Simonopetra

The monastery was founded in the 13th century by Simon the Athonite, who was later sanctified by the Eastern Orthodox Church as Saint Simon the Myrrh-bearer. Tradition holds that Simon, while dwelling in a nearby cave, had a vision where the Theotokos instructed him to build a monastery on top of the rock, promising she would protect and provide for him and the monastery. Simon called the original monastery "New Bethlehem" (Greek: Νέα Βηθλεέμ); to this day, it is dedicated to the Nativity of Jesus.

In 1364, the Serbian despot Jovan Uglješa funded the monastery's renovation and expansion, issuing a royal chrysobull for it in 1368.[1]

Russian pilgrim Isaiah wrote that, by the end of the 15th century, the monastery was Bulgarian.[2]

In 1567, the arsanas (port building) of Simonopetra was completed. Its construction was funded by a Wallachian noble.[3]

In 1581, Simonopetra was destroyed by a fire, in which a large portion of the monks died. Evgenios, the monastery's abbot traveled to the Danubian Principalities hoping to raise funds to rebuild the monastery. The most important donor was Michael the Brave, Prince of Wallachia, who donated large portions of land as well as money to the monastery. The monastery was also burnt in 1626, and the last great fire happened in 1891, after which the monastery was rebuilt in its current form.

In recent centuries, the monks of the monastery were traditionally from Ionia in Asia Minor. However, during the mid-20th century, the brotherhood was greatly reduced by a reduction in the influx of new monks. The current brotherhood originates from the Holy Monastery of Great Meteoron in Meteora, when in 1973 Emilianos (Vafidis) [ru] (also known as Aimilianos of Simonopetra) and his monks moved into Simonopetra, hence repopulating the almost abandoned monastery. He served as Abbot of Simonopetra from 1974 until 2000.[4]

20th-century saints associated with the monastery include Ieronymos of Simonopetra [el] (d. 1957).[5]

^ Speake, Graham (2014). Mount Athos: renewal in paradise. Limni, Evia, Greece: Denise Harvey. p. 74. ISBN 978-960-7120-34-2. OCLC 903320491. ^ A. E. Bakalopulos (1973). History of Macedonia, 1354-1833. [By] A.E. Vacalopoulos. p. 166. At the end of the 15th century, the Russian pilgrim Isaiah wrote that the monks supported themselves with various kinds of work, including the cultivation of their vineyards, and that nearly half the monasteries were Slav or Albanian. As Serbian he instanced Docheiariou, Grigoriou, Ayiou Pavlou, a monastery near Ayiou Pavlou and dedicated to St. John the Theologian (no doubt meaning the monastery of Ayiou Dionysiou) and Chilandariou. Panteleïmon is Russian, Simonopetra is Bulgarian, and Karakallou and Philotheou are Albanian. He mentioned Zographou, Kastamonitou (see fig. 58), Xeropotamou, Koutloumousiou, Xenophontos, Iveron and Protaton without any designations; while Lavra, Vatopedi (see fig. 59), Pantokratoros, and Stavronikita (which founded shortly prior by the patriarch Jeremiah I), he specifically named as Greek (see map 6). ^ Speake, Graham (2014). Mount Athos: renewal in paradise. Limni, Evia, Greece: Denise Harvey. p. 112. ISBN 978-960-7120-34-2. OCLC 903320491. ^ Dorobantu, Marius (2017-08-28). Hesychasm, the Jesus Prayer and the contemporary spiritual revival of Mount Athos (Master's thesis). Nijmegen: Radboud University. Retrieved 2022-08-28. ^ Elder Joseph the Hesychast, Three Other 20th-Century Athonite Elders Canonized. Orthodox Christianity. Mt. Athos, October 21, 2019.