Damianos of Vatopaidi, hieromonk (second half of the 17th – early 18th century)
Damianos flourished from 1680 to 1710. His birthdate is placed somewhere in the 1640s. He studied close to the famed Athonite melodist, Kosmas of Iveron. In his turn, Damianos himself produced of a fair number of recognized musicians, but he remained known as the “teacher of the civilian melodist”, of whom may be counted Panagiotis Chalatzoglou, protopsaltis of the Patriarchate, and Petros Bereketis of Byzantium. His compositional work is great, but the work with which he is identified most and which has been anthologized most is his eight-mode Theotokion, “Tin ontos Theotokon”. It constitutes a sublime example of his creative musical abilities as well as of Athonite musical composition in general. The greater portion of the works of Damianos have been rewritten in the new-style musical notation by the two interpreters, Grigorios and Chourmouzios. Damianos was also involved in writing books.