The Holy Monastery of Pantocrator stands on the north-eastern side of the Athos peninsula, by the sea. Nearby is the site of the ancient city of Thyssus. Although age-long oral tradition maintains that it was founded by Alexius Comnenus, it is to be concluded from the surviving evidence that the founders of the Monastery were the brothers Alexius (who held the military rank of stratopedarches – camp commander) and Ioannes (a court official with the title of Great Primmicerius).



It is dedicated to the Transfiguration of Our Lord and occupies the seventh rank in the hierarchical order of the twenty Athonite monasteries. It returned to the coenobitic system in 1992.