The ‘Re-Founding’ And
Expansion Of The Monastery

In the 14th century, the Monastery was already in ruins, but the memory of its founding by the Great Pavlos of Xeropotamos remained. The Monastery was re-founded in 1383/4 by two Serbian monks, Chilandarinos Gerasimos (lay name Nikola) Radonja and the Vatopedian monk Antonios (the Prior Arsenio) Pagasi. Both were descendants of Serbian noble families, and the former came from the future dynastic Branković family. The two monks bought the remains of the cell of St Pavlos from the Xeropotamos Monastery, which had became the owner after its abandonment. Antonios became the first Abbot of the renovated Monastery. Using his family connections to advantage, Antonios acquired the Monastery Virgin Mary of Mesonisiotissas near Edessa, together with its estates and its holy artefacts, as a metochi from his brother, who was the administrator of Edessa. This gift was the first known acquisition of property by the Monastery outside of the Athonite peninsula. Moreover, during the first half of the 15th century, the Monastery acquired three cells within Mt Athos – The Archangel Michael, The Saviour, and Simeon, The God-Receiver (Θεοδόχου Συμεών) – the so-called Friend/Protector of Infants (Φιλογόνου) – and, more importantly, as was later proved, the metochi in the same area as today’s village of St Pavlos near New Kallikrateia, Chalkidiki. This last acquisition was a gift of the Serbian noble Radosthlavos Sabia, the spiritual child of the Abbot Antonios Pagasi.
During the entire 15th century, the Monastery continued to increase its productive lands outside of the Athonite peninsula. Because of the Serbian ancestry of the second founders, the Monastery also acquired both lands (in the area of Kosovo) and monetary gifts from Serbian leaders and nobles during the 15th century. The Serbian despots Stefanos-Gregorios Branković and Georgios Branković were among the prominent donors to the Monastery. The latter financed the construction of the new cathedral in 1447 in the name of his protector St Georgios, in a location a little north of the original shrine which had been built by St Pavlos in the 10th century. Since then, the Monastery has the names of both St Georgios and the Virgin Mary. Many of the artefacts which are safeguarded today in the Monastery are among the gifts of Serbian rulers and nobles.
After the end of the Serbian monarchy in 1459 by the Ottoman conquest, Mara Branković – the daughter of the former Serbian ruler Georgios Branković and wife of the Ottoman Sultan Mourat II – proved to be an important protector and sponsor of the Monastery. As she is called in Athonite sources, ‘Maro, the Lady from Ježevo’, dedicated very important metochia to the Monastery. The financial contributions of the Serbian nobles towards the Monastery continued until the end of the 15th century. From the beginnings of the next, the Monastery St Pavlos, together with the Monastery Chilandarios, would acquire the right to collect a monetary offering from the Democracy of Ragusa (today’s Dubrovnik, Croatia) from the former Serbian leaders. Thus, in this regard, the two Athonite monasteries would operate in a sense as heirs of the Serbian leaders of the Middle Ages. Finally, Mara Branković, according to tradition, was also the donor of the most important artefact of the Monastery: The Holy Gifts which the three Magi had brought to the newborn Christ.
A later example of the relationship of the Monastery with Serbian circles is the donation of the sum of 600 Polish grosen to the Monastery in 1547, known from a relevant source recently identified in Polish archives. According to the information, the Polish Prince Fedor Sangousko left this amount to the Monastery in his will, which was the only Athonite monastery to be remembered by the Polish noble. His relationship with the Monastery is through his wife Anna, who was the daughter of the last titular Serbian despot Ioannis Branković. Furthermore, the same Ioannis, together with his brother Georgios and their mother Angelina, had made the last-known Serbian monetary contribution to the Monastery in 1495.
At the time of the conquest of Mt Athos by the Ottomans in 1423/4, the St Pavlos Monastery was experiencing a phase of growth. Although its properties outside the Athonite peninsula were somewhat reduced during the Ottoman rule, as was true for all the other monasteries, overall the St Pavlos Monastery managed to increase its productive lands and to emerge unscathed from this difficult (for Mt Athos) 15th century.