Photo de stock - Feb. 24, 1958 - Athos - Monstery Republic.: If man is ephemeral, soa re his institutions. The Athos community which victoriously fought off the onslaughts of time for a thousand years, has been dwindling at an alarming rate for the past few decades, One of the causes of Athos' depopulation was the advent of Bolshevism which put a stop to the deluge of Slav monks. The Russian Monastery of Saint Pandeleimon, which counted 2,000 monks before the October Revolution, now numbers barely 80 occupants. Three of them are shown here in the courtyard of the dying monastery. Their average age is 70 and hey are recognizable as Russian monks by the boots they wear. (Credit Image: © Keystone Pictures USA/ZUMAPRESS.com)