Monthly Archives: Μάιος 2020

To the west of the building complex, the cemetery and the Chapel of the Holy Trinity are located. The basement of the Chapel serves as an ossuary, where the relics of the late fathers of the monastery – the less visible members of the fraternity – rest.

The museum is located in same wing as the library. It was inaugurated in 1998, when the millennium of the monastery was celebrated. In addition to the two mosaic icons of Sts Georgios and Demetrios, it also hosts many other precious works of art, including a 12th-century icon of Panagia Hodigitria, and a small 13th-century steatite icon depicting the Transfiguration. A recently published catalogue of the exhibition thoroughly informs the visitor about the artifacts.

The library is housed in a specifically-designed space in the south wing of the new enclosure. Although the bulk of the Monastery's collection was unfortunately lost over the centuries, it still includes about 550 manuscripts, including three parchment liturgical scrolls. The number of music manuscripts is particularly significant. Some of the modern music manuscripts, mainly liturgical services, are not yet known to the general public because they are still unpublished. There are about 15,000 printed books, as well as one of the largest collections of old prints on Mt Athos.

The 'Synodikon' (conference hall) is a building where the monastic fraternity gathers to discuss spiritual or administrative matters. The new conference hall, recently reconstructed, is located to the north of the old cathedral. It is a good example of modern restoration of historical architecture with traditional materials. Three marble columns support the arches of the balcony, which is enclosed with perforated screens. Three ceramic discs in the colors of marble and clay enrich the decoration of the face of the building. The style and decoration resemble a simple version of a Byzantine palace.

The new cathedral, also dedicated to St Georgios, was completed in the 1830s. It is the largest cathedral on Mount Athos. The marble icon screen was constructed, together with the religious throne and the altar ciborium, from 1845 to 1847 by sculptors from the island of Tinos, an island which still has a high reputation for its school of sculpture. Some of the marble came from Tinos, while others came from the local quarries of Kausokalyvia on Athos. The frescoes are recent works of the well-known workshop at the Monastery. The new cathedral hosts the miraculous 14th-century icon of the Panagia Hodigitria ('The Virgin Mary, The Leader or Guide'), which came to the Monastery from Vatopedi Monastery in a wondrous way in 1730.

The refectory, the place that is usually located near the cathedral in every monastery, is situated directly behind the old cathedral, opposite to its entrance. There the fraternity gathers twice a day for the common meal between the services. The figures in the frescoes, which date to 1496/7, surround the monks, and connect the monastics of the past with those of the present. The frescoes in the Xenofontos Monastery refrectory are the oldest preserved refectory decoration on Mount Athos.

At the southeast corner of the old cathedral, a humble opening leads to the chapel of St Demetrios. The elegant chapel that no longer has a dome preserves fragments of Byzantine frescoes of the early 14th century. The few surviving faces allow the visitor to guess at what the unknown painter's work in the great metropolises of the day – perhaps churches in Thessaloniki or even Konstantinople – would have been like, if any still existed today.

The old cathedral had been at the core of the spiritual life at the Monastery for over eight centuries. Groups of holy figures share the space with the faithful, painted on walls in 1544 by the painter Antonios. The frescoes express an artistic style different from that of Theophanis of Crete and Frangos Katelanos, the two masters who dominated the religious painting of the Balkans in the 16th century. The art of the painter Antonios, with daring contrasts of light and shadow, is closely related within Athos to the frescoes of the Chapel of St Georgios in the Monastery of St Paul.

While walking along the coast towards the Monastery's entrance gate, the visitor first sees the oldest parts of the building complex. He passes beneath the sea walls, where the guest house that will welcome him is located. Today, visitors enter the Monastery through a helical passage at the southwest corner of the walls. Its shape is defined by the two tower-like buildings which border it: The so-called St Stephen's tower at the inner end of the passage, and the Holy Apostles tower at the outer. The latter tower is dated to 1661/2.