Monthly Archives: Μάιος 2020

The confiscation of the Athonite properties by the Sultan Selim II in 1563 forced the monks to borrow large sums of money at exorbitant rates in order to buy them back, and also to pay heavy taxes on them, including a property tax of 14,000 gold fiords (an early form of European gold or silver currency). This situation created economic problems for the Monastery, which tried to overcome them by appealing to people for contributions. Furthermore, the seizure of the large dependency on Limnos in 1581 required the payment of a huge sum to get it back.
However, the Monastery soon managed to recover and even to acquire – either through donations or through their purchase – new buildings and land, such as the Katsori Monastery in Blachia, which was donated in 1629 by the Blachian leader Ioannis Alexandros (Ilias). At the same time, work was started to renovate and extend various buildings at the Monastery, such as the cathedral and the northeastern wing. Thus, when Father Synadinos, a cleric from Serres, visited the Monastery in 1629/30 during a pilgrimage to Agios Oros, he characterized it in his diary as well-kept and tidy.
The period from the mid-17th to the mid-18th century was one of decline. It is likely that the communal life at the Monastery came to an end, with Jeremiah (1648-1656) being the last known abbot. It cannot be ruled out that there were some short-term problems, phenomena which were likely related to the economic difficulties faced by the Monastery. However, a dangerous threat to all the Athonite monasteries was posed by raids by pirates. According to Barsky, the Monastery frequently was attacked by pirates, forcing the monks to fortify their towers with cannons.
With the help of some of its productive dependencies, such as those on Thasos, the Monastery managed to recover during the last decades of the 18th century and to begin a new period of prosperity. This was marked by the acquisition of new dependencies, the development of the older ones, and the completion of large-scale construction at the Monastery: The communal dining room was rebuilt, the central dome of the church and the west wing were repaired, and the north wing was opened, together with the chapel of St Andrew and Ioannikio, and the chapel of the Archangels. Special care was given to the enrichment of the collection of liturgical vessels by the addition of new ones, and also to the commissioning of ornate reliquaries. Despite the fact that all these activities created great debt for the Monastery, the monks managed to deal with this new, difficult economic situation with the help of the well-known nobleman Ioannis Iota Kaytadzoglou of Thessaloniki. During this period, a sizeable number of monks (about 60-136) resided at the Monastery.

Agios Oros fell under Ottoman control in 1423/4. During the period which followed, the Monastery, under the leadership of the hieromonk Nicandro (1423), managed to advance the interests of the Monastery despite the adverse conditions: He accepted a significant number of donations and new dependencies or metochies (i.e. a property belonging to the Monastery but located outside of it). These acquisitions reinforced the Monastery economically, thereby placing it in a relatively strong financial position. In 1471, under the tenure of the Abbott Ignatios, the Monastery was visited by the Patriarch of Konstantinople Dionysius I, who was the student of St Mark of Ephesus, at which time a number of issues relating to the Monastery were settled. (After his first resignation from the ecumenical throne, Dionysius became the founder of the Eikosifinissa Monastery in Paggaio.
During that same period, Abbott Ignatios Zagrifas, the former head of the Monastery, was appointed as head of the Agios Oros community, a position which he held from 1483-1496. Several decades later, in 1522, the same honour was bestowed on another member of the Pantokratoros Monastery, the hieromonk Nifon.
The end of the 15th century through the entire 16th century was a period of spiritual renascence of the subjugated Hellenic tradition. The Monastery was strengthened, as were other Athonite monasteries, by Orthodox rulers in the region around the Danube. The first benefactor was the Blachian leader Staikos, who is characterized in a 1501 document as the new patron of the Monastery, and his son-in-law, Neagoe of Peris (1516-1529). Another Blachian patron who provided significant assistance to the Monastery at this time was Neagoe Vasarab Craiovescu (1512-1521), a person known for his special relationship with the hieromonk Nifon. Craiovescu is characterized in Romanian biographies as being the patron of both the Pantocratoras and Iviron monasteries.
Renovations being carried out at the Monastery during this period are linked with the names of two additional Moldavian-Blachian officers: (a) Barboulo, whom Barsky characterizes as the third patron of the Monastery. However, based on surviving evidence, it is not possible to identify him with one of the anonymous officers who are remembered during that period, and (b) the great Moldavian leader (1516-1523, 1539-1541) Gabriel Totrusanu, who financed the repair of the Byzantine aqueduct system at the Monastery in 1536/7. Other patrons around this time (1560-1568) were Count Barcan and his three sons, Radul, Manea and Diicul, who financed the construction of the silver embellishments to the Bible of St John of Kalyvito.
Along with the endowments to the Monastery used for major repairs to the physical structures and facilities, in September 1537, the patriarch Jeremiah I reaffirmed the independence of the Monastery and its rights in a sigilli, as they had been defined in an earlier edict of the Patriarch Antonio IV.
The resurgence of the Monastery during this period is also confirmed by the fact that during the first half of the 16th century, a large population of monks (ranging from 40 to 215) resided there. In 1574, in a report on Agios Oros written by the patriarch Jeremiah II (Tranos), the Monastery is mentioned as having achieved the seventh place in the hierarchy of Athonite monasteries, the position which it still retains today.

