Osiou Grigoriou Monastery

Oxford University Library

Gregoriou Monastery

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The Holy Monastery of Saint Gregory (Greek: Ιερά Μονή Οσίου Γρηγορίου), also known as Gregoriou Monastery (Greek: Μονή Γρηγορίου) is located on the southwest coast of Mount Athos, between the monasteries of Simonos Petra and Dionysiou. It is built on a rocky peninsula, just 30 m above the sea. It occupies the seventeenth place in the hierarchy of the twenty foundations of Mount Athos.

The Monastery prides itself for its contributions to theological dialogues, and for its many publications of theological and pastoral books, and its choir. considered by many to be among the top three athonite choirs. These will be presented and evaluated in the present forum

History

The monastery of Gregoriou was founded shortly before the middle of the 14th century. As for its founder, there is confusion due to the name, with the result that the founders are considered to be either the hesychast Gregory of Sinai, because he gathered the first monastic brotherhood at the site of the monastery, or Gregory the "of Syrians" because he gave this brotherhood specific regulations and built the monastery in its current form. However, the research attributes its foundation to Saint Gregory the Younger, a disciple of Gregory Sinaitis.

The Grigoriou monastery is first mentioned in documents of 1347 and 1348, where two of its abbots, Kallistratos and Kallistos, sign respectively. For much of its subsequent history, secure information is lacking. In the 14th and 15th centuries, it was characterized by its meager financial means, while with the Turkish conquest, it was in a dire position. In 1497 it was renovated with the sponsorship of Alexander the Shepherd. Nevertheless, its position worsened even more a little later, around 1500, when it was deserted by pirate raids and by a disastrous arson. However, a document of the Synod of 1513 mentions the reconstruction of new buildings, which were carried out under the supervision of the abbot of Spyridon and with the sponsorship of the ruler of Moldavia Stephen the Great (1457–1504), as well as other rulers of the Danubian regions. During this period (16th century) the northern wing (the one separating the two courtyards) was built with the old pillar, the belfry, the tower, etc. Around 1670, the Gregoriou monastery had 41 monks.

The Russian traveler Vasily Barsky gives a detailed description of the form of the monastery before the middle of the 18th century. He mentions it as the smallest of all the other monasteries, that it had a narrow enclosure formed by a building in the shape of a round tower with a single roof, of three or four stories and an opening in the center, where the courtyard with the small catholicon extended.

In 1761 a great fire, which burned most of the buildings, a large number of documents and destroyed the Catholic Church, brought about its withering. Its reconstruction was spearheaded by the monk and custodian Joakim Vesmintarios or Makrogenis from Akarnania. The construction of the new Catholic Church began around 1768, with many contributions from Danubian countries as well as the metropolitan of Hungary-Wallachia Grigorios and many Phanariots. Its frescoes were painted in 1779 by the painters Gavriil and Grigorio from Kastoria.

During the period of the Greek Revolution of 1821, a group of Turks settled in the monastery, which resulted in causing a lot of damage and burning books.

In 1846, with Abbot Neophytos, the Catholic narthex was built and frescoed. Its wood-carved iconostasis with its rich decoration and the many representations mainly from the Old Testament is considered remarkable.

After Neophytos, Daniel assumed the abbotship and in 1859, at just 29 years old, Simeon Angelopoulos the Agiopaulite, originally from Tripoli. During his 46-year abbotship, he paid off the monastery's debts, which reached 170,000 grosci, erected new buildings to the west and north, which surrounded a new courtyard, almost doubling the pre-existing area of the monastery. Then the mansion, additional monks' cells (1892), as well as its marble portico (1896) were built. The original core of the monastery can be seen on the south side of the complex with the Catholic Church dominating the middle of a small courtyard and the defensive Tower on its eastern side.

The Grigoriou monastery has been operating as a community since 1840, with the seal of Patriarch Anthimos IV, and with the first abbot, Neophytos, who lived in the hermitage of Agia Anna. Today the Monastery numbers seventy-five monks with Archimandrite Panaretos as abbot.

Sacrificial-Iconoparicy.

