captioning funded by cbs and ford-- built for the road ahead. >> safer: we're about to visit a place few people have seen firsthand. >> there's about two million printed books. >> safer: two million printed books. the vatican library, a vast collection of historic treasures beyond compare. the library's most valued documents go back almost 2,000 years, nearly to the time of st. peter. >> the name of god. >> safer: from the same period, the gospel of luke and part of the gospel of john. >> in the beginning, it was the word, and the word was god.

( bell chiming ) >> simon: on this christmas night, we're going to take you to a place that is outside of our world: mount athos, the place millions believe to be the most sacred spot on earth. >> you have to understand the words that we're saying in today's liturgy are the same words that christ was saying. >> simon: and nothing has changed in orthodoxy since then. there are 20 monasteries here spread over 130 miles of peninsula. this one fits like a crown on a rock above the aegean, and the monks will tell you, it must be considered a miracle that it hasn't fallen into the sea. they will also tell you their sole passion is to get closer to christ every day.

>> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm morley safer. >> i'm bob simon. >> i'm lara logan. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories tonight on this special christmas edition of "60 minutes." [ female announcer ] your favorite folgers gourmet selections flavors are available one perfectly brewed cup at a time folgers gourmet selections k-cup packs extraordinary roasts. exceptionally rich flavors. available where you buy groceries. exceptionally rich flavors. do not miss sears after-christmas sale! get 60% off coats 60% off fleece and sweaters 60% off pajamas and robes for the whole family plus it's the big denim savings event! for serious after-christmas savings, get to sears!

did you hear sam... ...got promoted to director? so 12 seconds ago. we should get him a present. thanks for the gift basket. you're welcome. you're welcome. did you see hr just sent out new... ...office rules? cause you're currently in violation of 6 of them. oh yeah, baby? ...and 7. did you guys hear that fred is leaving? so 30 seconds ago. [ noisemakers blow ] [ both ] we'll miss you! oh, facecake! there's some leftover cake. [ male announcer ] the new htc vivid. stay a step ahead with at&t 4g lte, with speeds up to 10x faster than 3g. ♪ [ tea kettle whistle ] [ male announcer ] beat your worst flu symptoms. theraflu max d contains the most powerful medicine allowable without a prescription to fight your worst flu symptoms. theraflu max d. serious power.

>> safer: we are about to visit a place few people have seen firsthand-- the vatican library, a vast collection of historic treasures beyond compare, founded over five centuries ago

when europe was coming out of the dark ages, a period of so- called humanism when the catholic church was open to new ideas in philosophy, science, and the human spirit. it's the pope's library, but it contains much more than just church documents. as we reported in april, there are manuscripts going back nearly 2,000 years on music and math, warfare and exploration, even cookbooks and love letters. the library is closed to the public; a place for scholars only. but the vatican agreed to let us in to see some of the priceless artifacts of our collective past. welcome to the 15th century. in rome, turn a corner and you bump into antiquity, a delicious mixed salad of present and past. we arrived at the vatican to find a medieval costume parade

in progress. what better way to begin a trek through history? >> timothy janz: there's about two million printed books. >> safer: two million printed books. and inside the library, the past surrounded us again, as we were shown the magnificent building and its riches. >> janz: this is the urbino bible. >> safer: for instance, this spectacular bible, commissioned in 1476 by the duke of urbino... >> janz: ...who wanted to have a very fancy bible. >> safer: there you go. >> janz: and this is what he got. >> safer: library curator timothy janz tells us the bible took years to make by hand, letter by letter, picture by picture. >> janz: decorated with real gold. >> safer: it's just one of the library's 80,000 handwritten manuscripts from the ages before the printing press. add to that those two million or so printed books, christian and pagan, sacred and profane, in

