in his early books he explored first a circle of healers on cyprus surrounding "daskalos" (a pseudonym for stylianos atteshlis ), who combined some christian beliefs with shamanistic practices, and latterly mystical christianity through his association with a charismatic elder, father maximos, a former monk from mount athos, and a close disciple when on athos of the great 20th century greek saint paisios. (maximos is, apparently, markides' pseudonym for a cypriot bishop, namely metropolitan athanasios of limassol.) markides essentially returned to his orthodox christian roots of childhood, centering his latter books around conversations with fr maximos when he got posted to cyprus to be an abbott, and then later to be bishop and metropolitan. markides visited him there many times, and also returns to mt athos, the great monastic centre of north greece where 2.5 thousand monks reside. markides has also given lectures and workshops around the united states, canada and other countries as well as appearing on us television and being interviewed by radio stations, newspapers and magazines. there is a fairly wide-ranging interview in two parts with kevin allen of ancient faith radio available online as an audio download or transcript. dr. markides also spoke for the san antonio, texas-based south texas geriatric education center (stgec) in 2000.