After the deaths of the founders, the Monastery faced a serious problem caused by a very destructive fire which broke out in 1392 in the newly-built wing of the compound. Many of the buildings and archives were totally burned or seriously damaged, resulting in the loss of a great many important documents. This event prompted the monks to act – both within the Agios Oros community and outside it – to protect the buildings of the Monastery. They re-published relevant chrysobulls and sigillia, and worked to rebuild the damaged structures, which they succeeded in doing the following year.

The Monastery was founded in the second half of the 14th century, a period when the spiritual/ intellectual development of the Byzantines had reached its height, but also a time when a variety of conflicts in the political and ecclesiastical spheres affected the kingdom. During this time, Stephan Dousan led the Serbs to conquer a significant area in Macedonia, while the Ottomans crossed into the European continent for the first time, gaining European land through the conquest of Kallipolis in Thrace.
At a short distance from the site where the present Monastery was built, an earlier monastery (the Monastery of Christ the Saviour) had been operating since the 11th century. However, the ancient tradition of the Monastery links its founding with the name of the Byzantine Emperor Alexis I Comnenos (1081-1117).
According to sources, and primarily the ancient records in the archives of the Monastery, the original founders of the present day Monastery were two important Byzantine military officers from Konstantinople who were militarily active in Macedonia during this period: The brothers Alexis and Ioannis Comnenos, who held the military titles of Commander-in-Chief and Prime Minister, respectively. Their military successes and their relationship through marriage with the Emperor Ioannis V Palaiologos entitled them to vast landholdings in eastern Macedonia (i.e. Chrysoupolis, Anaktoropolis, Thasos, and Christoupolis), a portion of which they later donated to the Monastery. The exact time of the founding of the Monastery is not known. However, it appears likely that the initial construction may have started in the year 1357, and the official founding probably took place between the months of April and August of that year. At the same time (April 1357), the Emperor Ioannis V Palaiologos and the Patriarch Callistos I announced (in an imperial chrysobull and an eccleastical sigilli, respectively) the awarding of the Cell of Ravdouchos (an existing monastery) in Karyes to the two brothers by Theodora I. This Cell was incorporated into the Monastery a short time later, after its official founding. The Monastery appears in surviving ecclesiastical documents the following year (1357), while the Cathedral was opened in 1362/3 by the Patriarch Callisto I, who declared it to be the ecumenical seat; in 1367, the church was characterized as a basilica. The same Patriarch also issued a sigilli relating to the operation of the monastery. Although the document has unfortunately been lost, it is known to have provided guidelines relating to the independence and communal standards of the monks living in the Monastery, and also for their spiritual well-being.
Several years later, between March 1368 and February 1369, Alexis I died, most likely defending the island of Thasos from the Ottomans. The responsibilities as founder of the Monastery were taken over by Alexis' brother Ioannis and the latter's wife Anna Asanina Kodostefanina, as is verified by the documents from this period, mainly from evidence in the provisions in the Will of Ioannis from August 1384.
The unstable political situation and the military successes of the Ottomans led Ioannis to ask the Venetian leader Andrea Kodarini to grant him Venetian citizenship. His request was granted in January 1374, but he managed to avoid ever fleeing to Venice. He remained in Macedonia, continuing to defend his Byzantine properties, such as those in Marmarolimena, Thasos, where he built a tower and wall, and also continuing his economical support of the Monastery. He remained active at least until the end of 1834, when he retired to the Monastery, where he spent the last years of his life.
According to the Monastery tradition, Ioannis became a monk, adopting the monastic name Ioannikios. A memorial to his residence and death in the Monastery around 1836/7 is the 'Tomb of the Founders', which can be found today on the northern side of Litis, inside the cathedral. The tomb is covered with a pseudo-sarcophagus dating to the 14th century, a part of which has been saved.

