One of my favorite monasteries, we speak different languages, communication is so easy, very, very friendly monks in this monastery, open and good-natured, I always try to come to them when I visit Mount Athos, and I am amazed by their special thinking, and they also make their products, I bought chips and chocolate from them
Of the five monasteries I visited, Esphigmen is the most recent and the most mysterious and memorable! For example, they try not to use electricity there, kerosene lamps in the cells, in the evening and at night in the buildings there is darkness and the atmosphere of another world, as the Middle Ages depict to us only without torches and knights in armor. Only there I was scolded for wearing flip-flops over socks! It's considered an open shoe there! Well, I was surprised by the beginning of the service at 2 a.m. I was also included in the book of pilgrims :-)
Every Orthodox Christian IS OBLIGED to visit this monastery, see, touch the history of Orthodoxy, and provide all possible assistance to the abbot and the brethren of the monastery. God bless you.