The Esphigmenou Monastery (Greek: Εσφιγμένου) is located on the northeastern coast of the Athos Peninsula in northern Greece close to the Monastery of Chilandari. It is ranked eighteenth in the hierarchical order of the twenty monasteries located on the peninsula. As is the case with the other institutions on Mount Athos, life at Esphigmenou is cenobitic.
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 of Konstamonitou (Greek: Κωνσταμονίτου) is one of twenty monasteries on the Mount Athos peninsula and is located on the southeastern side of the peninsula at an elevation of about 200 meters (650 feet) above the sea. It is twentieth in hierarchical rank among the monasteries. Having fallen in decline after a fire in the sixteenth century Konstamonitou was revived in the early nineteenth century.
Sin is distorted pleasure, so we need pain analogous with the severity of sin in order to re-establish an equilibrium, according to spiritual law.
The Holy Monastery of Xenofontos (Greek Ξενοφώντος) is one of the twenty monasteries located on the peninsula of Mount Athos in northeastern Greece. The monastery is on the southwestern side of the peninsula near the Monastery of St. Panteleimon. Xenofontos ranks sixteenth in the hierarchical order on Mount Athos.
Many are interested in solving “hot” topics in their minds. We are interested in how Elijah was lifted up to heaven with the chariot of fire, how is the vision of paradise, the angels, the creation of the world, and other things like this.
There is a lot of anxiety and distress about the famous 666 in some circles, which most of the time (if not always) distracts us from our main aim in life – the salvation of our eternal soul.
The Dionysiou Monastery (Greek: Διονυσίου) is one of the twenty monasteries located on the peninsula of Mount Athos in northeastern Greece. The monastery is on the southwestern side of the peninsula. Dionysiou ranks fifth in the hierarchical order on Mount Athos and is dedicated to St. John the Baptist.
This icon is on the synthronon of the sanctuary of the katholikon and the following tradition is associated with it.
Even if the rules of iconography insist that the holy image depicted (the saints) should be with black hair and black eyes, however, from tradition and from visions, we are informed from the saints which saw the Mother of God that her hair texture resembles that of ripe wheat with blue eyes.
The Monastery of Xeropotamou (Greek: Ξηροποτάμου) is one of twenty monasteries on the Mount Athos peninsula and is located on the southwestern side of the peninsula. It is located on the road from the port of Daphne to the town of Karyes, the administrative center of the monastic republic. It is eighth in hierarchical rank among the monasteries. The katholikon of the monastery is dedicated to the memory of the Forty Holy Martyrs.
Many wonder why and how monks can live a longer and healthier life, compared with the people of the world outside of Mount Athos.
We struggle to learn various things and slowly try to understand their meanings in order to gain knowledge.
The Monastery of Stavronikita (Greek: Σταυρονικήτα) is one of twenty monasteries on the Mount Athos peninsula and is located on the northeastern side of the peninsula at an elevation of about 50 meters (160 feet) above the sea. It is fifteenth in hierarchical rank among the monasteries. Stavronikita is the most recently built monastery on Mount Athos. It is also the smallest monastery among the twenty monasteries and is dedicated to St. Nicholas. Stavronikita has been a coenobitic (communal) monastery since 1968. There are various conflicting traditions and stories regarding the monastery’s name. According to one Athonite tradition, the name […]
Who killed Jesus? Many would say “the Jews” – however, if we look closely at the Gospels we will see that the answer isn’t correct and besides that, such forms of judgment of people based on their ethnic or cultural appurtenance of a certain group have dire consequences, as we saw in history.
Simonopetra Monastery or Simonos Petra (Greek: Σιμωνόπετρα or Σίμωνος Πέτρα) is one of the many monasteries that occupy the peninsula of Mount Athos and it is dedicated to the Nativity of Christ. It is ranked thirteenth in the hierarchical order of the Mount Athos monasteries located on the peninsula.
