The Holy and Great Monastery of Vatopedi ( el, Βατοπέδι, ) 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 on

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 peni ...

, Greece. The monastery was expanded several times during its history, particularly during 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 ...

period and in the 18th and 19th centuries. More than 120 monks live in the monastery.

History

Vatopedi was built on the site of an early Christian settlement dating from

Late Antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English h ...

. In 2000, the

Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities The ephors were a board of five magistrates in ancient Sparta. They had an extensive range of judicial, religious, legislative, and military powers, and could shape Sparta's home and foreign affairs. The word "''ephors''" ( Ancient Greek ''é ...

excavated the foundations of an early Christian basilica to the north of the current ''katholikon'' of Vatopedi. Vatopedi was founded in the second half of the 10th century by three monks, Athanasius, Nicholas, and Antonius, from

Adrianople Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis ( Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian border ...

, who were disciples of Athanasius the Athonite. By the end of the 15th century, the Russian pilgrim Isaiah wrote that the monastery was Greek. In 1990, Vatopedi was converted from an

idiorrhythmic Idiorrhythmic monasticism is a form of monastic life in Christianity. It was the original form of monastic life in Christianity, as exemplified by St. Anthony of Egypt ( 250–355) and is the opposite of cenobitic monasticism in that instead of c ...

monastery into a

cenobitic 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 pre ...

one.

Sketes attached to Vatopedi

Two large

skete A skete ( ) is a monastic community in Eastern Christianity that allows relative isolation for monks, but also allows for communal services and the safety of shared resources and protection. It is one of four types of early monastic orders, a ...

s (monastic style communities) are attached to Vatopedi: the Skete of Saint Andrew in Karyes and the Skete of

Saint Demetrius Saint Demetrius (or Demetrios) of Thessalonica ( el, Ἅγιος Δημήτριος τῆς Θεσσαλονίκης, (); bg, Димитър Солунски (); mk, Свети Димитрија Солунски (); ro, Sfântul Dumitru; sr ...

near the main monastery. Other

kellia Kellia ("the Cells"), referred to as "the innermost desert", was a 4th-century Egyptian Christian monastic community spread out over many square kilometers in the Nitrian Desert about 40 miles south of Alexandria. It was one of three centers of ...

(κελλιά; small monasteries which are not independent) are also dependent on the monastery. Some of the kellia in the area of the main monastery compound include: *Ag. Efthymiou *Ag. Panton *Ag. Grigorios Palamas *Ag. Charalampos *Ag. Christoforos *Ag. Archangeli *Ag. Evdokimos *Xylourgio *Ag. Onoufrios *Palia Athoniada *Pente Martyres *Profiti Ilia

Main buildings within the walls of the monastery

*The

Katholikon A ''katholikon'' or catholicon ( gr, καθολικόν) or ''sobor'' ( Slavonic: съборъ) refers to one of three things in the Eastern Orthodox Church: * The cathedral of a diocese. * The major church building (temple) of a monastery corre ...

(primary church), dedicated to the

Annunciation The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the ang ...

of 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 a ...

(Virgin Mary) *The

Refectory A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries. The name derives from the Lat ...

, or trapeza *The Byzantine period clock tower *The 10th century NE tower which now houses the monastery's

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 vi ...

Extensive construction projects are underway to restore the monastery's larger buildings.

Treasures held within the monastery

The Monastery of Vatopedi holds the Cincture of the Theotokos, a belt held by some believers to be the actual belt of the

, which she wore on earth and gave to

Thomas the Apostle Thomas the Apostle ( arc, 𐡀𐡌𐡅𐡕𐡌, hbo, תוֹמא הקדוש or תוֹמָא שליחא (''Toma HaKadosh'' "Thomas the Holy" or ''Toma Shlikha'' "Thomas the Messenger/Apostle" in Hebrew-Aramaic), syc, ܬܐܘܡܐ, , meaning "twi ...

after her death and during her transition to heaven (the equivalent in the Western Church is the Girdle of Thomas). The silver and jewel-encrusted

reliquary A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including '' phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it is housed a ''fer ...

containing the skull of St. John Chrysostom is kept in the Monastery and is credited by Eastern Orthodox Christians with

miraculous healings Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healing ...

. The monastery also contains the ''Iaspis'', a

chalice A chalice (from Latin 'mug', borrowed from Ancient Greek () 'cup') or goblet is a footed cup intended to hold a drink. In religious practice, a chalice is often used for drinking during a ceremony or may carry a certain symbolic meaning. R ...

fashioned of a single piece of the precious stone

jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref ...

, and numerous

icons An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most c ...

Vatopedi's library preserves a medieval royal charter, the 13th-century ''Vatopedi Charter'' of

Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria Ivan Asen II, also known as John Asen II ( bg, Иван Асен II, ; 1190s – May/June 1241), was Emperor (Tsar) of Bulgaria from 1218 to 1241. He was still a child when his father Ivan Asen I one of the founders of the Second Bulgarian Empi ...

dedicated to the monastery. It was discovered in the monastery's archives in 1929. The library holds 2,000 manuscripts and 35,000 printed books. Among manuscripts from Vatopedi are

Uncial 063 Uncial 063 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 64 ( Soden), is a Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament, dated paleographically to the 9th century. Description The codex contains a part of the Luke 16 — John 6, on 20 parchment leave ...

Uncial 0102 Uncial 0102 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 42 ( Soden), is a Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament. It is dated paleographically to the 7th century. Description The codex contains a small part of the Gospel of Luke 3:23-4:43; ...

