St. Panteleimon Monastery, Athos

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

St. Panteleimon Monastery has been standing on Mount Athos for many centuries. Many people know it under a slightly different name - Rossikon. It has long been classified as Russian, but in fact it has been such for no more than a few centuries, since it has been controlled by the Russian Church. He is one of the twenty "ruling" monasteries in these fertile places.

Among the Svyatogorsk monasteries, he was assigned the nineteenth place. In fact, he is directly subordinate to the Patriarch of Constantinople - the St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos is one of the stauropegia of the patriarch. Immediately upon admission to it, a person receives citizenship of the Hellenic Republic. This feature is spelled out in its charter, which was approved back in 1924.

Home Features

In the southwestern part of the Athos peninsula stands the Panteleimon Monastery. It is located in close proximity tocoast. At first glance, its special majestic, and even somewhat fabulous appearance with traditional white stone walls and churches and temples, the walls of which are also distinguished by white decoration, attracts attention.

The peculiarity of this monastery, unlike all the others, which are also located on this peninsula, is that it is almost flush with sea level. That is, travelers can already see its walls and majestic vaults from the water. The building combines several styles at once - experts trace here not only classical features, but also elements inherent in Byzantine culture, as well as Russian churches located in the north of the country. Among such characteristic elements of the St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos are high and at the same time narrow windows along with squat-type onion domes.

Another feature of the monastery is its interiors. There is a chic carved iconostasis and ancient frescoes, many ancient icons. A large number of other church relics have also been collected here.

The erection of the katholikon of the Panteleimon Monastery on Athos dates back to the very beginning of the nineteenth century, when this place was consecrated by the name of the notorious Great Martyr Panteleimon. The relics of St. Panteleimon are also kept here, and everyone who visits these places has the opportunity to bow to them.

Another feature of the St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos is the ensemble of bells available here. Each of them was presented to him by the Russian tsars. Weightthe largest among them reaches 13 tons.

History of the monastery

The settlement of Russian monks in these places was formed approximately in the 11th century. And the status of a separate full-fledged monastery was assigned to it only in 1169. For several centuries, there were practically no Russian monks here. Although the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos was founded by our ancestors, a Russian voice was rarely heard within its walls for a long time.

First inhabitants

So, when the Tatar-Mongol yoke hung over Russia, Serbs, as well as Greeks, became mainly monks here. But already in the 16th century, a clear numerical national superiority in the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos was with the Serbs. This has documented evidence: in those days, the leadership of the monastery corresponded with the ruling power, which was then in Moscow. But the St. Panteleimon Monastery (Athos) at that time did not really care about the authorities, the situation was too difficult within the country itself.

The 18th century turned out to be the most difficult for the monastery, when there were only four monks left under the leadership of the Bulgarian abbot. Half of them were Russians, and the other half were Bulgarians. This was witnessed by Vasily Barsky, who managed to visit here in 1726. And less than a decade later, the Panteleimon Monastery of Athos was declared Greek at all.

The relocation of the monks from the St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos happened in 1770, when they all moved to the coastal cell.

Russian history of the monastery

The main history of the monastery is only from the 19th century, when Stary Rossik was used as a skete. Times were tough back then.

Measured life in these parts reigned only after the peace of Adrianople, which was the result of the end of the Turkish occupation of the territories. Despite the stabilization of the situation in the region, the monastery was not able to return its former possessions - they were taken away from old debts by other monasteries located in these parts. The Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos naturally experienced serious difficulties.

In those days, there was even a proposal to exclude the St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos from the number of official monasteries, but Constantius I, who at that time held the high position of Patriarch of Constantinople, did not allow it to be realized.

The Russian presence in the monastery was encouraged from that time: Gerasim, who was hegumen of the St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos from 1821, despite his Greek identity, also favored this. But especially the Russian beginning began to develop here only after the 1830s, when Hieromonk Jerome and Hieromonk Anikita arrived here.

Moreover, after the death of the local head of the elder Arseniy in 1846, it was Fr. Jerome who received the status of his successor - rector of the St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos, despite the multinational composition of the inhabitants. Moreover, the establishment of the Russian leadership then had a completely natural character - the hieromonk himself did notaspired to a leadership position. He got his place thanks to his experience, participation in the needs of others and active ascetic activity. Abbot of the St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos, both then and now, is a position highly revered in the circles of the Russian Orthodox Church.

A period of active development

From the second half of the 19th century, a period of active expansion and rebuilding of the St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos began. This was made possible largely thanks to the patronage and favor of the imperial court.

In 1861, the brethren of the St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos decided to send Arseny Minin to Russia. The main purpose of his visit was to collect donations. It was he who, in 1867, brought a number of local shrines to the territory of the Epiphany Monastery, located in Moscow.

In 1875, the very first of the Russian hegumen of the St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos was appointed. They became Archimandrite Macarius. Since that time, the Russian brethren of the monastery have been especially growing and gaining activity. The result of this process was the demand of most of the monks that the monastery receive official Russian leadership, like a number of other similar settlements on the peninsula.

In fact, the monastery came under Russian control to the Holy Synod only in the first years of the 20th century. But this was in direct contradiction to the charter of the monastery, which was adopted in 1924.

In fact, both the authorities of the Soviet Union and the Orthodox Church of the country itself continued to consider the Russian located on the Athos peninsulaPanteleimon Monastery is his own, classifying it as a group of monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church. But there were simply no documentary grounds for this civil or church affiliation.

The Patriarchate of Constantinople, in whose actual jurisdiction the monastery was all these years, soon officially recalled its rights and announced a ban on the elevation of the Patriarchate of Moscow as part of public services held on its territory.

