The Monastery of Great Lavra ( el, Μονή Μεγίστης Λαύρας) is the first monastery built on Mount Athos. It is located on the southeastern foot of the Mount at an elevation of . The founding of the monastery in AD 963 by

Athanasius the Athonite Athanasius the Athonite (c. 920 – c. 1003; el, Ἀθανάσιος ὁ Ἀθωνίτης), was a Byzantine monk who is considered the founder of the monastic community on the peninsula of Mount Athos; which has since evolved into the grea ...

marks the beginning of the organized monastic life at Mount Athos. At the location of the monastery, there was one of the ancient cities of the Athos peninsula, perhaps Akrothooi, from which the sarcophagi of the monastery that are in the oil storage house come. The history of the monastery is the most complete compared to the history of the other monasteries, because its historical archives were preserved almost intact. It is possible that the study of these archives may contribute to the completion of the knowledge of the history of other monasteries, whose archives were partially or completely lost.

Founding

The founder of Great Lavra, Athanasius, began the construction of the buildings in 963, according to the will of his friend and

Byzantine Emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, to Fall of Constantinople, its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. On ...

Nikephoros II Phokas Nikephoros II Phokas (; – 11 December 969), Latinized Nicephorus II Phocas, was Byzantine emperor from 963 to 969. His career, not uniformly successful in matters of statecraft or of war, nonetheless included brilliant military exploits whi ...

who funded the project.http://www.mountathos.gr/active.aspx?mode=enView Nikephoros had promised Athanasius that he would soon become a monk of Great Lavra but the circumstances and his death canceled those plans. However, a permanent imperial grant, which was doubled by John I Tzimiskes, allowed the integration of the buildings. The emperors gave also the Great Lavra many other lands of property including the island of Saint Eustratius and the Monastery of Saint Andreas in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

. This led to the growth of the monks from 80 to 120.

Later history

The building project, according to the biography of

(11th century), began with the protective wall and continued to the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

and

cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life Cell may also refer to: Locations * Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery ...

s. After Athanasius' death, the

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 whi ...

continued its operation normally. The emperors favored its development and during the 11th century there were 700 monks, while smaller monasteries had been ceded to Great Lavra. In the 14th century the monastery suffered, like all the other monasteries of Mount Athos, from

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both in ...

from the crown of Aragon and other pirates. Additionally, the Russian pilgrim Isaiah confirms that, by the end of the 15th century, the monastery was Greek. The result of the crisis was the formation of a peculiar way of monasticism, the Idiorrhythmic Way, despite the objections of the official Church and the emperors. In 1574, the Patriarch of Alexandria, Sylvester, helped and the monastery operated again under

cenobitic monasticism Cenobitic (or coenobitic) monasticism is a monastic tradition that stresses community life. Often in the West the community belongs to a religious order, and the life of the cenobitic monk is regulated by a religious rule, a collection of prec ...

, but soon the peculiar monasticism was again introduced. In 1655, the

Patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...

Dionysios III, who also became a

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

, donated his personal fortune for the return to the cenobitic life but again these attempts were insufficient and the peculiar monasticism remained until the 20th century (1914), when there were new attempts for the return to the cenobitic life but without results. Since 1980, the monastery has been cenobitic.

Buildings

The main church (Katholikon) was founded by Athanasius who lost his life together with 6 other workers when one of the domes fell during the construction. The architectural style of the temple is characterized by the two large areas of the chorus and the prayer. This style was then consecrated and was copied by the other monasteries. The frescoes were made in 1535 by the great painter Theophanis. However, the

narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or lobby area, located at the west end of the nave, opposite the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex ...

was painted in 1854. North of the narthex (''liti''), there is the chapel of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste in which there is the grave of Athanasius. South of the ''liti'', there is the chapel of Saint Nicholas, painted by Franco Cantellano, in 1560. The trapeza opposite the central entrance has the shape of a cross and is the largest on Mount Athos. Its interior is full of frescoes, painted by Theophanis or his school.

Art treasures

The

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

of the monastery is located behind the main church. It contains 2,116

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

manuscripts and 165 codices. Among them

uncial Uncial is a majuscule Glaister, Geoffrey Ashall. (1996) ''Encyclopedia of the Book''. 2nd edn. New Castle, DE, and London: Oak Knoll Press & The British Library, p. 494. script (written entirely in capital letters) commonly used from the 4th to ...

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...

s of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

Codex Coislinianus Codex Coislinianus designated by Hp or 015 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 1022 ( Soden), was named also as ''Codex Euthalianus''. It is a Greek uncial manuscript of the Pauline epistles, dated palaeographically to the 6th century. The t ...

Codex Athous Lavrensis The Codex Athous Laurae, designated by Ψ or 044 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), or δ 6 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament Manuscripts), is a manuscript of the New Testament written in Greek uncial lette ...

, Uncial 049,

Uncial 0167 Uncial 0167 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), is a Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament, dated paleographically to the 7th century. Description The codex contains a small part of the Gospel of Mark 4:24-29,37-41; 6:9-11,13-14,37-39 ...

, and minuscules 1073, 1505, 2524, 1519. There are also over 20,000 printed books, and about 100 manuscripts in other languages. The collection is one of the richest collections of Greek manuscripts in the world. The

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

is behind the main

. Some of the most important artifacts are a manuscript of a

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

with a

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

en cover which is a gift from Nikephoros II Phokas and the list (Kouvaras) of the monks since Athanasius. There are also 2,500 icons which cover the whole history of hagiography of the second millennium.

Namesakes

A plant species, '' Campanula lavrensis'', is named after the Great Lavra.

Gallery

File:Heading into the Great Lavra, back door... (3939695457).jpg, Road to the monastery File:IMG 1552-20070425-great-lavra-a.JPG, Cypress of St.

Athanasius Athanasius I of Alexandria, ; cop, ⲡⲓⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ ⲁⲑⲁⲛⲁⲥⲓⲟⲩ ⲡⲓⲁⲡⲟⲥⲧⲟⲗⲓⲕⲟⲥ or Ⲡⲁⲡⲁ ⲁⲑⲁⲛⲁⲥⲓⲟⲩ ⲁ̅; (c. 296–298 – 2 May 373), also called Athanasius the Great, ...

, as seen from the entrance in the church of Great Lavra. It is said to be over 1000 years old. File:Great Lavra (3939829703).jpg, A gate File:Saint Nicholas Fresco the Great Lavra Church.jpg, Saint Nicholas fresco (1560) File:Main church, Great Lavra.jpg, Main church of the monastery.

References

External links

Great Lavra at the Mount Athos website
{{Authority control Monasteries on Mount Athos 963 establishments Byzantine monasteries in Greece Medieval Athos Christian monasteries established in the 10th century Greek Orthodox monasteries in Greece 960s establishments in the Byzantine Empire Lavras