Whenever Monk Joseph hears the sound of an aircraft, he stands close at the edge of a cliff above the Aegean and waves a huge Greek—or sometimes Byzantine—flag at the Greek Air Force pilots flying over the peninsula of Athos in northern Greece. The pilots fly low in response to the monk’s special greeting, paying respect to the man known among the Greek Air force circles as the patron of pilots. Then the monk would wave back in response until one day Joseph took a huge Greek flag and started waving it back at the pilot.