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.
