Posts in category: Σιωπηλη Ιστορια 1 – Καρακάλλου

The earliest mention of the Monastery is in a document of 1018/9 concerning the resolution of a border dispute between the three neighbouring monasteries of Great Lavra, Amalfinon and Karakallos. A few years later, however, in 1045, the Karakallos Monastery is curiously absent from the list of monasteries whose representatives signed the second charter of Mt Athos, which was prepared during the reign of the Emperor Constantine III Monomachus. This absence, which is difficult to interpret, is added to the question that we already have about the exact time and conditions of the Monastery's founding, as well as about the identity of its founder or founders. As for the meaning of the name, there are only legends and speculations. As Olivier Delouis notes, throughout the medieval period the Monastery is referred to as Karakàlou, Karakàllou, Karakàlous, Karàkala or Karakalà. So, the founder may have been named Karàkalos, or Karàkallos, or Karakàlas, or Karakalàs, or someone with a completely different name.

We know that the Monastery was founded around the year 1000, and from the start was dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul. However, despite the undeniable fact that it has existed for more than a thousand years as a beehive of spiritual life, exercise, active study, writing and creativity, with radiation and influence, details of its path through time are fewer than we would expect and wish, and several aspects of its history are obscured. The main reason for these gaps is the loss, at unknown times, of most of the Monastery's archives, with only a small amount of documents preserved. To the historian who has a love of narratives, the one-thousand-year-old Karakallos Monastery stands and will forever stand as humble and taciturn.