Bulgarian monk Brother Nikanor, 32, walks in front of Tsurnogorski monastery, some 50 km [31miles] west of the capital Sofia, September 24, 2008. The Nasdaq broker turned monk advises his former colleagues, shattered by the financial crisis, to keep a jar full of soil on their desks to remind them about where we are all heading to and what really matters in life. Five years ago, after failing to find happiness in the life he lived, the Christian Orthodox who hadn't practised as a child quit the New York-based market for a dilapidated Bulgarian monastery that once served as a communist labour camp. [source: REUTERS]
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[Another?] Wall Street broker has left Manhattan to become a monk in a Bulgarian monastery.
Hristo Mishkov was a broker on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York until he gave it all up to return to his native Bulgaria, reports the Daily Telegraph.
He now wakes at dawn to attend to a herd of cheese-producing buffalo in the 12th century Tsurnogorski monastery, 30 miles west of Sofia.
Exchanging designer suits and shoes for a cassock and sandals, Brother Nikanor believes Wall Street and the City deserve all they get as the global financial system goes into meltdown.
"It is right to see people who consume more than they deserve shattered by a financial crisis from time to time, to suffer so that they can become more reasonable," he said.
The collapse of banks and investment firms was a necessary correction because they had grown greedy, he said.
"Many people in the world do not realise that they have not earned the food they eat, that they take without giving," said Mr Mishkov, 32, who worked for Karoll, one of Bulgaria's leading brokerages.
"But if someone consumes more than they have earned, it means someone else is starving."
His former colleagues were stunned when he decided to become a monk, but he had made up his mind to seek spiritual well-being rather than material wealth.
"Everybody can be a good broker but this does not bring much benefit for the world," he said.
[Another?] Wall Street broker has left Manhattan to become a monk in a Bulgarian monastery.
Hristo Mishkov was a broker on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York until he gave it all up to return to his native Bulgaria, reports the Daily Telegraph.
He now wakes at dawn to attend to a herd of cheese-producing buffalo in the 12th century Tsurnogorski monastery, 30 miles west of Sofia.
Exchanging designer suits and shoes for a cassock and sandals, Brother Nikanor believes Wall Street and the City deserve all they get as the global financial system goes into meltdown.
"It is right to see people who consume more than they deserve shattered by a financial crisis from time to time, to suffer so that they can become more reasonable," he said.
The collapse of banks and investment firms was a necessary correction because they had grown greedy, he said.
"Many people in the world do not realise that they have not earned the food they eat, that they take without giving," said Mr Mishkov, 32, who worked for Karoll, one of Bulgaria's leading brokerages.
"But if someone consumes more than they have earned, it means someone else is starving."
His former colleagues were stunned when he decided to become a monk, but he had made up his mind to seek spiritual well-being rather than material wealth.
"Everybody can be a good broker but this does not bring much benefit for the world," he said.
[source: ANANOVA]
Do they know each other?
