Posts in category: Εξαρτήματα 1 – Καρακάλλου

Because of the significant increase in the number of its monks, lands in Thessaloniki, Strymona, Limnos and other areas had been transferred to the Monastery. With the chrysobull of the Emperor Androvikos II Palaiologos in 1294, the Monastery was awarded the village of Kallisti, the metochi of St Nikolaos in Strymona (later renamed to Kryo Nero), the fields of St Ipatios on Mt Athens, the metochi of St Panteleimonos on Thasos, the metochi of St Georgios of Kallinikou on Limnos, and the small monastery of Christ the Saviour in Agiomavritos, Thessaloniki. In 1330, land in the area of St Thomas of Limoiannos, east of Thessaloniki.
In 1357, Bishop Kaisaroupoleos removed the churches of St Nikolaos, St Georgios, and St Foteini in Strymona from the ownership of the Monastery. In Ierisos, Chalkidiki, the Monastery acquired the metochi of St Nikolaou. Likewise in the area of Kroysiobas (New Kerdylia) the Monastery acquired – probably in the 17th century – the Monastery of St Dimitrios, recorded as having been founded in the second half of the 16th century, despite having been known since 1632. In 1638, a letter of the hieromonk Samouel, the Prior of the Monastery, refers to the metochi of St Panteleimonos in Maries, Thasos, whose lands had been taken over by local residents.
In 1648, by the patriarchal edict of Ioannikios II, the church of St Nikolaos in the city Ismaelio in the suburb Proilavos was built with funding by the Monastery. Τhe foundation of the church was designated with a patriarchal cross (σταυροπήγιο) indicating it belonged to the Patriarch, and later became a metochi of the Monastery, a relationship which was affirmed by a new edict of the Patriarch Sofronios II.
The Monastery acquired the Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Light on the island of St Eustratios. In 1661, the hieromonk Nikita rebuilt the ruined monastery, and in 1667, it was designated with a patriarchal cross; in 1732, it belonged to the Monastery. In the 1741 engraved inscription above the entrance to the church, it seems that it belonged to the Monastery Karakallou ‘from earlier years’. Furthermore, it is referred to as a dependency of the Monastery in the 1758 Catalogue, and in 1794, work was begun by the Prior Gabriel. This dependency is also mentioned in sources up until the 20th century.
In the same 1758 Catalogue, we find information about metochia in the Peloponnese, on Rhodes, in Naousa of Paros, in Galata of Konstantinople, in Kio of Vithynia, and Kallipoli, where the Metochi of the Dormition of the Virgin in Plagiari functioned until 1829.
In 1648, monks of the Monastery renovated the abandoned church of St Nikolaos in Ismailio, at the port of Vessarabias, which was designated with a patriarchal cross by the Patriarch Ioannikio II. Moreover, the Monastery also acquired the metochi of St Dimitrios in New Kerdyllios, Serres, and the metochi of the Transfiguration of the Saviour in Margarita, Rethymnos (a suburb of Mylopotamos), Krete, which most probably became a patriarchical dependency in 1654.

There are two seats located close to the Monastery which fall under its aegis: The Seat of St Paraskevi, with its chapel of the same name, and the Seat of All Saints, where the cemetery church of the Monastery is located.

In the skete of Glossias, which is at the boundary of the Monastery’s land, St Gregorios Palamas lived for two years (1322-1324), near the ascetic Gregorios the Drimi. The skete was destroyed shortly before 1353 by Turkish pirates.
In a 1476 letter of the Proto Kallistos, a reference is made to the existence of a skete belonging to the Monastery, in which dependent monks were residing. In 1509/1510, there are reports relating to the Cell of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, where the monk Ierisos Simeon, who was later appointed to Bishop (1514), lived. According to the Life of the Holy Monk Dionysios of Olympus, at around 1520, he withdrew to the ‘skete’ of the Monastery, where he established ‘cells’ and the church of the Holy Trinity. He returned to the ‘skete’ after a journey to Jerusalem, and built the church of the Holy Fathers.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, there were cells around the Monastery which were under the aegis of the skete, but their operation was atypical and ephemeral. Information drawn from the 1707 Codice of the cells of the Monastery refers to around 15 cells in total in the area of the Monastery and Karyes.

