, which is used at Mount Athos, and the new calendar as well. It has a presentation of all Greek Orthodox feasts, information on the lives of saints, locations of holy relics, dates of religious fairs, wise quotes and advice from the Holy Fathers, detailed information on how to contact monastery administrations and clergy, and so on.
If the user chooses so, they can receive daily notifications on their smartphone.
The application is created by AST SA, a company based in Thessaloniki with the aim to facilitate the 300,000 visitors Mount Athos receives each year. The data was kindly provided by the fathers of the Pantocrator Monastery on Mount Athos under the condition that the application will be free of charge.
AST SA director Yiannis Theodorakis said the idea for the application came when he and company executives who frequently visit Mount Athos found that there is a general lack of information about the place. For example, visitors do not know where to go rent a car or call a monastery to find out about visiting hours and so on.
Theodorakis and his associates also think of making a version of the application in Slavic languages, since a lot of people from Balkan countries and Russia visit Mount Athos.
The application is available in the App Store for iOS and Google Play for Android devices.
