Monastery of Koutloumousiou

Dedicated to the Transfiguration of the Saviour, this monastery, the sixth in the hierarchy, was probably erected in the first half of the l2th century A.D., according to a document dating from A.D. 1169. Its founder was probably a monk from Africa (koutloumous the saint from Ethiopia). Decimated by the raids of the Catalans, it found a fervent supporter and generous patron in the person of Ioannis Vladislav, Prince of Hungro-Wallachia (second half of the l4th century). The monastery acquired prestige and power through its designation as a patriarchal establishment (A.D.1393), its annexation of the Monastery of Alypios (A.D.1428) and gifts from many emperors.

In A.D. 1497 it was destroyed by a great fire, and again in A.D. 1767 and A.D. 1870. It was supported in its times of trial by laymen and clerics from many parts of the Orthodox Christian world who made generous contributions.

The monastery Iveron

Dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin, this monastery, the third in the hierarchy, was found-ed by Ioannis Tornikios and the Iberians (Georgians) Georgios and Euthymios in the last quarter of the l0th century A.D. The Palaiologoi, the princes of Iberia and the Serb kral Stephen Dusan all endowed the monastery with new buildings. It was also given support by many of the patriarchs, mainly during the Ottoman occupation.

Great Lavra - Mount Athos

The Great Lavra is first in the hierarchy of monasteries and dedicated to the Dormition of hosios Athanasios, the wise monk and friend of the emperor Nikephoros II Phokas, who in A.D. 963 founded the first lavra (small group of hermits with a common superior and a central house of prayer) on Mount Athos at a site probably previously occupied by the ancient township of Akrothooi.

The monastery, a model of the cenobitic life and an example for those that followed, received generous gifts from Nikephoros II Phokas, his successor Ioannis Tzimiskes, and Basil II the Bulgar Slayer, and experienced moments of glory and grandeur down to the end of the l4th century. It was rescued from decline - the result of destructions and raids by pirates (15th-16th centuries) - by the patriarch Dionysios III (A.D. 1655), who gave his entire fortune to it. It was later rescued both by the Russian tzars and by the princes of the Danubian principalities. The great Cretan painter Theophanes and Frangos Katelanos both worked in the Great Lavra - the former in A.D.1535 and the latter in A.D.1560.

ќелијата на старец Јосиф Исихаст

AlDra напиша: Па види вака, ако велиме дека само една една гора е света тоа значи дека се друго не е свето. Така? Вие велите дека Света Гора во Грција е единственото свето место (Ватикан на Православието), а јас пак велам дека Библијата зборува за Светата Гора Сион. Патем не разбирам што значи ,,високо прелестениот’’.

Па види вака, ако велиме дека само една една гора е света тоа значи дека се друго не е свето. Така? Вие велите дека Света Гора во Грција е единственото свето место (Ватикан на Православието), а јас пак велам дека Библијата зборува за Светата Гора Сион.
Патем не разбирам што значи ,,високо прелестениот’’.