The differences in depictions between male and female Saints in Byzantine iconography are definitely different enough to distinguish. But downplaying the human form is a big part of the point of these icons. “Orthodox icons, unlike Western (Latin/Roman Catholic) pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event.”

So while he may not anatomically “know” what a woman looks like, his understanding of scripture and holy tradition as well as the icons he was able to see would be more than enough to understand Biblical femininity as a Greek Orthodox monk of the Great Schema. He would have considered lacking the knowledge of the female form a blessing, as one less passion to potentially tempt him. While that line of thinking is foreign to the modern world, we’re talking about Mt. Athos here.