History
The many conflicting tales
of the monastery's name hint to the obscurity of its historical origins. In a
document by the Protos Nikiforos dating back to 1012 there is the signature of
a monk who signs as "Nikiforos monk from Stravonikita", while in a
1016 document, the same monk signs as "from Stavronikita". This
alludes to the existence of a Stavronikita monastery as late as the first half
of the 11th century. According to archaeologist Sotiris Kadas this means that
the Stavronikita monastery was one of the monasteries that were founded or
built during the first years of organized monastic life on Mount Athos.
This early part of the
monastery's history ended approximately during the first half of the 13th
century when the monastery was deserted due to constant pirate raids as well as
due to the tremendous impact caused by the Fourth Crusade to the whole of the
Byzantine Empire. The deserted monastery came initially under the jurisdiction
of the Protos and later under the jurisdiction of Koutloumousiou monastery and
later Philotheou monastery and functioned as a skete. In 1533, The monks of Philotheou
sold Stavronikita to the abbot of a Thesprotian monastery, Gregorios
Giromeriatis. In 1536, a patriarchical edict by Patriarch Jeremias I reinstated
Stavronikita's status as one of the monasteries of Athos, bringing their total
number to 20. Therefore Stavronikita became the last officially consecrated
monastery of Athos and is usually referred as the last monastery to be added to
the athonite hierarchy.
Gregorios Giromeriatis
eventually left his monastery in Thesprotia and permanently settled in
Stavronikita. In subsequent years he expended great efforts to rebuild and
expand the monastery. He built a surrounding wall, many cells, as well as the
monastery's catholicon. After the death of Gregorios in 1540, the renovation
was continued by Patriarch Jeremias himself out of love and respect for
Gregorios. An extraordinary feature of the monastery during this era is the
fact that while most of the athonite monasteries had already largely adopted
the so-called "idiorythmic" lifestyle (a semi-eremitic variant of
Christian monasticism), Stavronikita was founded and continued to function long
after as on the principles of cenobitic monasticism.
The subsequent history of
the monastery was marked by the fact that it always remained small in
comparison to other athonite monasteries, both in property and in number of
monks. Despite the repeated aid by the athonite community as well as by
important benefactors, such as archon Servopoulos in 1612, the monk Markos in
1614, the people of Kea in 1628, Thomas Klados in 1630 and the Prince of
Wallachia, Alexandru Ghica from 1727 to 1740, the monastery's evolution was
constantly hampered partly by quarrellings with nearby sketes and monasteries,
most notably with Koutloumousiou monastery, over matters of land property and
more importantly by two great fires in 1607 and in 1741 that burnt Stavronikita
to the ground. However, the monastery continued to grow. In 1628 the catholicon
was renovated and in 1770 the monastery's well-known aqueduct was built along
with some of its chapels, such as the chapel of Saint Demetrius at the
monastery's graveyard, the chapel of the Archangels and the chapel of the Five
Martyrs.
During the Greek War of
Independence in the early 19th century, Stavronikita, as well as the whole of
Mount Athos, experienced harsh times. The monastery faced a harsh economic
situation due to extraordinary debt that helped fund the war, while its monks
were scattered after the Ottomans invaded Athos. Therefore the monastery, along
with some other athonite monasteries, was deserted and so were many of its
holdings in Wallachia, Moldavia and elsewhere. This situation lasted for about
a decade, after which the Ottomans left Athos and any monks that had survived
started returning to the monastery.
However, the monastery's
prosperity was again endangered by three great fires in 1864, 1874 and 1879
that caused great damage. The monastery was rebuilt but the monks became
largely indebted again which led to further decline. This situation was partly
reversed by the efforts of the abbot Theophilos, a monk formerly from
Vatopedi.The election of Abbot Vassilios and the reversion of the monastery to
the coenobitic style greatly influenced the revival of monastic life at
Stavronikita which thus obtained a new lease of life.
Architecture
Stavronikita is the
smallest of all athonite monasteries. Important sights of the monastery are its
characteristics, the tower at the entrance, its aqueduct, as well as its
centuries old cypress outside the western corner of the complex.
The catholicon of the
monastery is dedicated to Saint Nicholas and is the smallest catholicon among
its other athonite counterparts. It was built during the 16th century above a
church that existed before and was dedicated to Theotokos. The catholicon is
decorated with frescoes and an iconostasis by the famous icon-painter
Theophanes of Crete and his son Symeon. The monastery's refectory is located on
the upper floor at the southern side of the complex and bears some important
iconographies.
During the second half of
the 20th century the monastery had been largely abandoned and was slowly
dilapidating. In addition, the rock on which the monastery was built had been
severely damaged by a series of earthquakes. The rock was found to be slowly crumbling
and sliding towards the sea which lead to concerns about the future of the
monastery's structural stability.
The Center for the
Preservation of Athonite Heritage, a state organization under the jurisdiction
of the Ministry for Macedonia–Thrace, undertook the task of renovating and
restoring the monastery. Extensive renovating work took place from 1981 to 1999
and by applying a complex engineering method the underlying rock was
stabilized.