Simon Critchley, an American philosopher out of New York, has been writing an eight-part series for the New York Times taking a philosophical tour of Athens. On April 3, 2019 he wrote an article titled "The Happiest Man I’ve Ever Met", where he describes a three day visit he made to Mount Athos, specifically the Monastery of Simonopetra, and his encounter with a Greek-American monk originally from New York, Father Ioanikios. The article can be read in full here.