The Holy Monastery of Koutloumousiou (Greek: Κουτλουμούσι) is one of twenty monasteries on the Mount Athos peninsula and is located on the northeastern side of the peninsula, near Karyes. It is sixth in hierarchical rank among the monasteries.
The Dochiariou Monastery (Greek: Δοχειαρίου) is located on the southwestern coast of the Athos Peninsula in northern Greece. It is ranked tenth in the hierarchical order of the twenty monasteries located on the peninsula. As is case of the other institutions on Mount Athos, life at Dochiariou is coenobitic.
The Monastery of the Great Lavra, (Greek: Μεγίστη Λαύρα, Megísti Lávra) is located on the Athos Peninsula in northern Greece. The Great Lavra was founded in 963 by St. Athanasius the Athonite. It is ranked first in the hierarchical order of the Mount Athos monasteries located on the peninsula. It is considered the mother monastery of Mount Athos.
Founded in the eleventh century, the monastery received its name after either the Roman emperor Karakala or the monk, Karakalas, who was said to be its founder. Karakalou was first mentioned in documents from 1018 and 1087. Built on the side of a mountain Karakalou appears now like a fortress overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, the consequence of having been destroyed twice. In the thirteenth century it was devastated by Latin and pirate raids during the period of occupation by Frankish forces after they had conquered Constantinople in 1204. Then, prior to its rebuilding in the sixteenth century, the monastery was […]
The Iviron Monastery, (Greek: Ιβήρων) is one of the twenty monasteries located on the peninsula of Mount Athos in northeastern Greece.
The Monastery of Philotheou is one of twenty monasteries on the Athonite peninsula and is located on the eastern side. It is twelfth in hierarchical rank among the monasteries.
The Holy Monastery of Zographou (Greek: Ζωγράφου; Bulgarian: Зограф) is located on the southwestern side of the Athos Peninsula in northern Greece. The monastery is dedicated to St. George. According to tradition, the monastery was founded during the tenth century by three Bulgarian brothers, the monks Moses, Aaron, and John from Ohrid. While the monastery initially was inhabited by Bulgarian, Greek, and Serbian monks, since 1845 the monks are only of Bulgarian background…
Saint Constantine the Great witnessed a great sign on the sky – he saw with his own eyes in the heavens and a trophy of the cross arising from the light of the sun, carrying the message, “In Hoc Signo Vinces” (“with this sign, you shall defeat”) before the decisive battle with Maxentius. After this vision, among other things, Saint Constantine made three crosses and positioned them in the frontline of his army at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312.
In 340 BC the Byzantines and their allies the Athenians were under siege by the troops of Philip II of Macedon. On a particularly dark and wet night Philip attempted a surprise attack but
There are some less known things about the nativity of the Monther of God: firstly, she was
The present day Monastery of Vatopaidi has produced a multitude of saints throughout its history of over a thousand years, most of them unknown to us. We know with certainty only a few that lived within its walls and precinct – almost 70 – whose…
The άνάλαβος (Analab[v]os), which is the distinctive garment of a monk or a nun tonsured into the highest grade of Orthodox monasticism, the Great Schema, is adorned with…
Kafsokalyvia is a very simple community of ascetics, situated in a place where the torrents of Athos are channelled into a broad rocky and resonant ravine. The forty or so kalyves encircle the Kyriakon like a chain. The kalyves are separated from each other by rings of green, which consist of a small garden, a minute vineyard, and a few citrus trees, which, together with the few olives and other fruit-bearing trees, provide the only consolation for the ascetics, who break their backs to dig amongst the rocks and fill the cavities with earth brought from the surrounding area, despite […]
Prayer, especially the Jesus Prayer (‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me’), through which we are united to God, is initially on the lips, since we say and express it orally and listen to it with our ears. It then ascends to the brain and after being there for some time, God willing, it descends and settles in the heart, and then wells up from the innermost depths. People who experience this become bearers of light, of the Spirit, resembling Christ and the Trinity. The spiritual guides of the prayer of the heart say that the second way of prayer […]