, and the

Vatopedi Psalter The Holy and Great Monastery of Vatopedi ( el, Βατοπέδι, ) is an Eastern Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos, Greece. The monastery was expanded several times during its history, particularly during the Byzantine period and in the 18th ...

in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

and the early-14th century Codex Vatopedinus 655 divided between the British LibraryBritish Library
MS 19391.
/ref> and the French

Bibliothèque Nationale 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 vi ...

, which includes numerous

periplus A periplus (), or periplous, is a manuscript document that lists the ports and coastal landmarks, in order and with approximate intervening distances, that the captain of a vessel could expect to find along a shore. In that sense, the periplus wa ...

es, extracts from

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called " Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could s ...

and

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

's geographical works, and early maps. ; Other manuscripts * Minuscules

245 __NOTOC__ Year 245 ( CCXLV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Philippus and Titianus (or, less frequently, year 998 ' ...

& 464 * Lectionaries 54 & 55

Land deal controversy

In September 2008, the monastery was implicated in an alleged real estate scandal (see also the Greek Wikipedia article). The monastery was accused of trading low-value land for high-value state property in a deal with the

New Democracy New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path that was decisively distinc ...

government of Prime Minister

Kostas Karamanlis Konstantinos A. Karamanlis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Αλεξάνδρου Καραμανλής; born 14 September 1956), commonly known as Kostas Karamanlis ( el, Κώστας Καραμανλής, ), is a Greek politician who served as the ...

. In the ensuing court case, all of the accused were ultimately acquitted and it was decided that there was no financial damage to the public treasury. Архимандрит Ефрем (Кутсу)

American writer

Michael Lewis Michael Monroe Lewis (born October 15, 1960) Gale Biography In Context. is an American author and financial journalist. He has also been a contributing editor to ''Vanity Fair'' since 2009, writing mostly on business, finance, and economics. He ...

reports that a Greek parliamentary commission estimated the value of government property received by the monastery at one billion euros.Michael Lewis,
Beware of Greeks Bearing Bonds
"

Vanity Fair Vanity Fair may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Literature * Vanity Fair, a location in '' The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1678), by John Bunyan * ''Vanity Fair'' (novel), 1848, by William Makepeace Thackeray * ''Vanity Fair'' (magazines), the ...

, 1 October 2010. Michael Lewis, in his book '' Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World'', visits the monastery, details the frugal, hard-working lifestyle of the monks and investigates the real estate deal which would have helped in efforts to restore Vatopedi to its former glory. After the story became public in August 2008, the government cancelled the land deals and two ministers resigned, under huge pressure from the media and public.
Greek SKAI Television Documentary Additionally, Hellenic Parliament, Parliament voted unanimously to set up a commission to investigate the deal. However, after investigations, the estimations of the public agencies for the exchanged real estate objects were found to have been in order. In December 2010, a Court of Appeals found guilty and imposed a ten-month imprisonment (with three years suspension) to ex-judge Maria Psaltis on charges of misconduct and violations of judicial secrecy. The same penalty was issued to Abbot Ephraim and monk Arsenios on instigation. Finally Abbot Ephraim, monk Arsenios and the judge Maria Psaltis were relived from the accusation from Areios Pagos, the Supreme Court of the Hellenic Republic (Greece), by the act 966/2012. As of December 2011, 3 years after the reveal of the alleged scandal, none of the two different investigating parliamentary commissions and various trials had found any of the persons involved guilty of illegal money transactions or real estate fraud. Then, in late December 2011, Abbot Ephraim was arrested, and jailed pending trial, for alleged fraud and embezzlement. On January 11, 2012, the Criminal Division of the Supreme Court accepted the proposal of the Deputy Prosecutor of the Supreme Court Law Mr. Tsangas: it set aside the decision under which Psaltis, Ephraim, and Arsenios had each been sentenced to 10-month imprisonment (with three years suspended). The Supreme Court considered that the contested decision of the Court of Appeals had no legal justification and presented logical gaps, inconsistencies, and shortcomings. Moreover, the Supreme Court ruling that any disclosure of the outcome of the conference only a court is no longer a criminal offense ic which means that the three defendants will be treated under more favorable conditions when judged again by the court. In October 2013, it was reported that fourteen persons, including Abbot Efrem and monk Arsenios were indicted on several counts including money laundering related to the Land Deal Controversy, which has been referred to as the "holy exchange". On 23 March 2017, Efrem was fully acquitted. On 28 May 2021, Efrem was hospitalized in Athens due to a COVID-19 infection.

Miracle-working icons within the monastery

There are seven icons of the

Mother of God ''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 ar ...

in the monastery purported by believers to be miracle-working: Elaiovrytissa, Ktetorissa (Vimatarissa), Esphagmeni, Pantanassa, Pyrovolitheisa, Antiphonitria and Paramythia.Icone della Ss.ma Madre di Dio – Hodigitria
/ref>

References

Sources

External links

Monastery Vatopedi - The official website of Monastery Vatopedi

The Ascetic Experience
photo galleries hosted by the Monastery of Vatopedi
Pemptousia (Πεμπτουσία)
a magazine published by the Association of the Friends of Vatopaidi Monastery {{Authority control Monasteries on Mount Athos Byzantine monasteries in Greece Christian monasteries established in the 10th century Political scandals in Greece Greek Orthodox monasteries 10th-century establishments in Greece