Monasteries of Mount Athos

Mount Athos is home to twenty self-governing monasteries, all of equal canonical standing but ranked in a fixed traditional order. The first by both seniority and prominence is the Great Lavra (Megisti Lavra), founded by Athanasius the Athonite in 963. Behind it stand Vatopedi, Iveron, Hilandar, Dionysiou, Koutloumousiou, Pantokrator, Xeropotamou, Zografou, Docheiariou, Karakallou, Philotheou, Simonopetra, Saint Paul, Stavronikita, Xenophontos, Grigoriou, Esphigmenou, Saint Panteleimon (the Russian house), and Konstamonitou.

In this section we introduce five of the twenty. Great Lavra is the oldest and ranks first. Vatopedi ranks second; it houses the Holy Belt of the Mother of God and seven wonderworking icons. Iveron ranks third; founded by Georgian monks in the late tenth century, it is home to the Iveron Icon of the Theotokos, one of the most venerated images in the Orthodox world. Hilandar ranks fourth; founded in 1198 by Saints Simeon and Sava of Serbia, it is the Serbian monastery of Mount Athos. Simonopetra ranks thirteenth in the order but is among the most architecturally striking — a multistoried fortress perched on a sheer cliff above the Aegean.