Transfer of the monastery to Moscow jurisdiction

Meanwhile, the number of inhabitants here has been constantly increasing. If at the beginning of the 20th century there were 1446 monks, then in 1913 this number exceeded 2000. This helped a lot in protecting the monastery from regular fires, the largest of which occurred in 1307, as well as in 1968.

Throughout history, while the abbots of the St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos changed, his Russian brethren always stood up for his defense if necessary. Among the most famous historians call Elder Silouan.

But over the years, the Patriarchate of Constantinople adhered to a policy aimed at the survival of the emerging Russian metochion of the St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos. Moreover, Greece made every effort to restrict the arrival of citizens of the Soviet Union on its territory. The consequences were not long in coming: at the end of the 20th century, the number of its inhabitants dropped sharply to 13 people.

In the end, the Constantinople leadership officially recognized before the MoscowPatriarchy is the plight of the monastery. When, in the absence of replenishment from outside, the local old people regularly died, it was decided to transfer jurisdiction to Moscow. So this place became one of the Russian corners on the territory of Athos.

The All-Russian Patriarch visited these holy places for the first time already in 1972. At that time, the government of the country actively promoted the development of the monastery, so the situation normalized over time.

"Renaissance" for the monastery

The St. Panteleimon Monastery received real active development only after the state of the USSR collapsed. This is really confirmed by statistics: in 1981 the number of inhabitants here was only 22 people, but already in 1992 this figure increased to 40.

Since that time, the Russian church leadership periodically visited the monastery. Patriarch Alexy II, who headed the Russian Orthodox Church until 2008, visited here in 2002, and its current head, Patriarch Kirill, in 2013.

Among the country's top leaders, Vladimir Putin visited St. Panteleimon Monastery for the first time.

2011 was marked by the creation of a special fund and a board of trustees for the St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos. The corresponding proposal was made by D. Medvedev. This was necessary for the preservation and restoration of the spiritual and cultural population of the monastery. To date, missionary and publishing activities are prescribed for this fund, work continues within the framework ofreconstruction of the premises of the monastery and the construction of new ones.

Today, there are more than 2,000 monks on the territory of Athos, representing various brethren. Of these, a little more than 70 belong to the Panteleimon Monastery. Each of them has Greek citizenship, which is given directly upon registration in the monastery.

The current state of the monastery

At the moment, the head of the Panteleimon Monastery on Athos is hegumen Evlogii. He replaced Schema-Archimandrite Jeremiah at this post, who had been the head here since 1979.

And today a little less than eight dozen monks officially live on the territory of the monastery, mainly from Russia, there are also representatives of Belarus and Ukraine.

There are a dozen and a half different churches on the territory of the monastery - for Athos this is a huge figure. On their territory there are many revered ancient relics, including the relics of several apostles and the icon of the Mother of God of Jerusalem, known for its miraculous effect.

Another local treasure is the library of the monastery. Its fund consists of 20 thousand printed publications of various times, as well as more than 1300 manuscripts written in both Russian and Old Church Slavonic.

From the outside, the buildings here look like a small town. Snow-white church domes rise above small buildings here, as well as buildings with several floors.

Earlier, the archondaric of the monastery had a fairly spacious room, which, among other things, housed royal photographs. But after the biggest fire in 1968year on the territory of the monastery, he was transferred outside the monastery. Now he occupies an imposing building near the seashore.

Now the Panteleimon Monastery has the status of a hostel. Of several dozen monks, only one is Greek.

Premises of a modern monastery

Today, the complex of monastic buildings includes many rooms.

The largest among them are:

• cathedral;
• refectory;
• several chapels;
• 4 exartimes.

The construction of the local cathedral began in 1812, and the work was completed in full by 1821. This information is contained in the inscription that adorns the entrance to it. Its appearance is traditional - the building is similar to other monasteries operating on the territory of Athos. It was erected in honor of St. Panteleimon.

Pre-hewn rectangular stones were used for the walls of the building. Its roof is made up of eight separate domes, at the top of each of which rises a cross. Similar domes can be seen on each of the local chapels.

The interior of the cathedral was painted by Russian artists in the 19th century. Each visitor can see beautiful frescoes along with a decorative iconostasis. As early as 1875, after a corresponding order, services in the monastery went on in parallel in two languages - in Russian and in Greek. This tradition continues today.

Another imposing structure, the refectory,located opposite the entrance to this cathedral. This room is a rectangular building, which occupies the central part of the monastery courtyard. It was also painted with frescoes almost a century and a half ago, shortly after the building itself was laid (1890). The hall itself has an impressive area - at the same time it can accommodate about 800 people.

The upper part of the facade is decorated with a belfry. There are many bells of various sizes collected here.

There are several small chapels in and around the monastery. The main ones are the chapel of St. Mitrofan near the library and the Assumption of the Virgin next to the cathedral, as well as St. Dmitry, Vladimir and Olga, St. Alexander Nevsky and others. The monastery also owns five cells, and two of them are located in Karey.

Relics stored in the monastery

Today, in the Panteleimon Monastery on Athos there are about three hundred relics of various saints, along with many miraculous icons known in the world. Its main shrines are located in the cathedral. First of all, these are the icons of the Mother of God "Kazan", "Jerusalem" and "Abbess of the Holy Mount Athos".

Mosaic icons and various church utensils are also stored here. Among other things, it is represented by crosses and medallions.

A well-known thing in the monastery is a printed Gospel and a sacred chalice, which the monastery received as a gift in 1845 when Prince Konstantin Nikolayevich visited it.

Many richesand the local library keeps the relics. Under it, a detached building with a height of two floors is allotted. Of particular value are Slavic and Greek manuscripts, paper and parchment codices, along with printed ones, including old editions.