The Holy Monastery of Saint Panteleimon (Rossikon)

The St. Panteleimon’s Monastery (Greek: Άγιος Παντελεήμων, Agios Panteleimon; Russian: Ρωσικό, Rossikon)) is one of the twenty monasteries located on the peninsula of Mount Athos in northeastern Greece.

The monastery is on southwestern side of the peninsula. St. Panteleimon’s has been inhabited for the past one-hundred-plus years by monks of Russian origin and is referred to often as the Russian monastery (Ρωσσικόν, Rossikon). The monastery is ranked nineteenth in the hierarchical order among the twenty monasteries on Mount Athos. The monks live in a cenobitic life. The monastery feast day is that of St. Panteleimon, July 27.

A monastery has existed for nearly a thousand years near the site of the present monastery, with the original buildings dating back to the eleventh century. The monastery was rebuilt after a fire during the thirteenth century with financial support from Emperor Andronicus Paleologos and Serbian rulers. The monastery experienced cyclic periods of economic prosperity and recession. Both Greek and Russian monks occupied the monastery over the centuries with the population strength alternating between them. Since 1875 the Russians have been the dominant ethnicity. In 1875 a decree was imposed that the services held in the katholikon must be chanted in both Greek and Church Slavonic. In 1903, over 1440 monks lived in the monastery.

The existing monastery is of fairly recent origin, with its construction at the present site on an inlet of the Sinigitic Gulf beginning in 1765. Construction of the present katholikon began in 1812 and was completed in 1821. It was dedicated to St. Panteleimon.

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