However, the 18th century was also a period of growth for the skete-based monastic system (σκητιώτικου μοναχισμού) on the Athonite peninsula. It is not known exactly when the sketes operating today (i.e. the New Skete and St Dimitrios of the Ravine (Λακκοσκήτη, Lakkoskiti)) were founded, but according to patriarchal documents, the New Skete was founded in 1713. A indicative account of the structures and the population of the Monastery is found in a 1764 Ottoman-era census record for Mt Athos.
According to this document, the New Skete already had a central church and 23 inhabited kalyvia, while St Dimitrios of the Ravine also had a central church and 18 inhabited kalyvia; both sketes had a considerable number of monks in residence. Thus, both sketes must have been founded in the first half of the 18th century.
During the entire course of the 16th to 18th centuries, when we have reliable evidence, the Monastery had around 30-35 monks living within the compound. Towards the end of this period, for which more detailed information is available, around that same number of monks must have been living in the two sketes, and also around the same number in the metochia, i.e., 30-35 + 30-35 + 30-35. In other words, only one-third of the St Pavlos monks lived within the Monastery complex, while its total strength (including the monks living in the sketes and the metochia) amounted to about 100 monks.
