From the beginning of the 14th century, the Monastery and its environment lived the mystical experience of hesychasm with great ardor, as suggested by the relationship with Patriarch St Athanasios I with it. Particularly important was the time of the Abbot Hyakinthos Kerameus (1310-1333), when great ascetics were associated with the Monastery, among them being the Patriarch Philotheos Kokkinos, a former monk of Athos. In the Life of St Germanos written by the Patriarch, he describes the physical and spiritual environment of the monks and the Monastery. In fact, from 1322-1324, the young St Grigorios Palamas (who later went on to become an official defender of hesychasm) lived near the hermit Grigorios Drimys in the skete of Glossia, a dependency of the Monastery.
