Saint Panteleimon Monastery (russian: Монастырь Святого Пантелеймона; el, Μονή Αγίου Παντελεήμονος, ''Moní Agíou Panteleímonos''), known as Rossikon (russian: Россикон, ''Rossikon''; el, Ρωσσικόν, ''Rossikón'') or New Russik (russian: Новый Руссик, ''Novyy Russik''), is one of the twenty

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 " canoni ...

monasteries on

Mount Athos Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the peni ...

, located on the southwestern side of the

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on al ...

Northern Greece Northern Greece ( el, Βόρεια Ελλάδα, Voreia Ellada) is used to refer to the northern parts of Greece, and can have various definitions. Administrative regions of Greece Administrative term The term "Northern Greece" is widely used ...

. It is the Russian monastery on the peninsula. It houses exclusively Russian monks, sent by the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

, and the liturgies are served in Russian, despite the fact that all monks on

eventually become citizens of

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 wit ...

History

The monastery was founded by several monks from

Kievan Rus Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas o ...

in the 11th century, which is why it is known as "Rossikon". It has been inhabited by mainly Russian monks in certain periods of its history. It was recognized as a separate monastery in 1169. The original monastery is known as . Russian pilgrim Isaiah confirms that, by the end of the 15th century, the monastery was Russian. The monastery prospered in the 16th and 17th centuries being lavishly sponsored by the tsars of Moscovy and Serbian dukes of Kratovo, but it declined dramatically in the 18th century to the point where there were only two Russian and two Bulgarian monks left by 1730. The construction of the present monastery on a new site, closer to the seashore, was carried out during the first two decades of the nineteenth century, with the financial help of the ruler of Moldo-Wallachia, Skarlatos Kallimachos. Russian monks numbered 1,000 in 1895, 1,446 in 1903, and more than 2,000 by 1913. During the

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

yoke in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

, most of the monks were

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, Albania, Greeks in Italy, ...

and

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their ...

. The monastery occupies the nineteenth rank in the hierarchical order of the twenty Athonite monasteries. It is coenobitic (i.e., it is a communal monastic life). It also contains four

skete A skete ( ) is a monastic community in Eastern Christianity that allows relative isolation for monks, but also allows for communal services and the safety of shared resources and protection. It is one of four types of early monastic orders, al ...

s. In 1913, the monastery was the site of a raging theological argument (

Imiaslavie ''Imiaslavie'' (russian: Имяславие, literally "praising the name") or ''Imiabozhie'' (), also spelled ''imyaslavie'' and ''imyabozhie'', and also referred to as onomatodoxy, is a Christian dogmatic movement that asserts that the name of ...

) among Russian monks, which led to tsarist Russian intervention and the deportation of approximately 800 of the monks on the losing side of the debate. The Monastery of St Panteleimon was repeatedly gutted by fires, most famously in 1307 (when Catalan mercenaries set it aflame) and in 1968. The first Russian leader to visit the monastery was President

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime m ...

on September 9, 2005.

In the modern era

Today, the monastery features the architecture of a small town, with buildings of various heights and many domes. It is the largest of the monasteries on the peninsula. Although destroyed by a fire in 1968, one wing of the monastery was used as the guest quarters, with a capacity of 1,000 monks. The monastery's ''

katholikon A ''katholikon'' or catholicon ( gr, καθολικόν) or ''sobor'' ( Slavonic: съборъ) refers to one of three things in the Eastern Orthodox Church: * The cathedral of a diocese. * The major church building (temple) of a monastery corre ...

'' (main church) was built between 1812–1821 and is dedicated to

St. Panteleimon Saint Pantaleon ( el, Παντελεήμων, russian: Пантелеи́мон, translit=Panteleímon; "all-compassionate"), counted in the West among the late-medieval Fourteen Holy Helpers and in the East as one of the Holy Unmercenary Heal ...

. It features the same style found in all the Athonite churches. Aside from the ''katholikon'', the monastery has many smaller chapels. The

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

is housed in a separate building in the monastery's court. It contains 1,320

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

manuscripts A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...

and another 600 Slavonic ones, as well as 25,000 printed books. In addition, the library has a few priceless

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tang ...

s, such as the head of Saint Panteleimon, one of the most popular saints in Russia. The 19th-century monastery bells are said to be the largest in Greece. There is a daughter community at the monastery at

New Athos New Athos or Akhali Atoni ( ka, ახალი ათონი, ''Akhali Atoni''; ab, Афон Ҿыц, ''Afon Ch'yts''; russian: Новый Афон; ''Novy Afon'', gr, Νέος Άθως, ''Neos Athos'') is a town in the Gudauta ''raion'' of ...

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which v ...

After the transfer of Athos to the

Kingdom of Greece The Kingdom of Greece ( grc, label=Katharevousa, Greek, Βασίλειον τῆς Ἑλλάδος ) was established in 1832 and was the successor state to the First Hellenic Republic. It was internationally recognised by the Treaty of Constant ...

in 1912, and especially with the start of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

in 1914, the stream of pilgrims and monks from Russia was disrupted and later was strictly controlled by the government of Greece until the collapse of the USSR in 1991. As a result, the number of Russian monks in the monastery and on Mount Athos generally, was reduced from several thousand in the 1900s to 13 in the early 1970s. In the 1990s, Greece relaxed its restrictive policy and the monastery has since undergone a relative revival. As of May 2016, there are approximately 70 Russian and Ukrainian monks.

Some manuscripts

Uncial 052 Codex Athous Panteleimon, designated by 052 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), and known as Uncial 052, is a Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament. It is dated paleographically to the 10th century. Description The codex contains incomp ...

* Minuscule 1093 (Gregory-Aland)

Notable monks

Notable former monks of the monastery include

Daniel Katounakiotis Saint Daniel Katounakiotis of Smyrna ( el, Δανιήλ Κατουνακιώτης ο Σμυρναίος, also known as Daniel of Katounakia; born Dimitrios Dimitriadis, el, Δημήτριος Δημητριάδης) (Smyrna, 1846 – Mount Atho ...

Silouan the Athonite Silouan the Athonite (Russian: Силуан Афонский) also sometimes referred to as Silouan of Athos, Saint Silvanus the Athonite or Staretz Silouan (January 17, 1866 – September 24, 1938) was an Eastern Orthodox monk of Russian origin, ...

, and

Archimandrite Sophrony Saint Sophrony (23 September 1896, in Moscow – 11 July 1993, in Tolleshunt Knights), known also as Elder Sophrony or Father Sophrony was an archimandrite and one of the noted Asceticism, ascetic Christian monks of the twentieth century. He is ...

References

External links

Mount Athos website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Panteleimon Monastery Monasteries on Mount Athos Christian monasteries established in the 11th century Medieval Athos 11th-century establishments in Greece Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Greece Greece–Russia relations Byzantine monasteries in Greece