Posts in category: Η Ιστορία της Μονής 4 – Παντοκράτορος

The Revolution of 1821 meant the start of great, new 'adventures' for the Monastery, and for the entire Agios Oros community. The Athonites publicly supported the revolutionary exploits of Immanuel Papa in eastern Macedonia. Moreover, according to oral tradition, the Monastery gave the cannons from its towers for use during the war, an event which is depicted in old engravings.
However, the failure of Papa's Macedonian forces created many problems for the Athonites. In February 1822, Turkish troops invaded and occupied the monasteries, forcing the monks to feed and house them. At the same time, heavy taxes were levied, driving the monasteries to absolute poverty. This is confirmed by comments in an 1827 report written by two officials of the Monastery, the Prior Theoclitos and the Elder Agapios: '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 Agios Oros before the invasion of the Turkish troops. They left on boats belonging to the Monastery, first sailing to Thasos and from there to Skopelos, carrying with them all the artifacts of the Monastery. Upon their arrival in Skopelos, the artifacts 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 them to help fill the needs of the revolution. The sacred liturgical vestments were protected at the Monastery of the Bishop in Skopelos.
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 Turkish coins ('grosia'), which does not reflect the true value of the items since it is does not take into account the historical value of the objects or the craftsmanship involved in their elaborate, artistic decoration. 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 Agios Oros, by order of the first Governor of Greece, Ioannis Kapodistrias.
After this long and difficult 'adventure' of its monks, the Monastery regrouped and reorganized. With grants from the Pantokratoros Archimandrite and Treasurer to its dependency in Blachia, Meletios Katsoranos of Kydonieos, significant renovations and repairs were made to buildings and particularly in the cathedral, where the frescoes were repainted. Despite the economic problems which continued to plague it, the Monastery experienced a gradual growth, and in 1903 had a population of 58 monks.

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.