virtually every language known to man. there are thousands of prints and drawings, windows on the past. and a huge collection of ancient coins-- this was the money of palestine 2,000 years ago-- including the kind of silver coins judas was said to have been paid to betray christ. here is a map of the world, drawn 50 years before columbus; at its edge, the towers of paradise. and an immediate best seller, columbus' description of his voyage to the new world, published in 1493. in a certain way, the library is kind of the attic of western civilization. >> father michael collins: it's so true. and it's like many attics, you know? you put things up all the time. you keep on pushing over boxes to make space for more things. >> safer: father michael collins is an irish priest who's written extensively about the vatican,

where the library's shelves, if you put them end to end, would stretch for 31 miles. is there anyone, any single person who really knows what the library holds? >> collins: nobody knows exactly what's there, because it will be impossible for the human brain to understand, to remember the titles, who wrote it, when they were written. >> monsignor cesare pasini: it is quite a treasure of humanity that you have here. >> safer: monsignor cesare pasini presides over the library. its great hall-- essentially unchanged over the centuries-- is a picture gallery of antiquity: saints, philosophers, and depictions of the great libraries of the pre-christian world-- babylon, athens, alexandria. a shrine to learning and to books. there's one person who can actually take a book out of the library, correct? >> pasini: yes, the pope can...

can have every book in the library. ♪ ♪ >> safer: if st. peter's basilica represents the splendor of the church writ large, the library nearby is a testament to the monks and scribes who made magnificent miniatures in times past. here, some devotional music commissioned by pope leo x, and the text of the christmas mass used at the altar by alexander vi: both manuscripts five centuries old, written on parchment-- treated animal skin. >> christopher celenza: you will often see the skin of sheep being used, sometimes goats. >> safer: christopher celenza, director of the american academy in rome, is a scholar who's often used the library. he says that writing on parchment was not only tedious,

but expensive. >> celenza: if a monastery wanted to produce a bible that perhaps had 400 pages, it might cost you 400 sheep. it's an investment. >> safer: beyond the academic work, did you ever just come here to hang out and flip through stuff and see what you might discover? >> celenza: i think all of us have come here, at one time or another, with the hope of discovering something, having a general direction in which we're going, but not quite knowing where we'll wind up. >> safer: you might find, as curator adalbert roth showed us, drawings of a german jousting tournament in 1481, or an old cookbook, telling us that roman foodies in the fourth century dined on chicken, veal, seafood, pancakes in milk, and whipped pear cake... >> janz: how to hack away at your enemy's wall. >> safer: ...or, from an 11th century treatise on the art of war, a byzantine soldier

brandishing a flame thrower, something the greeks invented 1,500 years earlier... or henry viii's love letters to anne boleyn. >> collins: the letters are certainly among the most bizarre and unusual that you'd expect to find in the pope's archives. >> safer: there are 17 of them, handwritten by the king of england to the woman he would make the second of his six wives, and later have beheaded. >> adalbert roth: there's the little heart... >> safer: henry signs his name with a heart, like a smitten schoolboy. he tells of his "fervents of love", his great loneliness without her. "wishing myself," he says, "in my sweetheart's arms, whose pretty dukkys i trust shortly to kiss," "dukkys" being a term in henry's day for... well, use your imagination. what is that doing in the vatican library? >> collins: we don't know how they ended up here in the vatican.

it may be that some spy, maybe one of my priestly predecessors, may have stolen these letters and brought them to rome to present in the case if a trial was made for henry's request for a divorce. >> safer: but the church refused to let henry divorce catherine of aragon so he could marry anne. he married her anyway, broke with rome, and took control of the church of england. the country was largely converted to the protestant faith. >> celenza: this is one of the moments in the 16th century that leads to the fracturing of christianity, and to much of the bloodshed and the wars that, especially, the later 16th century was known for. >> safer: as man explored the planet, a scientific revolution was also under way. by the mid-17th century, navigators had mapped much of the world in remarkable detail. >> roth: rio de janeiro. cuzco.

