Mount Athos
The Holy Mountain — a thousand-year-old monastic republic on the easternmost peninsula of northern Greece. Twenty self-governing monasteries, twelve skites, hundreds of cells, and nearly two thousand active monks.
Monasteries
Five of the twenty self-governing monasteries: Great Lavra, Vatopedi, Iveron, Hilandar, Simonopetra.
Saints
Athanasius the Athonite, Gregory Palamas, Maximus the Greek, Silouan, Paisios — saints across ten centuries.
Traditions
Hesychasm, the Jesus Prayer, the avaton rule, monastic typikon, Byzantine chant.
History
From IX-century hermits to twenty-first-century revival — five eras of the Holy Mountain.
Treasures
The Holy Belt, the Iveron Icon, the Axion Estin, holy relics, ancient manuscripts.
Recent articles
The Great Lavra (Megisti Lavra)
The Great Lavra — the oldest and senior monastery of Mount Athos, founded in 963 by Saint Athanasius the Athonite.
Vatopedi Monastery
Vatopedi — second-ranking monastery of Mount Athos, home of the Holy Belt of the Theotokos and seven wonderworking icons.
Iveron Monastery
Iveron — the third-ranking monastery of Mount Athos, Georgian by foundation, home of the Iveron Icon of the Theotokos.
Hilandar Monastery
Hilandar — the Serbian monastery of Mount Athos, founded by Saints Simeon and Sava of Serbia in 1198.
Simonopetra Monastery
Simonopetra — the dramatic cliffside monastery of Mount Athos, founded in the thirteenth century by Saint Simon the Myrrh-streamer.
Saint Athanasius the Athonite
Saint Athanasius the Athonite (c. 925-1003) — founder of the Great Lavra, father of cenobitic monasticism on Mount Athos.
Saint Gregory Palamas
Saint Gregory Palamas (1296-1359) — Archbishop of Thessalonica, defender of hesychasm, theologian of the uncreated divine energies.
Saint Maximus the Greek
Saint Maximus the Greek (c. 1470-1556) — Athonite scholar-monk sent to Russia for translation work, who spent his final decades in Russian captivity and exile.