The Pantokratoros Monastery is Greek and the seventh in the Mount Athos hierarchy. It has the form of a fortified medieval castle. The Monastery is the 7th in the class of Mount Athos and is seaside. Its Katholikon is dedicated to the Metamorphosis tou Sotiros. It is located the miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary of Gerontissa. On the northern side of the island is the chapel of Koimiseos tis Theotokou.
By the middle of the 17th century it was commonwealth and later “peculiar”. And in 1992 from a peculiar, commonwealth, when a new brotherhood came from the monastery of Xenophontos. The first abbot of the Kosovo monastery was Archimandrite Bessarion, who died in 2001 at age 47 from cancer. Today’s abbot is the elder Gabriel.
The Holy Monastery of Pantokrator was founded by the great military commander Alexios and his brother John the Great Primikirio. The founding of the monastery confirms a document signed by the Patriarch of Constantinople Kallisto in 1357. The emperor John IV Palaiologos granted significant sums to the founders of the monastery. It flourished in the 16th century as it had the direct support of the Wallachian rulers. One of the most important benefactors of the monastery was the Phanariot Greek John Mavrocordatos in the 18th century.
The library includes 3,500 printed works, 2 scrolls, 317 manuscripts, 68 of which are 11th and 14th century parchment codes and nearly 350 codes. The sacristy includes pieces of Saint Mercurius shield, miraculous icons, pieces of “Timio Ksilo”, golden veils, sacred bones such as Saint Andrew’s right foot, and the bonew of Saints Cosmas and Damianos. The most honored icon is the Virgin Mary of Gerontissa.
Pantokratoros monastery has eight chapels within its monastery complex and seven other churches. It stands out at the “Koimisis tis Theotokou”, found in the frieze with frescoes of Cretan style of 1538, but painted in 1868. Near the entrance of the monastery is the chapel of Saint Nicholas frescoed from the 18th century. In the west wing, in the place of the old tower, is the chapel of the Timios Prodromos. The chapel is decorated with 18th-century frescoes. On the top floor of the great tower of the monastery is the chapel of Analipsis, while the second tower above the entrance is the chapel of Agios Panteleimonos.
Pantokratoros monastery has two cemetery temples. The old one is located on the edge of cliffs southeast of the monastery and is commemorated in the memory of St. Athanasios of Athonite. The newest temple is the one of Saints Anargyroi, built in 1771 . The monastery’s icon-painting is particularly interesting. Half an hour west is the Cloister of Prophet Elias, which is part of the monastery.
The Pantokratoros monastery also has fifteen Kelia. Five of them are within the boundaries of Karyes. The rest are in the wider area of the monastery. The most historic Keli is the former Ravdouhos monastery, which at the end of the 12th century ranked 14th in the hierarchy of twenty-five monasteries of that time. There are still frescoes of the 12th century with the full-length performances of the Apostoles Peter and Paul.
An important part of the monastery is also “Keli” of Axion Estin, where the icon was located in the past but now is located in the temple of the Protatus. In the area of Kapsala, in the ascetic settlement, there are fifty huts of the monastery of Pantokrator. In “Kelia” the elders are engaged in handwork, woodcarving and agricultural work.
Pantokratoros Monastery has four Kathismata in the area around the monastery. These are Kathisma of the Holy Apostoles, Saint Tryphon in the house, the Saints of Anargyroi, which is also the cemetery temple and the Kathisma of Petros and Onoufrias, where St. Theon Metropolitan of Thessalonica practiced in the 16th century.
The monastery celebrates the Metamorphosis of the Sotiros on 6 August. The Monastery has a set of 70 to 80 people. In this Monastery is worth seeing the katholikon, the full icon of the Virgin Mary Gerontissa and as well the sacred sacristy with the famous icons of the 14th century in the tower of the Monastery.
