Painting: "The Secret-Eater Monk"
Location: Dochiariou Monastery, Mount Athos
About: The
painting "The Secret-Eater Monk" hangs in the Archondariki (Guest
House) of Dochiariou Monastery on Mount Athos as a warning of inappropriate eating habits. This is a modern painting based on a miracle that happened on Mount Athos in one
of the monasteries. One of the monks who worked in the kitchen stole
some food and secretly ate it in his cell in the
evening. One day after Great Vespers, when everyone was going
for supper, in the presence of many brethren, the earth opened and a
serpent emerged from the earth, consuming the soul of the careless
monk.
Secret eating is a sin of gluttony when you eat food at the wrong (in secret) time, so that no one sees his or her gluttony. This sin can only be the fault of a monk who, in violation of the monastery's typikon, eats in secret from the brethren. The stomach should not be used as the measure by which we decide how much food we consume.
