The town of Karyes is the administrative center for the monastic republic of Mount Athos. The town is located in the middle of the peninsula at an elevation of a little over 1,000 feet (370 meters). The town is the seat of the governing body of Mount Athos and of the protos (primate) of the monastic community.

Karyes has been the seat of the self-governing body of Mount Athos and the seat of the ‘protos’ since the 10th century. At that time the settlement comprised some small older monasteries and the residences of representatives of distant ones.

The modern double-headed eagle flag for the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and of Mount Athos, features the eagle with an orb with a cross in the right claw symbolizing spiritual authority, and a sword in the left symbolizing secular authority.

The monastic settlements on Mount Athos can be separated into the following categories: the twenty monasteries and their dependencies – that is sketes, kellia, kalyves, hermitages and dwellings.

The skete Bogoroditsa belongs to the Holy Monastery of Saint Panteleimon. It is situated in a forested area, between the monasteries of Vatopedi and Pantokrator.

The Skete belongs to the Holy Monastery of Great Lavra and took its name from Saint Maximus the Kafsokalyvi who lived there in the fourteenth century and used to build improvised shacks. When realizing that there was the fear of him loving the shacks, he immediately started burning them. He wanted to give all his love to God alone. The name „kafsokalyvi” (Greek) means „shack-burner”.

Built on an idyllic forested slope of the western bank of the Puranta stream, which flows adjacent to the Holy Monastery of St. Panteleimon (Rusikon), the Hermitage of the Holy Xenofont Monastery at an altitude of 260 m overlooks the Gulf of Sighnitiki and the Sithonia peninsula. The skete is dedicated to the Announciation of Theotokos.

Lakkoskiti (Romanian: Schitul Lacu) is the short form name of a small “monastic village” consisting the idiorrhythmic “skete of Aghiou Dimitriou tou Lakkou”. Sited at the north foothills of Mount Athos, in Greece, in a valley crossed by Morfonou River and surrounded by a wonderful forest of chestnut trees, it is inhabited by Romanian monks. Lakkoskiti belongs to Agiou Pavlou (Greek: Αγίου Παύλου, English: Saint Paul) Monastery.

The Skete of Saint Panteleimon, not to be confused with the monastery of the same name, some kilometres away, is a skete of the Koutloumousiou monastery in Mount Athos Greece.

Not far, and at higher altitude from Karoulia, one finds the Katounakia hesychasterion. The scenery here is calmer compared to that of Karoulia. The region of Katounakia is a group of cells located between St. Anne’s Skete and Karoulia.

The Romanian Skete Prodromos (Romanian: Schitul românesc Prodromu, Greek: Τιμίου Προδρόμου) is a Romanian cenobitic skete belonging to the Great Lavra Monastery, located in the eastern extremity (called Vigla) of the Eastern Orthodox Monastic State of the Holy Mountain Athos, between the Aegean Sea in the East and the peak of Athos rising 2033 m in the West, nearby the cave of Athanasios the Athonite. Its name, Prodromos, is the Greek for “The Forerunner”, a cognomen of St. John the Baptist.

Between the Major Skete of Saint Anne and Karoulia, on a steep and rocky mountain side, the Minor Skete of Saint Anne was founded by a few monks who settled there during the 17th century.

St. Anne’s Skete (or, less commonly, The Major Skete of St. Anne’s) is one of four sketes attached to the Great Lavra of Mount Athos. It a Greek idiorrhythmic (hermitage-style) skete consisting of fifty one kalyvae and it is located at an altitude of 340 m in a rugged but fertile region close to the Athos cape, near Little St. Anne’s Skete about 800 meters from the New Skete.

The Skete of Prophet Elijah (Greek: Σκήτη Προφήτη Ηλία, Russian: Ильинский скит) is a cenobitic skete of Pantokratoros monastery in Mount Athos, Greece.

New Skete on Mount Athos is one of two sketes attached to St. Paul’s Monastery. It is located between St. Paul’s Monastery and St. Anne’s Skete. The skete was founded in the 18th century. In 1760, the central church of the skete (the kiriakon) was built and dedicated to the Nativity of the Theotokos. Next to the kiriakon is the chappel of the cemetery, with the dedication of All Saints.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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…