The Holy Monastery of Vatopedi is on a hill by the sea on the north-eastern side of the Athos peninsula. It was founded around 972 - 985, probably by three rich nobles, Athanasius, Nicholas, and Antony, who came to live the monastic life on the Holy Mountain in the time of St Athanasius, the...

The Holy Monastery of Zographou is hidden on a wooded hillside on the south-western side of the Athos peninsula. According to tradition, its founders were three monks: Moses, Aaron, and John, from Ochrid, who became monks of the Holy Mountain in the 10th century. According to another account, the...

The Holy Monastery of Konstamonitou stands in one of the most picturesque spots on Athos, surrounded by woodland and half an hour away from the Singitic Gulf. A tradition makes the founder of the Monastery Constantine the Great or one of his sons, but it is more likely that its foundation is...

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...

The Holy Monastery of Stavroniketa is the smallest in size on the Holy Mountain. It is on the eastern side of the peninsula between the Monasteries of Iveron and Pantocrator, looking towards the Strymonic Gulf. Its history, like that of the other monasteries, has been a turbulent one. Its earliest...

The Holy Monastery of Koutloumousiou is near Karyes, and is dedicated to the Transfiguration of the Saviour. The etymology of the name is in all probability connected with two phases in the life of the Monastery. A monastery with the name of Koutloumousi is mentioned in a document as early as 1169...

The Holy Monastery of Iveron was founded towards the end of the 10th century by St John the Iberian (i.e., Georgian), a little after the founding of the Monastery of the Megiste Lavra and of Vatopedi. St John was a companion of St Athanasius. His foundation soon attracted others from his homeland....

The Holy Monastery of Philotheou stands among chestnut trees on a plateau on the north-eastern side of the peninsula, near the ancient Temple of Asclepius. It was founded by the Blessed Philotheus, a contemporary of St Athanasius the Athonite, around the end of the 10th century. Among the Byzantine...

The Holy Monastery of Karakallou stands on a hillside between the Monasteries of the Megiste Lavra and Iveron. Of the traditions concerned with its foundation, the most likely is that which makes its founder a monk of the name of Karakalas of the early 11th century. The fact that the Monastery is...

The Holy Monastery of Megiste Lavra is on the south-eastern side of the Athos peninsula at a place called Melana, an area where fragments of monuments which take us back to the pre-Christian era are to be found. The Lavra occupies first place in the history and hierarchy of the monasteries of...