audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - Maxime Qavtaradze is literally close to the heavens. The 59-year-old monk lives atop a stone pillar in Georgia, scaling a 131-foot ladder in order to leave and enter his lofty home. The Katskhi Pillar has long been venerated by locals in the area, though it's been uninhabited since around the 1400s. When climbers ascended for the first time in centuries in 1944, they found the ruins of a church and the 600-year-old bones of the last stylite who lived there. The stylite tradition is believed to have begun in 423 when St. Simeon the Elder climbed a pillar in Syria in order to avoid worldly temptations, but the practice has since fallen out of favor. However, Qavtaradze is a modern devotee. Though isolated, he is not a total hermit, coming down once or twice a week to counsel the troubled young men who come to the monastery at the bottom for his help. After all, he was once one of them. Though he now lives at the top of the world, Qavtaradze found his vocation when he was the lowest he's ever been, doing prison time after he ''drank, sold drugs, everything'' as a young man. He took monastic vows in 1993, and has been working to rebuild the monastery complex, chapel, and hermitage for the last fifteen years.
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June 20, 2013 - Katskhi, Imereti, Georgia - SERGO MIKHELIDZE and a friend deliver lunch to Maxime by winch.
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June 20, 2013 - Katskhi, Imereti, Georgia - MAXIME looks out from his favorite spot on the pillar.
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June 18, 2013 - Katskhi, Imereti, Georgia - MAXIME and his cottage on the pillar. Everything atop the pillar was either carried or winched up by an army of volunteers.
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June 20, 2013 - Katskhi, Imereti, Georgia - The pillar is lit up at the end of a stormy day in the valley.
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June 18, 2013 - Katskhi, Imereti, Georgia - Interior of the chapel atop the pillar.
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June 18, 2013 - Katskhi, Imereti, Georgia - In a crypt under the chapel lie the remains of the stylite who perished atop the pillar some 600 years ago. When asked if his bones will lie in the same crypt, Maxime stretches out his hands ''of course!''
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June 20, 2013 - Katskhi, Imereti, Georgia - IRAKLI KURASHVILI 23, walks back towards the chapel at the base of the pillar, right, after ringing the bell which signals the start of the night prayers which run from 2 a.m. until sunrise. Irakli was divorced at age 22 and came to the monastery to seek help from God, and advice from Maxime. ''Maxime has done so much for me. It is too late for me to become a monk like Maxime now, but I am considering becoming a priest.''
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June 18, 2013 - Katskhi, Imereti, Georgia - The telephone which connects Maxime with the priests below.
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June 17, 2013 - Katskhi, Imereti, Georgia - A religious community has grown up around the pillar which serves the needs of men with problems in their lives. At left is the living quarters, at right is the chapel named after Saint Simeon.
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June 18, 2013 - Katskhi, Imereti, Georgia - MAXIME finds solace in his cottage on the pillar.
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June 21, 2013 - Katskhi, Imereti, Georgia - MAXIME receives his lunch by winch. The monk worked as a crane operator in Soviet times so heights are not an issue for him.
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June 20, 2013 - Katskhi, Imereti, Georgia - At the base of the pillar is a chapel named after St. Simeon, the first stylite. Every man who comes to get help with his problems is required to pray for approximately seven hours, including from 2 a.m. until sunrise every day. This picture shows the scene at 4 a.m.
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June 19, 2013 - Katskhi, Imereti, Georgia - SERGO MIKHELIDZE, left, 19, and IRAKLI KURASHVILI, 23, at prayer in their dormitory at the base of the pillar. Sergo worked in a factory and is now considering life as a priest or monk. He will stay in the monastery for three months to see if he is strong enough to commit to the life of a 'holy man.' When asked what sins he has trouble avoiding in the outside world, he pauses and says, ''I just can't seem to stay away from girls''.
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June 22, 2013 - Katskhi, Imereti, Georgia - Overview of the pillar in its craggy surroundings.
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June 18, 2013 - Katskhi, Imereti, Georgia - MAXIME and his cottage on the pillar. Everything atop the pillar was either carried or winched up by an army of volunteers. 'I need the silence. It is up here in the silence that you can feel God's presence.'
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