mexico city. >> safer: galileo turned his eyes and his telescope on the heavens. here, from 1612, are his drawings of sunspots. for his insistence that the sun is the center of the universe and the earth moves around it, the church branded him a heretic. >> collins: the pope at that time, pope urban viii, was a very good friend of galileo. said to him, "look, you know, i agree with you. you're right. but i can't approve of this because i'm the pope. and if i go against this, it looks as if i'm going against the bible. and i'm going to shake to the foundation the belief of the world, and the world's christians, not just catholics." >> safer: just 380 years later, in 1992, pope john paul ii apologized for the galileo affair. his successor, benedict xvi, has sought middle ground in the centuries-old skirmishes between the church and science. in a recent sermon, he said even

the big bang theory of the creation of the universe is not in conflict with faith because god's mind was behind it. >> this is the tricky, the tricky part... >> safer: and backstage at the pope's library, science is brought to bear on crumbling books, as restoration workers deal with water damage, mold and the ravages of time. it seems endless, this work, yes? >> angela nunez gaetan: it's endless, yes, obviously. >> safer: angela gaetan and the others go inch by inch, patching and strengthening ancient pages, scratching off paste put on by well-meaning restorers centuries ago-- paste that's turning acid, eating away at the page. mario tiburzi seldom reads what he's repairing-- it's too distracting, especially if the writer happens to be michelangelo. >> mario tiburzi: when i work on the michelangelo papers, it was

the same that i work on mickey mouse paper. ( laughs ) >> safer: mickey mouse, eh? a difficult job may take months or even years. but consider the result. >> gaetan: 1,000 years after us, i hope that they can read the same thing that we are reading now. >> safer: the library's most valued documents go back almost 2,000 years, nearly to the time of st. peter, the first pope, whose tomb lies beneath the basilica that bears his name. his letters to the faithful make up two books of the new testament. and here is a copy, written in greek on papyrus by one of peter's disciples around the year 200, a mere century or so after his death. >> pasini: "in the beginning, it was the word, and the word was 'god'." >> safer: and from the same period, the gospel of luke and

part of the gospel of john, also written on papyrus, venerated by early christians in egypt, preserved for centuries in a desert monastery. >> pasini: "the bread for today give us..." >> safer: they contain the oldest known copy of the lord's prayer, so fragile we were only allowed to see replicas. >> pasini: that great treasure of papyrus, i think, is the most important treasure of christianity. >> safer: with our tour nearly over, it seemed as if the library's collection had come to life in the streets of the eternal city: the centurions and crusaders, the centuries of faith and folly, time present and time past. leaving the library, we thought there's something, something almost magical to be immersed in this place, to breathe the air and touch the hand of history.

brad, where we going? just a second. just, just one second. ♪ what are you looking at? don't look up there. why are you looking up? ♪ get outta the car. get outta the car. ♪ are you ok? the... get in the car. get in the car! [ male announcer ] the epa estimated 42 mpg highway chevy cruze eco. from spending time together, to spending your lives together, chevy runs deep. [ both ] ew, i do! let's see what i pull up here. oh, this is a good one. ♪ grandma got run over by a reindeer ♪ really? ken. ♪ walking home from our house christmas eve ♪ ♪ you can say... i had the right of way! oooh...man. turning off the music. sorry, nanna. [ male announcer ] get low prices, every day, on the latest smartphones starting at 97 cents.

save money. live better. walmart. i wanted support for my heart... and now i get it from centrum specialist heart. new centrum specialist vision... helps keep my eyes healthy. centrum specialist energy... helps me keep up with them. centrum specialist prenatal... supports my child's growth and development. new centrum specialist is a complete multivitamin that gives me all the benefits of centrum. plus additional support... [ all ] for what's important to me. [ male announcer ] new centrum specialist helps make nutrition possible. [ laughter ] ♪ [ male announcer ] for tim and richard smucker, giving a gift of their family's delicious jam always made the holidays just a little bit sweeter. we forgot to put our names on them! richard, i think they'll know who it's from. ♪ thank you boys. you're welcome. you're welcome. [ male announcer ] happy holidays from our family to yours.

i love christmas!

