By Anastasios Ntouros | Mount Athos Center

Historical Overview

The Mount Athos peninsula is situated in central Macedonia, Greece, and forms the third ‘leg’ of Halkidiki. It is a self-governing part of the Greek state and comes under the spiritual supervision of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. Mount Athos is the largest Orthodox monastic community in the world and, for this reason, has been dubbed “the center of Orthodox monasticism."

Its recorded history begins with the first appearance of ascetics thirteen centuries ago, which was followed three centuries later by the emergence of organized communities with rules, a structured program, and a communal life. The first organized monastery was constructed in 963 by St. Athanasios the Athonite and took the name Megiste Lavra; in essence, it constituted the beginning of Athonite monasticism, which has remained unaltered until the present day.

Throughout its history, the geographical boundaries of Mount Athos have hardly changed, a fact that is particularly true of its land border, which connects the Athonite peninsula with the mainland near the point at which Xerxes dug a canal in 480 B.C. to enable his large fleet to cross from Akanthos to Therme. On all its other sides, the peninsula is surrounded by sea, which also forms a natural boundary.

From a very early date, already in the first two centuries of its existence, Athonite monasticism flourished, leading to an increase in the number of monks residing on the Holy Mountain. This spectacular growth can be attributed mainly to the favor and full support that Athos received from the Byzantine emperors in the 10th and 11th centuries, as well as the Mountain’s unique geographical location.

In the early 13th century, after the Fourth Crusade, Mount Athos was occupied by the Latins for a short while, though without any adverse effects. This occupation was followed by a period of spasmodic pirate raids, mainly by pirates from the West, which soured relations between the Athonite monks and the Church of Rome. The situation deteriorated further as a result of the pressure exerted on the monks by Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos (r. 1259–82) in his efforts to obtain their agreement on the unification of the Churches at the Council of Lyons (1274), which they stoutly refused to give. The violent raids on the Athonite monasteries by Catalonian mercenaries in the early 14th century served only to strengthen the monks’ negative feelings toward the Latins.

Key Issues and Debates

During the 14th century, the Byzantine Empire suffered a serious political and economic decline, which had grim consequences for its internal affairs. The civil wars, the growing number of pirate raids, and the aggressive actions of the Ottomans in various parts of Europe created numerous upheavals in the Balkan region. This decline, however, did not affect Mount Athos; on the contrary, the 14th century ushered in a period of significant growth, both in terms of the creation of new monasteries (this period saw the foundation of Dionysiou, Pantokrator, and Gregoriou monasteries, as well as the renovation of Koutloumousiou, Simonopetra, St. Paul’s, and Kastamonitou) and in terms of spiritual development.

This period also saw a spectacular increase in the monasteries’ wealth, mainly as a result of the large tracts of cultivable land they owned, which led to an increase in the number of monks settling in the monastic communities. In the sphere of art, some of the leading examples of Palaiologan art were created on Athos during this time (such as the frescoes of the Protaton, Athos’s central church), while the Hesychast movement, which was to be the most important spiritual event of the late Byzantine period, spread from Athos to other parts of Byzantium, making the Holy Mountain the most important spiritual center of the Byzantine Empire.

In the last few decades of the 14th century, Athos temporarily came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire (1382–1402), although this did not cause the monasteries any serious problems. In 1424, however, it became a permanent part of that Empire, and a little later, with the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Byzantine Empire came to an end. This new reality was to bring about great changes in the Athonite republic, particularly in respect of its main institutions and the financial state of the monasteries. The main aim of the monks was to preserve the autonomy of their monastic community and to safeguard the monasteries’ properties, both of which they succeeded in doing, at least during the early period of the Ottoman occupation. Later, toward the end of the 15th century, the heavy poll tax that was imposed on the Athonite monks produced the first signs of an economic crisis, one that was to take firm hold with the full or partial confiscation of the wealthy metochia (dependencies) that had been developed by almost all of the monasteries in central and eastern Macedonia, as well as on the islands of the northern Aegean.

