Mount Athos (officially: Sacred community of Mount Athos) is an «Autonomous polity» within the Greek State, (the only one in the world), in the peninsula of Athos in Chalkidki, Macedonia and is considered the center of the Orthodox monasticism. Mount Athos is one of the most significant part of the Balkan, European and Eastern Church due to its immense national, religious, educational and cultural value as a center of maintenance and preservation of rich material.
Politics
Mount Athos is a self-governed and autonomous region of the Greek state, which falls under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs politically and religiously under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Mount Athons constitute from the representatives of twenty self-governed regions. Each region consists of a dominant monastery and different others monastery settlements around it (sketes, cells, huts, pews, hermitages). All the monasteries follow the coenobitic system, meaning common functioning, praying, dining, working and resting. The administrative power of each monastery is the Abbot, who is elected by the brotherhood for life. The abbots of each monastery constitute the Convention of the brotherhood and are responsible for the legislative power.