>> simon: tonight, for christmas, we're going to take you to a place outside our world. it's not mars or venus, but it might as well be. it's a remote peninsula in northern greece that millions believe to be the most sacred spot on earth. it's called mt. athos, and prayers have been offered here every day, with no interruption, for more than a thousand years. it was set aside by ancient emperors to be the spiritual capitol of orthodox christianity, and has probably changed less over the centuries than any other inhabited place on the planet.

the monks come here from all over and do everything they can to keep what they call "the world" far away. not surprisingly, journalists are not exactly welcome. for more than two years now, we've been corresponding, negotiating and, frankly, pleading for an invitation, but ran into one monastic wall after another. then, as we first told you last spring, much to our surprise and delight, the monks said "okay, come see who we are." this byzantine cross marks the border between mt. athos and the 21st century. the monks come here, as they always have, for the beauty, the tranquility, and the isolation, but, most of all, for this. ♪

father iakovos is one of a few americans on the mountain. he's been here more than half his life. >> father iakavos: you have to understand, the words that we're saying in today's liturgy are the same words that christ was saying, the same words that saints from the first century, the second century, the third century, the fourth century... >> simon: and nothing has changed in orthodoxy since then. it's the only branch of christianity that can make that claim. father elisaios is the abbot, the top man at simonos petras, one of the 20 monasteries. it was abbot elisaios who invited us here, and never let us forget what a rare privilege it was. >> father elisaios ( translated ): it happened once, in 1981.

>> simon: the last time you invited a television crew here was 1981. >> elisaios: correct. we weren't going to invite you, but your persistence convinced us to open the door. ( bell rings ) >> simon: the door he opened revealed the wonder that is simonos petras, which fits like a crown on top of a rock 800 feet above the aegean. it was built in the 14th century, and the monks will tell you it must be considered a miracle that it hasn't fallen into the sea. ( bells ring ) there are 20 monasteries on mt. athos. some look like medieval fortresses; others are so large, they resemble small cities. they rise from virgin forests and line the coast, shrouded in mist. there's nothing on this 130- square-mile peninsula other than

monasteries and monks. nothing. we expected mt. athos to be a quiet place, but we couldn't have imagined how quiet until we were dropped off here. the silence is only broken by the occasional tapping on a chiseled piece of chestnut. it is a call to prayer, and it started being used here before there were bells. >> father serapion ( translated ): the monks here have one goal, and that is how to get closer to god. >> simon: father serapion wanted us to understand that there is no place on earth closer to heaven than mt. athos. >> serapion: every day, a thousand divine liturgies are celebrated on the peninsula. it's unique in the world, and in the orthodox church. >> simon: exactly what makes it unique?

>> serapion: it's the absolute way of life of the monks. >> simon: it's a spartan way of life, but all the monks we talked to said they never want to leave, not even for a day. so they try to be self- sufficient-- they grow their own fruits and vegetables, do their own tailoring. and when they get sick, there's an in-monastery doctor, father ermolaos, who is not very busy because the monks are in excellent shape. there's remarkably little cancer, virtually no heart disease or alzheimer's. they must be doing something right, in addition to drinking wine at 9:00 in the morning. they eat two meals a day. there's what they call "the first meal," which lasts ten minutes, and "the second meal," which lasts ten minutes. there's no meat and no dinner table conversation. the only sound-- a monk reading from sacred texts. we were surprised by how busy the monks are.

when they're not praying, they're working. father thedosios, born a lutheran in germany, is a mechanical wizard, who has given the monastery continuous electricity and occasional hot water. >> father thedosios: many christians in the world, they are looking for the original church, you know, for the ancient church. >> simon: you think this is the closest to the original church? >> thedosios: yes. when you come to orthodoxy, you will see, it has everything you ever sought for. >> simon: father averkios takes care of the ancient footpaths here. he clears the trails. we went with him on what was, for us, an exhausting hike on the hills above the monastery. it wasn't tough for him, though. he says that, after decades of roaming the world, this is his path. >> father averkios: i've been to many places. >> simon: tell me where? >> averkios: from switzerland, of course, from sweden, finland, spain, portugal, singapore, australia, and texas...