Post-Byzantine and newer icons are kept in the Vault-Iconophylakio. Particularly noteworthy is the icon of Saint Nicholas (15th century), located in the Catholic Church. Among her relics, we mention an icon of the Virgin Mary, in the form of Odegetria, known as Panagia Palaiologina, where it is written: "Deesis of the pious Lady Maria Asanina Palaiologina, lady of Moldovlachia".

One of the rare icons is the Milkmaid (17th century), nursing the infant Jesus, a subject not particularly popular in Byzantine iconography.

Among other precious sacred vessels, a gold-embroidered epitaph (16th century) is kept in the sacristy.

Library. The Library of the Holy Monastery of Gregory is housed in a small, vaulted apartment on the second floor of the western wing.

Until 1821, despite the deserts and fires (1761), it was particularly rich. However, during the period of the Greek Revolution, it was stripped by the Turkish detachment that had settled and remained in the monastery until 1830. We do not know exactly the losses in manuscripts and printed matter. Monk Varlaam writes about this period: "The Library of the Monastery until 1821 was the richest in spite of all the devastating deserts and fires, but it was stripped bare during the National struggle of 1821, so a detachment of Turkish soldiers was installed in the Monastery of Gregory, those who burned the ovens with parchments, manuscripts and various publications of the Monastery, so God knows what important documents were destroyed".

In 1910, the narrow space of the library, at the expense of Abbot Iakovos, was enlarged and secured with iron doors. Initially, both the manuscripts and the printed books were placed on the left side in glass-enclosed cabinets, while on the right side was placed the bequeathed rich personal library of the printed books of the abbot Iakovos (d. 27.1.1910).

The monastery in the years 1964–1974 had a separate book of impressions specifically for the library. The content of the records refers mainly to the organization and content of the library, its contribution to the preservation of valuable manuscripts and ancient types is emphasized, but its personal presentation by the abbot of the Bessarion monastery is also commented on.

The library of the Gregory monastery today is very well organized. It counts a total of 297 manuscript Codexes, 11 of which are parchments. It also maintains approximately 20,000 printed books, including 630 old ones.

The Reading Room, with the newest books, is located on the ground floor at the north-western end of the northern Wing, the Pope-Symeon. It is planned, due to lack of space, to transfer the Library to the new eastern wing.

Library-Archive

The monastery archive was destroyed by fire twice, in 1500 and 1761.

It was classified for the first time in 1928 by Varlaam and the secretary of the Elias monastery. The documents concerning the general property of the monastery were placed in a special folder entitled: "General Documents of the Holy Monastery of Saint Gregory in Agios Ori". The documents related to the forest and each of the shares of the monastery were placed in separate folders. The Turkish documents were accompanied by a certified translation and placed in the chronological order of their publication in the Vault, while their copies were in separate folders for each estate in the Monastery Office.

The archive holds a remarkable collection of Sigils, Kirovullas, Firmanias and other documents, including a Turkish Sureti of 1429 and a Vakufname of 1561.

Also, by way of example, we mention: a) Letter from the metropolitan of Plagines (Hungarian Wallachia) regarding the gratitude owed to the builder Joachim. b) Chrysobullus of John Gregory Alexander Ghikas, ruler of Moldowallachia and Chrysobullus of John Alexander Ioannis Ypsilantos, ruler of Hungarian Wallachia, which extol the virtues and services of Joachim. c) Letter of the Patriarch of Constantinople Constantius of 1830. d) Seal of the Patriarch of Constantinople Gregory V. e) Agreement document of the monasteries of Mount Athos of 1786, regarding unity, in order to face the danger from the Turks. f) Documents to the Grigori monastery of chieftains of the Macedonian struggle, such as Vassiliou Papakostas, Emmanuel Sotiriadis, Panagiotis Skabardonis, etc.

Manuscripts-Codices

The library has a total of 297 codices, of which only 11 are parchments and the rest paperbacks of various contents. Among the manuscripts, 40 paper codices of church music from the 15th-19th centuries have been preserved.