The Monastery has three cells located in Karyes. The remaining 14 cells are scattered through the forest at the northwest of the Monastery.
a) The Cell of All Saints is located north of the Cell of the Galatsians, and behind the building of the Holy Brotherhood. It was originally the residence of the members of the workshop of Karpenesian artists founded by Nikiforos. The Cell was founded by the Hieromonk Gabrielos of Karpenisi, who erected the church of All Saints there in 1681. The first artist of the cell known to have become famous by a 1788 written reference to him was Damaskinos. He succeeded Nikiforos I, who died in 1816 at the Zografos Monastery, and was in turn succeeded by Mitrofanis of Bizyi, who was probably tonsured as a monk there. Members of his group included Gerasimos and Ioasaf. Today, the cell houses the Antiprosopeia or Delegate’s House (i.e., the building where accommodation is provided to monks who have travelled to Karyes on behalf of the Monastery). Renovation work to structures within the cell were undertaken in 1999.
b) The Cell of the Three Hierarchs, where maintenance work was carried out in 1997.
c) The Cell of the Holy Precursor. A document of the 1648 Synod of Karyes refers to the earlier Cell of the Virgin Mary, which was granted to the monk Nikiforo.
d) The Cell of St Nikolaos, where the companions of the Hieromonk Nikolaos resided. Repair projects were recently completed there.
e) The Cell of the True Cross is located between the Karakallou Monastery and the Lavrian Cell of St Artemios, on a hill in the area of Provata, about a distance of a half-hour from the sea, in a wooded area with chestnut and cypress trees. A four-stremma expanse of land belongs to the cell, which has its own facilities for shoemaking, hair-cutting, weaving, ironworking, woodworking and photography. The cell was founded in the 10th century, and pieces of the True Cross and other holy relics are safeguarded in its church, including a piece of the cranium of the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimonos.
In 1896, the cell was sold by the Monastery to Russian monks, on the condition that the new owners would increase the number of buildings of the complex, with the obvious aim to transform it into a skete. In 1913, 70 monks lived in the cell, but after the Russian Revolution in October 1917, it started to steadily decline, ultimately leading to its abandonment and ruin.
In 1995, 1997 and 1999, repair projects were undertaken there. Today, the Elder of the cell is the hieromonk David Stavriotis, who is dedicated to producing censers and
elaborate marble and wood objects. On 4 October, the Cell celebrates the feast Exaltation of the True Cross with a festival. In 2017, the dedication ceremony for the refectory was performed by the Metropolite Ioakeim of Elenoupoli.
f) The Cell of the Presentation/Birth of the Virgin Mary (Galatsian), across from the northwest corner of the Protaton church, is where in 1819 the hieromonk Makarios Galatsianos, the founder the the hagiographic workshop of the same name, took up residence. The cell The Virgin Mary, the Presentation below Psorareas belonged to the Protaton and was transferred to the Monastery in 1661. The hieromonk Euthimios Stavroudas, the first biographer of St Nikolaos the Athonite, resided in the cell. In 1986, building work was done there.
g) The Cell of the Dormition of the Virgin, or ‘The Exopolytos’, originally was independent, but was transferred to the Monastery in 1324 by the Proto Isaak. and is recognized as an ‘old’ dependency. Today only the church survives.
h) The Cell of St Paraskevi, where in 1986 repairs to the roof and conservation of the chapel were undertaken.
i) The Cell of St Ipatios, which is referred to in a document of the Proto Ipatios and the 1568 Synod of Karyes in connection with a boundary dispute. Also, in a statement and evidence by the Konstamonitos Monastery in 1640, the ownership rights of the Monastery and the boundaries of the cell are recognized.