>> simon: texas? how did you like texas? >> averkios: i liked very much. i liked, mostly, the people. >> simon: now, with all the traveling you've done, how did you end up here? >> averkios: i was searching for a way of life i can give all of myself to that. and i think the god of jesus is above all the others-- money, lifestyle, even family. >> simon: the family at simonos petras consists of 54 monks from eight countries. father iakavos came here 25 years ago from winthrop, massachusetts. this is about as beautiful as it gets. >> iakovos: i think so. >> simon: he took us on a tour of the monastery. it would be tough enough to build a monastery on top of a rock today, but how did they do it in the 13th century? >> iakovos: you know, that's something which even modern-day architects are amazed at. when the workers came and saw the site where st. simon, the founder of our monastery, wanted

to build, they looked at him and they said... >> simon: "are you crazy?" >> iakovos: "are you crazy?" ( laughs ) of course. >> simon: so being crazy was not a bad thing. >> iakovos: not at all. >> simon: back then, how did you get stuff up here? >> iakovos: we had mules. >> simon: it takes 15 minutes to walk through the monastery into the sunlight, enough time to find out that father iakavos' journey to mt. athos started at the age of six when his father showed him a picture. >> iakovos: it was just so impressive, and i turned around and i said to him, "dad, you know, i don't think that i'm going to be able to believe that somebody lives in that building until i step on those balconies myself." >> simon: destiny? >> iakovos: it is a little bit... >> simon: from the age of six? >> iakovos: yes. >> simon: father iakovos doesn't follow what's going on in winthrop or anywhere else today. there are no newspapers, no radio, no television on mt. athos. there are a few telephones. and father iakavos got a call last year-- his father was dying. >> iakovos: prior to his death,

he was asking if i would go, so i could see him one last time. >> simon: reasonable request. >> iakovos: from a father, i think so. my response was negative, though. >> simon: you didn't go? >> iakovos: i didn't go. i didn't go because of the fact that monastics do not go to funerals of their relatives or their friends. they remain here at the monastery. >> simon: when your father asked you to come see him one last time, and you said no, was there any feeling of, "i'm letting my father down"? >> iakovos: not at all. i know that we're going to see each other in paradise one day. >> simon: the whole idea at mt. athos is not only to isolate oneself from the outside world, but to let go of all memories of one's past life. the purpose of your being here, as i understand it, is prayer without distraction? >> iakovos: i'm not being distracted now. ( laughter ) >> simon: why are you laughing?

first, tell me why you're laughing? >> iakovos: why am i laughing? because st. paul says, "we're to pray unceasingly." >> simon: what's funny about that? >> iakovos: that's not what's funny about it. what's funny is how you think i can stop praying. >> simon: you're praying every minute of the day? >> iakovos: even right now, when we're talking. >> simon: really? >> iakovos: of course. >> simon: you don't see father iakovos praying while he's talking, but look at these other monks. their lips never stop moving, not for a second. they just keep reciting the jesus prayer day and night-- "lord jesus, have mercy on me." it becomes like breathing. some monks say they can pray when they sleep, and they get no more than three hours sleep a night. but mt. athos gets more applicants than it can handle.

it's harder to get into than harvard. a man comes as a novice. he's free to leave if he doesn't like it, and the monks can tell him to leave if they don't like him. when a novice arrives here, can you tell whether he's going to make it or not? can you tell whether he's going to qualify to be a monk? >> serapion ( translated ): after a while, it becomes pretty obvious whether or not someone is cut out for it, which is why we have a trial period, which can last up to three years. >> simon: i bet you know a lot sooner than three years. >> serapion: certainly. >> simon: once he's accepted into the community, it's a lifetime commitment. and life never changes here-- never. every day, at 3:00 in the morning, a single bell rings, informing the brothers that it's time to stop praying on their own and start praying in church.

