The monastery of Saint Panteleimon is located next to the sea, a Russian agreement of stone, lime and dome, reminiscent of a small, crowded city. And that was exactly what this monastery aspired to become, a city of crucial influence in the Balkans, a lever more of the expansionary Russian politics than the retreat of the soul from the worldly.
The old monastery was located on the eastern side of current one, at the place of Paleomonastiro, founded and Greek before 988 as a monastery of Thessalonica. It was destroyed by a great fire. The Greek-Russian Monastery of Roussoi was created by Russian monks. But it was flattened by Catalan pirates. Serbian monks were the ones who helped its survival. Until the 18th century so many Russians came, to ruin the monastery's population. They then moved (1765) to the beautiful beach, and the money to make a monastery was provided by the rulers of Wallachia, Kallimachides. The Revolution of 1821 put it in a bad state. Russian monks have since then moved in waves, with blessings and generous sponsorship by the Russian government. By 1900, over 2,000 Russian monks had moved to the monastery. Of course, they outvoted and voted for their abbot. So the monastery became Russian. The plans to create a small Russian city in Athos were wrecked by the October Revolution.
Behind the magnificent, pebbled beach are rising, over plane trees and chestnut trees, huge buildings, five-storey and six-storey buildings. It is an imposing group of 3,000 cells in the middle of which are distinguished the characteristic bulbous domes of the catholic of the monastery, which has eight domes lined with green pencil and is accompanied by the tall belfry with the huge bell of 13 tones. The temple, dedicated to Saint Skepi, has also been devoted to Alexander Niefsky.
Today only 2 of its 33 monks are Greeks.
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