In June 2025, Mel Gibson traveled to Mount Athos in Greece and spent three days at the Hilandar Monastery as part of a personal spiritual retreat.
He attended daily services, shared meals with the monks, and spoke with them about their way of life. The abbot of the monastery, Arch imandrite Methodios, introduced him to the holy relics, the history of Hilandar, and monastic life there.
The Hilandar Monastery is a Serbian Orthodox monastery with more than 800 years of continuous monastic life.
Gibson attended during Vidovdan on June 28, one of the most important religious and national days in the Serbian Orthodox tradition.
Upon arriving, Gibson told the monks: “I’ve never felt such a strong connection with God anywhere like I did here.”
His visit is also believed to be connected to his upcoming film The Resurrection of Christ, a sequel to The Passion of the Christ, which is reportedly set to begin filming.
The man who spent $30 million of his own money to make The Passion of the Christ went to pray in silence with monks on a mountain in Greece.
Thanks for the photos: preservehilandar