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Monk Chariton of Karoulia

The Holy Monastery of Saint Panteleimon

5 November 2011

The Monastery was founded before the end of the 10th century in the mountain location now occupied by Old Monastery. It was also called the Monastery of the Thessalonican. It seems that Russian monks were established here very early. In 1765 the monks began to abandon the old monastery to found a new one on the coast. The monastery proper was built at the beginning of the 19th century with funds supplied by the ruler Moldo-Wallachia Scarlatos Kallimachis. The patriarchal charter of 1803 states that the foundation be called the “Sovereign Cenobion of the Killimaches”.

From 1840 the monastery again accepted Russian monks, who came to predominate in 1875, when they elected a Russian abbot. Great safaris were made to Russify the monastery, even appearance, with the result that today it differs architecturally from the other Athonite monasteries. Panteleimon’s decline began in 1913, with the heresy of the “worshippers of the name”. The Katholikon, dedicated to St Panteleimon, was built between 1812 and 1821. The monastery has jurisdiction over the skete of Xylourgou (the Carpenter), known as Bogoroditsa.

Source: Monk Chariton, Images of Athos, 3rd edition, Mount Athos, 2007

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