The monastery of Karakalou

According to the generally accepted view, a small monastery, founded by a monk named Karakalas at the beginning of the 11th century A.D. probably formed the basis for the later building complex on the site. The monastery is dedicated to the memory of the Apostles Peter and Paul, and occupies eleventh place in the hierarchy. Like the majority of the monasteries on Mount Athos, this one too has known difficult times (piratical raids, plundering by Latin soldiers, the expropriation of its estates by the Turks) though it has also experienced periods of prosperity (giftsby emperors and patriarchs, the princes of Wallachia and the kings of Iberia). The monastery played a leading role in the Greek struggle for liberation and supported the chieftain Tsamis Karatasos (A.D.1854).

The monastery of Saint Paul

The monastery of Saint Paul, now dedicated to the Presentation of Christ, earlier honoured the Saviour, the Virgin and Saint Georgios. Ranking fourteenth in the hierarchy, it owes its foundation, to the 8th/9th centuries A.D., according to tradition. The monastery is probably, however, a foundation of Pavlos Xeropotamenos in the second half of the l0th century A.D. The monastery of Saint Paul only acquired a permanent place amongst the other Athonite monasteries after A.D. 1370, thanks to the intervention of the Serb monks Gerasimos Radonia and Antonios Pegases. Early in the l4th century the Palaiologoi and the kings of Serbia extended the complex, and after the Fall of the Byzantine Empire, the Christian sultana Mara, Greek and Romanian princes of the Danubian principalities made funds available for renovation and additional building. It was deserted at the time of the War of Independence but finally recovered, thanks to donations by the Russian tzars.

The Stavronikita monastery

The Stavronikita monastery was presumably built in the l0th century A.D. and was one of the first to be founded in the early years of organised monastic life on Athos. It owes its name, according to one version, to the combination of the names of the monks Stavros and Niketas, who had previously lived as hermits in the area. The monastery followed the historical fluctuations of Mount Athos and suffered badly during the period of Frankish rule, to the extent that it was abandoned and razed to the ground by a series of destructive fires (A.D. 1607, 1741, 1864, 1874, 1879); it was also, however, the object of benefactions and a wide variety of gifts by patriarchs, elders of the communities, princes of Wallachia and others. A decisive role in the general renewal of the monastery was played by Gregorios Giromereiatis (first half of the l6th century A.D.).

The Stavronikita monastery occupies fifteenth position in the hierarchy. The Cretan painter Theophanes worked there (A.D. 1546).

The Gregoriou monastery

Dedicated to the memory of Saint Nikolaos, the Gregoriou (Grigoriou) monastery was founded during the l4th century (in the time of Ioannis Palaiologos 1341-1391) by saint Gregorios the Younger or by his namesake and teacher Gregorios Sinaitis.

It occupies seventeenth place in the hierarchy. During the l5th and l6th centuries A.D. it was destroyed by raids, and in the following cenury (A.D. 1761) by fire. Amongst its benefactors and restorers may be counted the princes of Moldavia, a large number of Phanariotes, archbishops of Hungro-Wallachia, and even Sultans.

Saint Panteleimon monastery

The Saint Panteleimon monastery, nineteenth in the hierarchy, honours the name of saint Panteleimon of Thessaloniki. Dating back to A.D. 1765 on its present site and owes its construction to contributions by Skarlatos Kallimaches, the prince of Moldo- Wallachia. It earlier stood on a site that is still called "Paliomonastero," ("Old Monastery"), founded in the 11th century by monks who came to the Holy Mountain from Russia.