Nomenclature

The official nomenclature for the Monastery is Holy Great Monastery of Vatopaidi. The basic name of Vatopaidi or Vatopedi already appears in the first historical testimonies that have to do with the Holy Mountain, and it has a dual etymology and a corresponding double spelling. The first is interpreted as child (paidion) of the thorn bushes (vati) and is rests upon a tradition. According to this tradition, the Monastery was founded in the fourth century by the emperor Theodosius the Great, whose son Arcadius had been saved from a shipwreck by a miracle and was found in the area of the future monastery, which was full of thorn bushes. Excavations carried out in 2000 around the present katholikon church revealed the Early Christian church, the great basilica that had been built by Theodosius. The present tenth-century katholikon church was built on top of the ruins of this original church. The second etymology is interpreted as a plain (pedion) of thorn bushes, expressing simply the fact that in the locale of the Monastery there are many thorn bushes.

The foundations of an Early Christian basilica (of Theodosius the Great) of grand dimensions, which were revealed during the excavations of 2000 to the north of the katholikon church

In earlier times the Monastery was characterized as “Royal”. This characterization was eventually acquired by all the monasteries of Mount Athos because of their relations with the Byzantine emperors. They were also called Patriarchal and Stavropegic, which were privileged designations bestowed by the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

For the nomenclature of the Monastery on may refer to the analytical study, “The designations of Vatopaidi Monastery from within Byzantine and post-Byzantine sources”, by the associate professor of the Democrates University of Thrace and former Governor of Mount Athos, Mr. Nikos Douka-Papadimitriou