Athos, Monastery of Xenophon

Meeting this monastery, what instantly impresses the eye on its seaside west side, is the stone foundation with the intermittent arches on which the cells of the monks are crowded, as well as the various rooms for the other functions of the complex. The dome of the Katholikon, determined, clearly stands in the center of the monastery, devoted to Saint George. Historically the monastery is mentioned for the first time in the years of Emperor Nikiphoros III Botaniatis (1083). The story has also taken the known path: pirate raids, disasters and renovations with donations by Byzantine rulers of the Danubian regions, fires that burnt its printed wealth, looting and burdensome taxes from the Turks, beneficences from ordinary people.

The monastery has the largest Greek catholic on Mount, with a colorful, marble iconostasis without frescoes, but with the famous mosaic icons of Saint Demetrius and Saint George. A few meters above, there is a second, older, catholic, the narthex of which is incorporated into the west side of the cells of the altar, which bears frescoes of the Cretan school and a wood carved iconostasis of the 17th century. The most precious heirloom of the monastery is the fragment of the True Cross and the approximately 300 manuscripts in the organized library.

Northeast of the monastery we are led to the Skete of Xenophon, where our writer Alexandros Papadiamantis lived for a while.

Unfortunately, two of the greatest heirlooms of the monastery, a gospel of the 9th and 11th centuries, were bought by the English traveler R. Curzon. Of course they were lost forever.