Monthly Archives: Μάιος 2020

On 6 May 1992, a Synod took place at the Monastery in which three members of the Athonite community – the Abbot of the Exarchia Monstery, a representative from each of the Committee for the Sanctity of Communal Life and the Pantakratoras Council of the Elders – participated. There, they jointly decided to restore the Monastery, which was the last of the Athonite monasteries to function in an idiorhythmic state, to the system of cenobitic life.
Moreover, the Council of Elders unanimously decided to reorganize the Monastery under the guidance of a 13-member group of monks from the Zenofontos Monastery. The first Prior of the new Pantokratoros community was the hieromonk Bessarion (Makrygiannis) from Zenofontos Monastery, who was enthroned by the Sacred Community on 8 June 1992, the Sunday on which the feast of All Saints is celebrated. According to tradition, he received the ecumenical sceptre from the highest ranked representative of the five-member Committee for Holy Communal Life: The Elder Bartholomew, a monk from the Great Lavra Monastery, who held the position as heir to Athanasios the Athonite, the founder of the first cenobitic monastery on Mt Athos.
In the short time (6/19 May 1992-2/15 July 2001) that Bessarion was Abbott, the Monastery was reorganized, and renovation of a large number of buildings was undertaken. Because of this, he was awarded the title of new founder of the Monastery. Unfortunately, his successful work was unexpectedly ended by a serious illness which led him to resign his position as Abbott on 2 July 2001. A few months later, on 20 September, he died.

On 1 December 1948, a fire destroyed the eastern wing. The fire would have caused even more damage had it not been stopped by a miracle which took place after the monks had prayed for help to a small copy of the miraculous icon of Panagia Gerontissa. (See also the appropriate section further below.) Because of the miracle, the small icon was afterwards referred to by the monks as Παναγία η Πυροσώτειρα (Panagia Pyrosotiera, 'Virgin Mary, the Saviour from Fires').

On 2 November 1912, Mt Athos was liberated by the Greek army, in an atmosphere of general euphoria. From that time on, all the Athonite monasteries linked their historical fate with that of the Hellenic state.
In 1922, in the aftermath of the Asia Minor Catastrophe, the Monastery paid its own price in blood on behalf of the national interest: The monk Joseph, Treasurer of the dependency of St Nikolaos of Kydonieos (Aivali), was martyred by the Turks. A short time later, the Monastery’s productive dependencies in Macedonia, Thasos and Limnos were expropriated and turned over to the refugees.

The Athonites supported the revolution led by Emmanuel Pappa in Eastern Macedonia by every means possible, even providing him with the cannons from the towers. Unfortunately, his failed campaign opened the ‘sack of Aiolos’ for the Athonites: In 1822, Ottoman forces entered Mt Athos and based themselves inside the monasteries, forcing the monks to provide for their needs. In a document from 1827, two officials of the Monastery, the Prior Theoclitos and the Elder Agapios comment that: 'Now that it is known what has happened, we will be deprived of good bread.'
Most of the monks at the Monastery, as well as the other Athonite monks, had already abandoned Mt Athos before the invasion of the Turkish troops. They left on boats belonging to the Monastery, first sailing to Thasos and from there to Skopelos, taking all the valuables of the Monastery with them. Upon their arrival in Skopelos, the artefacts were recorded and given to Droso Mansolo and Kyriako Tasika, two high-ranking representatives of the Hellenic Parliament of Corinth, for the purpose of using the items to help meet the needs of the revolution. According to K. Notara, the Minister of the Hellenic Economy at that time, the silver and gold obtained from the artefacts amounted to 6,250 γρόσια (grosia, Turkish coins). Any artefacts which were not used were taken to the Monastery of the Great Cave in the Peloponnese, from where they were eventually returned to the Monastery in 1830, after the withdrawal of the Turkish troops from Mt Athos, by order of the first Governor of Greece, Ioannis Kapodistrias.