on a typical day-- and every day is a typical day-- the services last eight hours. the monks say it's an eight-hour conversation with god, a dress rehearsal for eternity. and remember, this doesn't only happen on sundays; it happens every day, 365 days a year. a monk never gets a day off. this is the divine liturgy, the life of christ, celebrated by men whose only passion is to move closer to christ every day. the depth of their devotion defies description. they didn't look like the same monks we had met in the gardens and the workshops. they were utterly transformed, with a concentration so profound, they were immune from distraction. there were occasional flashes of ecstasy. this old monk could have risen

out of a rembrandt. ♪ there are no musical instruments in the church, just chanting, chanting without end. ( chanting ) many of the voices-- the basses, in particular-- could have made it at the met. ( chanting ) >> simon: we didn't understand the words; we didn't really have to. this phrase we knew-- "lord have

mercy." ( chanting ) >> simon: the most miraculous thing about mt. athos, when we return. follow the wings.

cuban cajun raw seafood pizza parlor french fondue tex-mex fro-yo tapas puck chinese takeout taco truck free range chicken pancake stack baked alaska 5% cash back. right now, get 5% cash back at restaurants. it pays to discover. ♪ like so many great pioneers before me, guided only by a dream. i'm embarking on a journey of epic proportion. i will travel, from sea to shining sea, through amber waves of grain, and i won't stop until i've helped every driver in america save hundreds on car insurance. well i'm out of the parking lot. that's a good start.

geico, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent, or more on car insurance. i love it. not wash. power wash. ok. whoa. [ female announcer ] life comes with headaches. excedrin extra strength gets rid of them fast.

in fact, for some, relief starts in just 15 minutes. excedrin. for life's headaches.

>> simon: the most miraculous thing about mt. athos may simply be the fact that it's still there. over the centuries, it has been invaded by crusaders, ottomans, mercenaries, pirates and franks. the nazis had their eyes on it, too. the 2,000 monks attribute their survival, not surprisingly, to divine intervention. but they've also been pretty crafty. some of the measures they've taken will surprise you. if you'd like to come for a visit, though, it can be arranged. but it's not easy. first, you'll need a visa issued by the monks. and unless you're an orthodox pilgrim, it can take a while. next, you'll fly to athens and make your way to a scruffy little town in northern greece where there's no airport and where the roads are dicey. then, you'll hop on a ferry, unless the trip has been cancelled because of rough seas. that happens all the time, but on a calm day, it can be a very

pleasant ride. the monks will tell you it takes years of prayer and soul- searching before they're ready to leave the world for mt. athos. for the likes of us, though, it takes little more than an hour. it was the beginning of lent when we took these pictures, and the ferry was packed with pilgrims from all over the orthodox christian world-- greeks, bulgarians, serbs, romanians, russians. it wasn't long before the first monasteries came into view and we thought we were sailing to byzantium, to a fantasy land of castles and palaces. ( bells ring ) we were headed for vatopedi, one of the oldest and largest monasteries on mt. athos.

it had the feel of a medieval city. holiness seemed to seep from the very stones; from the frescoes on the 10th-century church; from the marble font for holy water. but then, there was the monastery's secular-looking centerpiece. there's nothing remarkable about the clock tower at the vatopedi monastery, except for one thing. check out the time-- it's just about 8:30. now, my watch reads 2:30. that's a six-hour difference, and there's nothing wrong with their clock or with my watch. it's because the monks on mt. athos keep byzantine time. the day starts at sunset, not at midnight. the monks measured time this way during the days of the byzantine empire. that's the christian empire that followed the fall of rome. and that's the flag they still fly here. how long ago did the byzantine empire fall?

>> serapion ( translated ): 1453. that's a well-known fact. >> simon: well, it wasn't to us. but to father serapion, 1453 is the day before yesterday. this peninsula is the only place in the world that still keeps byzantine time. >> serapion: it has maintained this time for some 550 years. >> simon: it was harvest time when we arrived, and dozens of monks were hard at work in the olive groves on the hills overlooking the monastery. that's where we ran into father nikandros from melbourne, australia. >> father nikandros: this place looks like a... like a summer resort. >> simon: sure does. >> nikandros: like a retreat, but it's not. it's an arena. >> simon: what do you mean, it's an arena? >> nikandros: unseen warfare. >> simon: unseen warfare? >> nikandros: that's right. >> simon: what does that mean? >> nikandros: we fight against the angels of... of the dark side, you see; of the demon, of the devil, satan.

