Simonopetra Monastery ( el, Σιμωνόπετρα, literally: "Simon's Rock"), also Monastery of Simonos Petra ( el, Μονή Σίμωνος Πέτρας), is an

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

in the monastic state of

Mount Athos Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the penins ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. Simonopetra ranks thirteenth in the hierarchy of the Athonite monasteries. The monastery is located in the southern coast of the Athos peninsula, between the Athonite port of Dafni and

Osiou Grigoriou monastery The Holy Monastery of Saint Gregory ( el, Ιερά Μονή Οσίου Γρηγορίου), also known as Gregoriou Monastery ( el, Μονή Γρηγορίου) is an Orthodox Christian monastery in the monastic state of Mount Athos in Greece. T ...

. While the southern coast of Athos is quite rugged in general, the particular site upon which the monastery is built is exceptionally harsh. It is built on top of a single huge rock, practically hanging from a cliff 330 metres over the sea.mountathos.gr
The monastery currently houses 54 monks, and the hegumen is Archimandrite Eliseus.

History

The monastery was founded during the 13th century by

Simon the Athonite Simon the Athonite (died 1287) was a Greek Orthodox monk of the 13th century, later sanctified by the Eastern Orthodox Church as Saint Simon the Myroblyte. His feast day is 28 December. Date of birth Simon's date of birth is uncertain, but he ha ...

, who was later sanctified by the Eastern Orthodox Church as Saint Simon the Myrrh-bearer. Tradition holds that Simon, while dwelling in a nearby cave, saw a dream in which the

Theotokos ''Theotokos'' (Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are ''Dei Genitrix'' or ''Deipara'' (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations are " ...

instructed him to build a monastery on top of the rock, promising him that she would protect and provide for him and the monastery. The original monastery was called by Simon "New

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...

" (Greek: Νέα Βηθλεέμ) and is to this day dedicated to the

Nativity of Jesus The nativity of Jesus, nativity of Christ, birth of Jesus or birth of Christ is described in the biblical gospels of Gospel of Luke, Luke and Gospel of Matthew, Matthew. The two accounts agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judaea (Roman ...

. In 1364, the Serbian despot

Jovan Uglješa Jovan may refer to: *Jovan (given name), a list of people with this given name * Jovan, Mawal, a village on the western coastal region of Maharashtra, India *Jōvan Musk Jōvan Musk is a line of cologne for men and women. Barry Shipp developed th ...

funded the renovation and expansion of the monastery. He issued a royal chrysobull for the monastery in 1368. Russian pilgrim Isaiah wrote that, by the end of the 15th century, the monastery was Bulgarian. In 1567, the ''arsanas'' (port building) of Simonopetra was completed. Its construction was funded by a

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and so ...

n noble. In 1581, Simonopetra was destroyed by a fire, in which a large portion of the monks died. Evgenios, the monastery's

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

traveled to the

Danubian Principalities The Danubian Principalities ( ro, Principatele Dunărene, sr, Дунавске кнежевине, translit=Dunavske kneževine) was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th ce ...

hoping to raise funds to rebuild the monastery. The most important donor was

Michael the Brave Michael the Brave ( ro, Mihai Viteazul or ; 1558 – 9 August 1601), born as Mihai Pătrașcu, was the Prince of Wallachia (as Michael II, 1593 – 1601), Prince of Moldavia (1600) and ''de facto'' ruler of Transylvania (1599 – 1600). ...

, Prince of

, who donated large portions of land as well as money to the monastery. The monastery was also burnt in 1626, and the last great fire happened in 1891, after which the monastery was rebuilt to its current form. During recent centuries, the monks of the monastery were traditionally from

Ionia Ionia () was an ancient region on the western coast of Anatolia, to the south of present-day Izmir. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements. Never a unified state, it was named after the Ionian ...

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

. However, during the mid-20th century the brotherhood was greatly thinned out because of a great reduction in the influx of new monks. The current brotherhood originates from the Holy Monastery of Great Meteoron in

Meteora The Meteora (; el, Μετέωρα, ) is a rock formation in central Greece hosting one of the largest and most precipitously built complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries, second in importance only to Mount Athos.Sofianos, D.Z.: "Metéora". ...

, when in 1973 (also known as

Aimilianos Aimilianos () is a village in the municipality of Grevena, northern Greece. Before the local government was reformed in 1997, it was a part of the community of Agioi Theodoroi. , there are 36 residents in the village. Aimilianos is a part of the l ...

of Simonopetra) and his monks moved into Simonopetra, hence repopulating the almost abandoned monastery. He served as Abbot of Simonopetra from 1974 until 2000. 20th-century saints associated with the monastery include (died 1957).