During the course of the 16th century, however, the financial state of the monasteries appears to have stabilized, as the use of the new metochia that had been purchased by or donated to the monasteries brought in a stable income, which proved extremely important in saving them from total bankruptcy. This stabilization of the republic’s finances played an important role in generating a revival on Athos, with a burst of building and artistic activity in which Cretan painters decorated katholika, chapels, and refectories with impressive fresco ensembles.

The fiscal problems of the Ottoman state in the 17th century gradually led to a period of administrative and financial instability on Athos, which, however, it managed to overcome largely thanks to generous donations from the rulers of Moldavia and Wallachia, who would also dedicate large Romanian monasteries to Athos as metochia. During the same period, the support Athos received from the Russian tsars in the form of large donations, which had begun in the 15th century, also grew. A typical example is the dedication of the Monastery of St. Nicholas in Moscow to Iveron Monastery in 1653, which led to the former becoming a center for the dissemination of Greek and Athonite culture throughout Russia.

In conclusion, then, it could be said that the period mentioned above laid the foundations for the diffusion of Athonite spirituality and art. The spiritual movements that were created, the texts that were produced by learned monks and the large number of saintly men that lived ascetic lives on the Holy Mountain, all left their indelible mark on the subsequent spiritual development of Orthodoxy by establishing Athos as the place with the most authentic form of Orthodox monasticism. On the other hand, the unique artistic treasures that were gathered in the monasteries (manuscripts, icons, works of miniature art, etc.) and the artistic workshops that were (and continue to be) active in the Athonite republic (icon-painters, bookbinders, woodcarvers, etc.) succeeded in making Athos one of the most important centers of Byzantine culture. It is no accident that in our own time a contemporary artistic workshop on Athos has been chosen to decorate the new Church of St. Nicholas that has been erected at Ground Zero in New York.

In a few words, it is fair to say that Mount Athos and the monks that live there represent the most important and most authentic continuation of the Byzantine tradition, a fact that is manifestly evident in the continuous, uninterrupted observance of the Byzantine monastic typika for over ten centuries.

Further Reading

Papachryssanthou, Denise, ed. Actes du Prôtaton. Paris: Lethielleux, 1975.

An invaluable publication which not only presents important manuscripts but also contains an introduction by the author that provides a very good summary of the beginnings and the organization of Athonite monasticism.

Karakatsanis, Athanasios A., ed. Treasures of Mount Athos. Thessaloniki: Holy Community of Mount Athos, Ministry of Culture, 1997. Published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same name organized by the Holy Community of Mount Athos and the Ministry of Culture at the Museum of Byzantine Culture, June 21, 1997 – April 30, 1998.

A catalog of the material that was presented at the unique exhibition held in 1997 which displayed a number of icons and authentic treasures from Mount Athos for the first time outside the monastic republic. The catalog’s introductory texts, written by eminent historians and Byzantinists, provide informed scientific views on the history, art, architecture, and natural environment of Mount Athos.

Tsigaridas, Efthimios, and Manuel Panselinos. From the Holy Church of the Protaton. Thessaloniki: Mount Athos Center, 2003. Published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same name organized by the Mount Athos Center at Warehouse C, April 5 – June 30, 2003.

A catalog of the exhibition that presented an accurate reconstruction of the painted decoration of the Protaton, Mount Athos’s central church, by the most important exponent of the Palaiologan period, Manuel Panselinos, with an art-critical text by Prof. Efthimios Tsigaridas.

Mylonas, Paul M. Atlas of Mount Athos / Bildlexikon des Heiligen Berges Athos. Berlin: Wasmuth, 2000.

A publication presenting the important work of the architect and researcher Paul Mylonas, with important information about the topography and architecture of Mount Athos.

Riley, Athelstan. Athos or the Mountain of the Monks. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1887 [reprinted by Mount Athos Center, Thessaloniki, 2012].

An account by the English traveler Athelstan Riley, who journeyed to Mount Athos and recorded important information about the history, art, and daily life of the monks of Mount Athos.