Xenophontos monastery is an
Orthodox Christian monastery in the monastic state of Mount Athos in Greece.
The monastery ranks sixteenth in the hierarchy of the Athonite monasteries. The
community has about 55 working monks. Most are Greek, with two senior monks
being American.
It is built by the sea,
standing on the western shore of the Athos peninsula.
It was built in the tenth
or eleventh century. The monastery is dedicated to St George and has 11 chapels
inside and 6 outside. The main church was built just prior to the Greek
Revolution of 1821 and is in the neo-classical style. It is perhaps the largest
on Mt Athos and has perfect acoustics. A large cross is suspended above the
inner sanctum and the choirs of the monks do some of the best traditional
Byzantine chanting in the whole peninsula. Vatopedi and Gregioriou are its only
rivals perhaps. Abbot Alex is the current leader as of 2015. Extensive
renovations are being done with money provided by the Greek Government and the
EC; many of the workers are from Albania and live nearby.
The library contains c. 300
manuscripts and 4,000 printed books.
Source: wikipedia.org