The Pantokratoros Monastery is the ecumenical administrative seat of the Orthodox Church and the most important of the Agios Oros monasteries. It is built upon a rocky overhang at the end of a wooded slope, at a height of about 30 meters above the sea, on the northeastern side of the Agios Oros peninsula. This location offers excellent views of the islands of Thasos, Limnos, Samothrace, and sometimes Imbros (weather permitting), as well as towards the northeastern shores of Agios Oros and the iconic Mt Athos, with its steep-sided summit.
Over the years, the location of the Monastery has been singled out by both Greek and foreign writers and travellers. The 17th century scholar and bishop Ioannis Komninos notes in his 1701 work The Pilgrim's Book (Proskynytirion) that 'the sacred and venerated Pantokratoros Monastery is exceptionally beautiful because of its advantageous position facing the sea, surrounded by the solid [walls of a] castle', while Kosmas Blachos (a respected deacon who lived in the 18th century) describes the Monastery as being 'situated on the eastern shore of the mountain, with its northeastern side supported by a cliff, and looking out on a broad horizon, while the waves thrashing against the cliff base create a wild and enjoyable spectacle'.
On the south side of the rocky ledge over which the Monastery dominates, a small harbor has been built, one of the two sheltered areas of Agios Oros which in the past were used to protect small boats in the event of storms. Apart from access by sea, today the Monastery can be reached by a road which starts from the town of Karyes, and branches off from the road leading to the Iviron Monastery. Footpaths also connect some of the monasteries, such as the path from the Vatopedi Monastery heading northeast, and the path between the monasteries Stavronikita ('The Conqueror of the Cross') and Iviron. A stone-paved road connects the Monastery with its affiliated Skete , the monastic community of the Prophet Elias, via an impressive route.
In early Byzantine written documents, the Monastery is referred to as the 'the divine seminary of Christ, the Almighty Saviour', and later as the 'central and patriarchal monastery of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ the Almighty', titles reminiscent of the earlier, similarly named and well-known Byzantine Pantokratoros Monastery in Konstantinople, where the most influential monks of that period lived and worked.
Today the Monastery ranks seventh in the sovereign hierarchy of the Athonite monasteries, after the Koutloumousios Monastery and before the Xeropotamos Monastery.

The narrative ends with these two scenes: An angel with a key has bound the devil with a red chain and leads him to the abyss, where he will be locked in:
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years (Revelation 20, 1-2).
Then the twenty-first scene, the last of this narrative, the presentation of the New Jerusalem to John. Jerusalem, personified as a beautifully dressed bride, is descending from heaven, heralding a feast of joy that erases the terrible images of destruction that preceded it:
And I, John, I saw the city, the Holy New Jerusalem, coming down from God, from heaven

On the right, the fall of Babylon, where a flying angel is shouting, 'Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!' (Revelation 18, 2). Babylon is depicted in flames. A second angel below him throws a great stone on the Euphrates. The association of the two angels and their actions is a clever artistic device and gives strength to the composition.
Below, a king and four merchants mourn the disaster, a clear statement about who is affected by such a blow, 'The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more' (Revelation 18, 11).
On the left, there is a confrontation between two groups of riders, the one dressed in red (the army of the kings of the earth), the other in white (the celestial army). The head of the white group is labelled 'The Word of God'. The white group defeats the red one, and throws it into a lake of fire and sulphur, where a flock of white birds led by an angel attacks to finish it. Below, the red seven-headed beast has been overturned and forced off a cliff, having first received the death blow from the white rider.

The words of one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls are quoted at the top:
'Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. With her, the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries” (Revelation 17, 1-2).
The image illustrates quite accurately the episode:
I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet and was glittering with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. The name written on her forehead was a mystery: Babylon the great, the mother of prostitutes, and of the abominations of the earth. I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus (Revelation 17, 3-6).

The inscription quotes the beginning of chapter 15:
'I saw in heaven another great and marvellous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed (Revelation 15, 1).
These angels are pouring the rest of the wrath of God from their basins everywhere, according to the narrative:
Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed (Revelation 15, 7-8)
and to the entire chapter 16, where every angel pours out the wrath on a different part of the world:
... The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet (Rev. 16, 12-13). This is illustrated in the lower part.

I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man[b] with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand (Revelation 14, 14).
The crowned Christ talks to the Angel of Judgement, and below, other angels reap and harvest.