Pantokratoros Monastery

For the former monastery in Meteora, see Pantokratoros Monastery (Meteora).

Pantokratoros

Παντοκράτορος
External view of the monastery.
Location within Mount Athos
Monastery information
Full name	Holy Monastery of Pantokratoros
Order	Ecumenical Patriarchate
Dedicated to	Transfiguration of Our Lord
Diocese	Mount Athos
People
Founder(s)	Alexios and John
Prior	Archimandrite Elder Gabriel
Site
Location	Monastic community of Mount Athos
Coordinates	40°17′00.86″N 24°15′59.58″E
Public access	Men only

Pantokratoros Monastery (Greek: Μονή Παντοκράτορος) is a Greek Orthodox monastery in the monastic state of Mount Athos in Greece. It stands on the north-eastern side of the Athos peninsula, and is dedicated to the Transfiguration of Our Lord. The monastery ranks seventh in the hierarchy of the Athonite monasteries.

History

It was founded around 1360 by the megas stratopedarches Alexios and the megas primikerios John after an imperial chrysobull was granted to them by John V Palaiologos in March 1357.^[1] By the end of the 15th century, the Russian pilgrim Isaiah confirms that the monastery was Greek.^[2]

After a long period as an idiorrhythmic monastery, it reverted to the coenobitic system in 1992, the last monastery on Mount Athos to do so. Thirteen fathers from the Athonite monastery of Xenophontos were permitted to move in, and priestmonk Vissarion was elected as abbot. He died shortly after resigning the abbacy in 2001, and priestmonk Gabriel was elected to succeed him.

A notable monk was Benjamin of Lesbos, who was ordained as a monk in the monastery in the late 1770s and went on to become a significant figure in the Modern Greek Enlightenment.^[3]

In 1992, Vatopedi was converted from an idiorrhythmic monastery into a cenobitic one, becoming the final idiorrhythmic monastery to make the change to cenobitism.^[4]

Manuscripts

The library houses c. 350 manuscripts, and 3,500 printed books. The monastery's documents are written in Greek and Turkish. Today the monastery has about 30 monks. Notably the Uncial 051.

Sites

Pantokratoros Bridge [bg] (Greek: Γεφύρι στη Μονή Παντοκράτορος) is a historical bridge located at a stream behind the main monastery.

References

1. Speake, Graham (2014). Mount Athos: renewal in paradise. Limni, Evia, Greece: Denise Harvey. p. 75. ISBN 978-960-7120-34-2. OCLC 903320491.
2. A. E. Bakalopulos (1973). History of Macedonia, 1354-1833. [By] A.E. Vacalopoulos. p. 166. At the end of the 15th century, the Russian pilgrim Isaiah relates that the monks support themselves with various kinds of work including the cultivation of their vineyards....He also tells us that nearly half the monasteries are Slav or Albanian. As Serbian he instances Docheiariou, Grigoriou, Ayiou Pavlou, a monastery near Ayiou Pavlou and dedicated to St. John the Theologian (he no doubt means the monastery of Ayiou Dionysiou), and Chilandariou. Panteleïmon is Russian, Simonopetra is Bulgarian, and Karakallou and Philotheou are Albanian. Zographou, Kastamonitou (see fig. 58), Xeropotamou, Koutloumousiou, Xenophontos, Iveron and Protaton he mentions without any designation; while Lavra, Vatopedi (see fig. 59), Pantokratoros, and Stavronikita (which had been recently founded by the patriarch Jeremiah I) he names specifically as being Greek (see map 6).
3. E. Theodossiou; V.N. Manimanis; M.S. Dimitrijevic. "The theory of Pantachekineton of Benjamin Lesvios". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
4. Dorobantu, Marius (2017-08-28). Hesychasm, the Jesus Prayer and the contemporary spiritual revival of Mount Athos (Master's thesis). Nijmegen: Radboud University. Retrieved 2022-08-28.

External links

Media related to Pantokratoros monastery at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Greek Ministry of Culture: Holy Monastery of Pantokrator
• Pantokrators monastery at the Mount Athos website
• Pantocrator - Holy Mountain
• Pantokrator Monastery at OrthodoxWiki