The monastery of Theotokos Euergetis ( gr, Θεοτόκος Εὐεργέτις, ,

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 " ...

the Benefactress) was a monastery in the European suburbs of the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

capital,

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

, established in 1049 and surviving until the 13th century.

History

The monastery was founded in 1049, when a certain Paul retired to his estate, located some from the walls of

, and settled there as a monk. He was joined by several other monks, and a number of cells were erected to house this small community. When Paul died in 1054, his successor as abbot, Timothy, became the monastery's second founder. Timothy managed to accumulate sufficient funds to build a new church and larger cells, and in he issued the monastery with new regulations in the form of two charters (''typika''): one for the rules of daily life, and one for its liturgy. The former was used as a model for the foundation ''typika'' of a number of major Byzantine monasteries, such as those of

Theotokos Kosmosoteira The Theotokos Kosmosoteira ( el, Θεοτόκος η Κοσμοσώτειρα, , Theotokos the World-Saviour) is a Greek Orthodox monastery in Feres, Evros Prefecture, Greece. It was built around 1152 by the ''sebastokrator'' Isaac Komnenos, a s ...

Heliou Bomon The monastery of Heliou Bomon ( gr, Ἡλίου Βωμῶν, , altars of the Sun) was active during the middle Byzantine period, in the 10th–12th centuries, located in modern Kurşunlu. Heliou Bomon is first attested in the 10th century, althoug ...

, Kecharitomene, and

Hilandar The Hilandar Monastery ( sr-cyr, Манастир Хиландар, Manastir Hilandar, , el, Μονή Χιλανδαρίου) is one of the twenty Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Mount Athos in Greece and the only Serbian monastery there. It wa ...

, and is the main source of information about the Theotokos Euergetis monastery itself. According to the ''typikon'', the monastery also included a hospice for travellers, and had a dependency ('' metochion'') within Constantinople. One of the main benefactors of the monastery was the Serbian prince and archbishop Saint Sava, who visited it often between 1196 and 1235. During the

Latin Empire The Latin Empire, also referred to as the Latin Empire of Constantinople, was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. The Latin Empire was intended to replace the Byzanti ...

, the monastery became a dependency of the monastery of

Monte Cassino Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley, Italy, west of Cassino and at an elevation of . Site of the Roman town of Casinum, it is widely known for its abbey, the first h ...

, but it appears that the Greek monks of Euergetis were allowed to remain. The monastery disappears from the record after the 13th century.

History

References

Sources

Further reading