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

monastic community of Mount Athos The monastic community of Mount Athos is an Eastern Orthodox community of monks around Mount Athos, Greece, who hold the status of an autonomous region with its own sovereignty within Greece and the European Union, as well as the combined rights ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

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

Authority

The office is assumed by a

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

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."

History

Since the founding of the Karyes Protaton in the tenth century until 1312, the Protos was directly appointed by the

Byzantine Emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

after being elected by the ''

hegumen Hegumen, hegumenos, or igumen (, trans. ), is the title for the head of a monastery in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, or an archpriest in the Coptic Orthodox Church, similar to the title of abbot. The head of a convent of ...

oi'' of Mount Athos. However, in November 1312,

Andronikos II Palaiologos Andronikos II Palaiologos (; 25 March 1259 – 13 February 1332), Latinization of names, Latinized as Andronicus II Palaeologus, reigned as Byzantine emperor from 1282 to 1328. His reign marked the beginning of the recently restored em ...

issued a

chrysobull A golden bull or chrysobull was a decree issued by Byzantine emperors and monarchs in Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Description A golden bull was a decree issued by Byzantine Emperors. It was later used by monarchs in Europe ...

requiring the Protos to be appointed by the

Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople () is the List of ecumenical patriarchs of Constantinople, archbishop of Constantinople and (first among equals) among the heads of the several autocephalous churches that comprise the Eastern Orthodox ...

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 (; 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 name Matthaios (). Manuel was a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, which ...

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

List of ''protoi''

* Christodoulos of Patmos, after 1093 *

Hilarion Hilarion (291–371), also known by the bynames of Thavata, of Gaza, and in the Orthodox Church as the Great was a Christian anchorite who spent most of his life in the desert according to the example of Anthony the Great (c. 251–356). While ...

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