Spyridon Lambros at the end of the 19th century. identified and recorded a total of 161 Greek manuscripts (vol. 1: pp. 43–59 & vol. 2: pp. 470–1).

However, at the beginning of the 20th century, the monk of the Varlaam monastery compiled a new list. This list consists of two parts. In the first part (pp. 1–222) the mixed and varied content codices are described, and in the second the musical codices were to be listed, which Lambros in his catalog syllabically mentions in an entry simply: "ar. 118–154. Card. 8 mag. 8. 16. XV–XIX. Church music". Barlaam followed Lambrus' system. He wrote down exactly the chapters and the content of the codex, he also numbered their leaves, he filled in the details of those codes, of which Lambros only mentions the type of content, e.g. "Theologikon", "Iatrosofion", etc., while he also included several notes of codes.

Barlaam in his catalog counts 136 codes (excluding musicians), instead of Lambros' 117. The additional 19 codices came from the cells of the monks and from the Catholic. Musicians also upgrade their codes from 36 to 40.

Of the new codes recorded by Barlaam, notable are:

a) no. 22. This is a Code of the monastery where there are various news and inscriptions. It consists of 83 pages.

b) no. 34. Codex with memoranda concerning the monastery of Grigoriou. It dates back to the 19th century. and consists of 103 pages.

It is worth mentioning the parchment manuscript of the Shepherd of Hermas. In the catalog of Spyridon Lambros this code has the number 96 and dates to the 14th century. It is one of three surviving manuscripts in Greek and the only one with the entire work. The codex was discovered by Konstantinos Simonides in the middle of the 19th century, who removed three of the original nine leaves and, after copying the rest, presented them in Leipzig. The transcript was purchased and deposited in the library there (1855).

Also worth mentioning is the Pilgrimage of Jerusalem and the Holy Places (no. 139) of the year 1680. Its scribe is the physician Daniel. It is one of the few preserved Shrines of the Holy Lands. It consists of 29 sheets of small dimensions and is decorated with 62 miniatures. The miniatures are characterized by linearity and patterning and represent temple and monastery complexes, ecclesiastical and secular buildings, but also subjects such as lakes, rivers, springs, etc. The manuscript is also adorned with 10 large and elaborate initial letters.

Also, we highlight the parchment psalter 3, which, in addition to titles with floral decoration, also contains twelve images of excellent quality. It dates back to the 12th century.

Among the Greek manuscripts there are also eleven codices of the 17th–19th centuries, which contain works by authors of classical and late antiquity. Most of them are explained in detail. For example, we mention the Memoirs of Xenophon, the Fables of Aesop, the Epistles of Synesius, the Works and Days of Hesiod, etc.

Print Books

Desertification and fires destroyed or burned many printed books. However, the library of the Gregory monastery did not stop being enriched, thanks mainly to the actions of the superiors of the monastery, but also others. In the ex libris notes, the name "Neofytos Hieromonachus and his spiritual monk from Zagora" is often found. Also the name of the prior Nektarios, who around 1830 served as the representative of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Moscow: "And the Nektarios prior of the monastery Gregory". In the Dogmatic Armor of 1710 there is the note: "Gerasimos the humble metropolitan of Thebes Boeotia of Heptapylus". In the first edition of Simeon the New Theologian, there is at the beginning a letter dated January 17, 1837, signed "In Christ brother Dionysios previous commissioner of the holy Community of the holy Mount", commissioner in Thessaloniki from 1834-1837.

Today the library maintains approximately 20,000 printed books, including 630 old books.

Thomas Papadopoulos in the Libraries of Mount Athos (p. 9), the first Greek edition that he has located in the Gregory monastery dates back to 1531, and it is the Edition of the Orthodox faith of John Damascene, printed in Verona apud Stephanum et fratres Sabios.

Abbot: Archimandrite Elder Christopher, 90 monks.

Source https://www.aboutlibraries.gr/libraries/handle/20.500.12777/lib_112

Notable monks

Archimandrite Elder Symeon (1859-1905)
Archimandrite Elder Athanasios (1924-1937)
Archimandrite Elder George Kapsanis (1974-2014)

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