>> simon: the battle against satan and the dark side is waged here every day. ( chanting ) the spiritual leader at vatopedi is abbot efraim. >> abbot efraim ( translated ): here, the life in christ is experienced in a genuine way. and this doesn't happen in many other places in the world. what i'm talking about is the art of salvation. >> simon: it just so happened that, while we were there, the monks celebrated an elaborate seven-hour vigil. and the church was packed with pilgrims. it's held once a year to honor the archangels gabriel and michael. according to the bible, gabriel and michael led the army of angels that expelled satan from heaven.

the church's relics are brought out every day, and pilgrims ask for the blessings of the saints. the most sacred relic on the entire peninsula is in this case-- fabric said to be part of a garment worn by the virgin mary. the irony is that, while the mother of god is revered here, no other woman is permitted to even set foot on mt. athos. it's been like that for a thousand years. the reason, according to orthodox doctrine, is that christ gave the peninsula to his mother, and all other women have been excluded so as to fully honor the virgin mary. it's also said that, in the days before the ban, when women did come here, the monks became distracted and couldn't devote themselves entirely to prayer. they say it's been a lot easier since the last lady left. keeping women out certainly

wasn't much of a problem 300, 400 years ago. do you feel that's becoming problematic today? >> father arsenios: i don't believe so, because the monastery itself and all the land around it is our property. and if we don't want women coming onto our property, we have every right to do that. ( chanting ) >> simon: mt. athos may be the last all-male bastion in the world, and father arsenios says it has to stay that way. >> arsenios: here, we're concerned solely with purity and our elevation to eternity. if women are permitted, they would bring their families and their children. this place would become a tourist attraction and no longer a place of silence. >> simon: if we wanted to experience profound silence, we were advised to go to stavronika. it's the smallest monastery on the mountain, but has some of the most remarkable treasures.

you stain the silence just by walking in. there's no electricity here, so the icons and mosaics are illuminated only by shafts of sunlight and a few candles: st. nicolas, the patron saint; john the baptist; and the virgin mary. we were stunned by the magnificence of the art here. but then we ran into father maximos, a former professor at the harvard divinity school. he told us what we were looking at cannot be described as art. >> father maximos: they're devotional objects, and they're part of the living liturgical life of the church. so we don't have any art and we're not a museum, i mean, to... to put it starkly. >> simon: whatever you call it, it's priceless. that's why the monasteries have been invaded and plundered so many times over the centuries. the monks most recent brush with history happened only 70 years ago. the nazis were coming their way.

>> maximos: in the spring of 1941, the germans invaded and occupied greece. >> simon: they marched up the acropolis, raised the swastika beside the parthenon, and were about to invade. the monks asked for a meeting with nazi officers, who advised them to appeal to hitler himself. and the monks wrote a letter to hitler? >> maximos: a letter was written, and in the letter, the monks identified themselves. they said, "this is who we are." and they... they asked hitler to place the holy mountain under his personal protection. >> simon: what kind of response did you get? >> maximos: well, it seems that hitler liked the idea, and accepted the invitation to become the personal protector of the holy mountain. >> simon: let me just get that straight-- hitler, the personal protector of the holy mountain? >> maximos: that's right. that's right.

