The ''protos'' ( el, πρώτος, "first, premier") is a monastic office at the

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...

monastic community of Mount Athos The monastic community of Mount Athos is an Eastern Orthodox community of monks in Greece, enjoying the status of an autonomous region holding the combined rights of a decentralized administration, a region and a municipality, with its territo ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. The office headquarters are located in Karyes, Mount Athos.

Authority

The office is assumed by a

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

who is elected among the members of the ''Iera Epistasia'' ("Holy Administration" or "Holy Executive Committee") which functions as the executive committee of the ''Iera Koinotita'' ("Holy Community") — the governing body of the

, composed of representatives from each of the Athonite monasteries — to be the head of the Athonite monastic community. The Protos is also known as the ''Protos Hesychastes'', or the "First

Hesychast Hesychasm (; Greek: Ησυχασμός) is a contemplative monastic tradition in the Eastern Orthodox Church in which stillness (''hēsychia'') is sought through uninterrupted Jesus prayer. While rooted in early Christian monasticism, it took i ...

History

Since the founding of the Karyes

Protaton The Protaton ( el, Πρωτάτο), also known as the Dormition of the Theotokos Church ( el, Ναός Κοίμησης της Θεοτόκου), is the main church of Karyes, Mount Athos. It also serves as the ecclesiastical seat of the Proto ...

in the tenth century until 1312, the Protos was directly appointed by the

Byzantine Emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, to Fall of Constantinople, its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. On ...

after being elected by the ''

hegumen Hegumen, hegumenos, or igumen ( el, ἡγούμενος, trans. ), is the title for the head of a monastery in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, similar to the title of abbot. The head of a convent of nuns is called a hegumenia ...

oi'' of Mount Athos. However, in November 1312, Andronikos II Palaiologos issued a chrysobull requiring the Protos to be appointed by the

Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople ( Istanbul), New Rome and '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of ...

rather than by the Emperor. The third typikon of Mount Athos, issued in 1400 and signed by

Manuel II Palaiologos Manuel II Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( gr, Μανουὴλ Παλαιολόγος, Manouēl Palaiológos; 27 June 1350 – 21 July 1425) was Byzantine emperor from 1391 to 1425. Shortly before his death he was tonsured a monk and received the n ...

, also reaffirmed this requirement while also restoring various rights and powers of the Protos.

List of ''protoi''

* Christodoulos of Patmos, after 1093 *

Hilarion Hilarion the Great (291–371) was an anchorite who spent most of his life in the desert according to the example of Anthony the Great (c. 251–356). While St Anthony is considered to have established Christian monasticism in the Egyptian de ...

*John Tarchaneiotes, ca. 1107 * John Chortaitinos,Angold (2000), p. 591 fl. 1253 * Niphon Kausokalybites, 1345-1347Fine (1994), p. 312 *

Anthony Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the '' Antonii'', a ''gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton, ...

, 1348 (Serbian) * Dorotheus of Hilandar, 1356-1366 (Serbian)

References

Sources

* * *Michael Angold (2000), ''Church and society in Byzantium under the Comneni, 1081-1261''

External links

Protaton of Mount Athos
Ecclesiastical titles Eastern Orthodox monks Mount Athos {{Orthodoxy-stub