A depiction of the Holy Virgin Mary residing over the Holy Mount. According to tradition, the Virgin visited the Holy Mountain in 49 AD. She had set sail with St John the Evangelist to visit Lazarus, bishop of Cyprus. The ship was blown off course and instead of reaching Cyprus, they came upon the imposing summit of Mount Athos. The words of the Theotokos upon first seing the Holy Mountain are fondly remembered there today: "This mountain is holy ground. Let it now be my portion. Here let me remain." Her vessel is said to have shored in a bay at Clementos. There stood in that place (now the site of the Holy Monastery of Iviron) a temple and oracle of Apollo. Tradition records that as the Virgin set foot upon Athonite soil the air resounded with the sound of loud crashing, as its pagan altars fell and the oracle of Apollo proclaimed its own false nature. All who lived on Athos were converted and baptized by the Mother of God, who then resumed her voyage to Cyprus.