>> simon: hitler did send a team of german academics to mt. athos. they took 1,800 pictures of the mountain's treasures, and it wasn't because they enjoyed photography. hitler wanted the monastery's riches in berlin. >> maximos: the professors were sent as an advance team to catalogue the treasures of the holy mountain so that a selection of things could be made to be removed, so... >> simon: didn't happen, did it? >> maximos: no, it didn't. not a single thing was taken. >> simon: father maximos believes they have the russians to thank for that-- that by the time the nazi scholars completed their work, hitler was bogged down in russia and wasn't thinking about icons. that nazi period has been largely forgotten here. to the monks, it was just one more blip on the road, and a small one at that. today, vatopedi is the most popular destination on the mountain. it hosts 35,000 pilgrims a year and offers more than spiritual sustenance. the monks have their own fishing boats and the catch is pretty

good. the fish are served fresher than in any greek restaurant. the refectory dates from the 12th century, and since the 12th century, the food here has been free. vatopedi has been supported by rich benefactors, emperors, princes, kings and, today, partially by pilgrims with deep pockets who commission icons in the making. but the ancient treasures? not a chance. they can't even see them. they're under lock and key. it's not a new security system, but it works. normally, it takes more than one monk to unlock the door, because no one monk is allowed to have all four keys at the same time. it's sort of a medieval version of the nuclear launch control. do you keep those keys in your pocket, father? >> father matthew: i try not to. >> simon: father mathew, from

fond du lac, wisconsin, was given the abbot's blessing to let us into the inner sanctum. once inside, there's still another hidden door. >> matthew: behind the curtain... >> simon: we walked into the world of byzantium. it was hard to imagine that everything here was at least 600 years old, because the brilliance had not faded. there are almost 4,000 icons stored in this monastery alone-- the highlight, a 14th-century icon of christ. every monk will tell you the sole purpose of life on mt. athos is to get closer to christ every day. and they say total union with christ is only possible when they leave this world. >> serapion: the first thing a monk does is embrace and love death. >> simon: "embrace and love death"? >> serapion: because death is the ticket to the other life.

without a ticket, you can't travel. >> simon: where do you get the ticket? >> serapion: in this life. that's what we do each day-- we prepare for death. and we are joyful about our journey to heaven. >> simon: father mathew offered to take us to the transit point between this world and heaven. when a monks dies, he's buried, until there's nothing left but bones. then, he's brought to where every monk who's ever lived here ends up-- the ossuary. any idea how many skulls there are here? >> matthew: thousands. i'm not sure how many thousands. >> simon: any idea how far they go back? >> matthew: the ones here would be to the 16th century. >> simon: when you look at the ossuary, what comes to mind? >> matthew: mostly, i see that this is where i'm going to be. i always like to say these are my future roommates. >> simon: there was nowhere for us to go from there, so we headed back to the mainland. the monks invited us to come back any time, and if we do-- or

if our grandsons or great- grandsons do-- after ten days here, this much we believe: mt. athos will not have changed at all. >> go to 60minutesovertime.com to see the challenges of scaling and shooting a story on mount athos. w. ♪

[ male announcer ] campbell's green bean casserole. it's amazing what soup can do [ tea kettle whistle ] [ male announcer ] beat your worst flu symptoms. theraflu max d contains the most powerful medicine allowable without a prescription to fight your worst flu symptoms. theraflu max d. serious power. [ mumbles ] mommy taught me bunny ears. ♪ [ laughter ] try this. good job. ♪ goodnight hali, this one is from me. and this one is from mommy. and this one is from mommy. mommy! ahh! mom! oh! oh, mommy! oh! ♪

>> safer: i'm morley safer. we'll be back next week on new year's day with another edition of "60 minutes." merry christmas. [ female announcer ] your favorite folgers gourmet selections flavors

are available one perfectly brewed cup at a time folgers gourmet selections k-cup packs extraordinary roasts. exceptionally rich flavors. available where you buy groceries. exceptionally rich flavors. do not miss sears after-christmas sale! save on all fitness equipment, including nordictrack. save up to 25% on all kenmore appliances. plus save an extra 15% on all appliances over $499 with your sears card. for serious after-christmas savings, get to sears!

these things are for real. so is excedrin migraine. it starts relieving migraine pain in half an hour. that's not all. gets rid of sensitivity to light and sound...everything. [ male announcer ] number one neurologist recommended.

captioning funded by cbs, and ford-- built for the road ahead. captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org