Architecture

The monastery consists of several multi-storeyed buildings, the main being in the place of the original structure, built by Simon. The main building has been described as the "most bold construction of the peninsula".Greek Ministry of Culture
The monks of Simonopetra traditionally count the floors from top to bottom, thus the top floor is the first floor and the bottom floor the last. The monastery is built on top of the underlying massive rock, and the rock runs through the lower floors. The expansion and development of Simon's original structure almost always followed one of the monastery's great fires. Following the 1580 fire and with the funds gathered by abbot Evgenios, the western building was erected. The eastern building was built following the 1891 fire mostly with funds raised in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Choir

The choir of Simonopetra has grown in reputation among

Byzantine music Byzantine music (Greek: Βυζαντινή μουσική) is the music of the Byzantine Empire. Originally it consisted of songs and hymns composed to Greek texts used for courtly ceremonials, during festivals, or as paraliturgical and liturgical ...

specialists and enthusiasts. The monastery has published a series of collections of ecclesiastic Byzantine chants by the choir. Of these, ''

Agni Parthene ''Agni Parthene'' (Greek: ), rendered "O Virgin Pure" or "O Pure Virgin", is a Greek Marian hymn (i.e., hymn to the Virgin Mary) composed by St. Nectarios of Aegina in the late 19th century, first published in print in his ''Theotokarion'' () in ...

'' is the most popular and has earned the choir and the monastery widespread recognition. Recordings include: * ''Hymns from the Psalter'' (1990) * ''

O Pure Virgin ''Agni Parthene'' (Greek: ), rendered "O Virgin Pure" or "O Pure Virgin", is a Greek Marian hymn (i.e., hymn to the Virgin Mary) composed by St. Nectarios of Aegina in the late 19th century, first published in print in his ''Theotokarion'' () in ...

'' (''Agni Parthene'') (1990) * ''

Divine Liturgy Divine Liturgy ( grc-gre, Θεία Λειτουργία, Theia Leitourgia) or Holy Liturgy is the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine Rite, developed from the Antiochene Rite of Christian liturgy which is that of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of C ...

'' (1999) * ''Great

Vespers Vespers is a service of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic (both Latin liturgical rites, Latin and Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern), Lutheranism, Lutheran, and Anglican ...

'' (1999) * ''

Paraklesis A Paraklesis ( el, Παράκλησις, Slavonic: молебенъ) or Supplicatory Canon in the Byzantine Rite, is a service of supplication for the welfare of the living. It is addressed to a specific Saint or to the Most Holy Theotokos whose ...

'' (1999) * ''Service of Saint Simon'' (1999) * ''Sunday

Matins Matins (also Mattins) is a canonical hour in Christian liturgy, originally sung during the darkness of early morning. The earliest use of the term was in reference to the canonical hour, also called the vigil, which was originally celebrated by ...

'' (''

Orthros ''Orthros'' ( Greek: , meaning "early dawn" or "daybreak") or ''Oútrenya'' ( Slavonic Оўтреня), in the Byzantine Rite of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches, is the last of the four night offices (church service ...

'') (1999) * ''Service of St.

Silouan the Athonite Silouan the Athonite (Russian: Силуан Афонский) also sometimes referred to as Silouan of Athos, Saint Silvanus the Athonite or Staretz Silouan (January 17, 1866 – September 24, 1938) was an Eastern Orthodox monk of Russian origin ...

'' (2004)

Gallery

File:Athos 13.jpg, Simonopetra File:Simonos petras 1.jpg, Simonopetra File:Simonopetra Monastery.jpg, Simonopetra File:View of the Monastery and Aqueduct of Simopetra, on Mount Athos, taken from the Sea-shore - Curzon Robert - 1849.jpg, Monastery and Aqueduct of Simopetra, 1834 File:Athos 14.jpg, View of Simonopetra from the sea

References

External links

Simonopetra monastery at the Mount Athos websiteInternet Archive

Liturgica.com: the recordings of the choir of Simonopetra

Youtube: The recordings of the Choir of Simonopetra

Choir of Simonopetra
(Χορός Σιμωνόπετρας), album recordings on YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Simonopetra Monastery Monasteries on Mount Athos Greek Orthodox monasteries in Greece Byzantine sacred architecture Christian monasteries established in the 13th century Byzantine monasteries in Greece