I had looked for the self-transformative heart of Buddhism, Yoga, Islamic Sufism and now wanted to find out what were the steps Jesus spoke of for evolving the inner person; In the Bible I had seen many second hand accounts of what happened with Jesus' life and after his death, letters between church founders and indirect mentions of what Jesus might have tought his apostles when they were alone together all those years. What did Jesus speak to them about, what did he teach them, how did they go from ordinary men to the miracle-workers and saints they became? That is what I set out to find and I went to the oldest living church to begin.

My first contact with the Eastern Orthodox Church was in Istambul, former Constantinople and head of the Byzantine Empire, cradle of early Christianity. There I went to see the maximum Orthodox Patriarch, Bartholemew - an impressive aesthetic leader strong as an oak tree. Everyone from a sincere monk to his personal spokesman told me that what I seek might be found on Mt. Athos, the ancient unbroken stronghold of Orthodox inner transformation and likely vessel of oral traditions passed down from the original teacher.