Visit Mount Athos

Panteleimonos is built near the sea on a bay on the southwest of Mt. Athos between the monastery of Xenophontos and Daphne. Construction of the monastery in its present form started in 1803. The old monastery was one hour from the present location, where the so called Paliomonastiro is today. The old deserted monastery was bought by Lavrentios, a Russian abbot from the existing at the time monastery of Xylourgou. The are no reports for the monastery between the 11th to 14th century. In the 15th century it was inhabited by Greeks until mid 18th century. The monks then left their position and started the new monastery by the sea. Its Catholicon is of the period 1812-1821 and was built with the help if the ruler of Moldavia-Wallachia Skarlatos Kallimachis. The monastery’s present architectural form is the result of reconstruction by the Russians who won control in 1875, electing their own abbot. The monastery has a magnificent belfry containing a huge bell weighing 13 tons. Its library contains 1.320 Greek and 600 Slavic manuscripts and 20.000 printed works. The monastery is the 19th in the hierarchy of Mt. Athos. It is inhabited by Russian-speaking monks.