![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.conversiondiary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/7_quick_takes_sm1.jpg\" "\\"7_quick_takes_sm\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\u2014 1 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m delighted by\u00a0how many<\/em> of you wrote in to tell me that \u201cmodern stylites\u201d exist, after I referred to them hypothetically in the post on Orthodoxy and eating disorders<\/a>. \u00a0Here\u2019s one of the best links you guys found<\/a>:<\/p>\n Shortly after the collapse of communism and the resurgence of religion in Georgia, former \u201cbad boy\u201d Maxime Qavtaradze (now 59) decided to live atop the pillar in the way of the old stylites. \u201cWhen I was young I drank, sold drugs, everything. When I ended up in prison\u2026. It was time for a change. I used to drink with friends in the hills around here and look up at this place, where land met sky. We knew the monks had lived up there before and I felt great respect for them.\u201d In 1993 Maxime took monastic vows and climbed the pillar to begin his new life. \u201cFor the first two years there was nothing up here so I slept in an old refrigerator to protect me from the weather.\u201d Since then Maxime and the nearby Christian community have constructed a ladder to the top, rebuilt the chapel, and built a cottage where Maxime spends his days praying, reading, and \u201cpreparing to meet God.\u201d As a result of the interest in the site there is now a religious community at the base of the pillar.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n More pictures like the one below at the link<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/a>\u2014 2 \u2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n And now, for a bit of cultural whiplash, let me give you an example of modernity being delightful: making ice sculptures with automated lathes:<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n