Mount Athos surpasses all mountains.
On this European land which is called Holy;
Flowers blossomed, on flower-nurtering Athos,
Indeed visibly, among the divine Fathers.
The God-fearing chorus, of Athonite Fathers,
Is praised by the chorus, of Athonite Monastics.
A throng of Athonites, stands round the throne of God.
On this European land which is called Holy;
Flowers blossomed, on flower-nurtering Athos,
Indeed visibly, among the divine Fathers.
The God-fearing chorus, of Athonite Fathers,
Is praised by the chorus, of Athonite Monastics.
A throng of Athonites, stands round the throne of God.
By Monk Moses the Athonite
Mount Athos presents a multifaceted, admirable and respectable history. One of its most beautiful aspects, undoubtedly, is its hagiographical wealth. Athonite hagiology rightly constitutes its primary boast and the greatest praise of an over thousand-year-old presence of monasticism.
The saints of Mount Athos are the loving fathers of the Hagiorites. Our love for them comes from debt and gratitude for their gifts. It is the love of children for guardians, students for teachers. They turned the wildness of the Mountain into a place of calmness, they made the uninhabited place habitable, they turned the desert into a civilization. They became founders of monasteries and gathered close to them multitudes of monks. As long as they lived they were advisers and after their last they became intercessors for all. Monks from different places gathered in one place and took a name. They are followers of the first hesychast Peter, to whom the Mother of God gave him the joyous promise of constant protection of the Mountain. And indeed the Mother of God became a permanent shelter, guardian and physician not only of the saints, but also of all the monks.
The saints of Mount Athos gave themselves completely to God. Through many years of hard struggles they purified themselves and became clean vessels to receive heavenly gifts. They proved their love for their brothers by leaving their beloved silence and following divine signs to set up monasteries, sketes and cells. With many labors, expenses and temptations they built buildings to be, according to Saint Nikodemos, "schools of every virtue, fortifications of God's commandments, tutorial centers for ascetic labors, workshops for angelic citizenship, imitations of ancient and holy coenobiums, shelters for foreigners, refuges for the poor, harbors of salvation and serenity."
Because of its saints Mount Athos has been named Holy. These are the beauty of the Mountain, its majesty and the radiant heat in which the faithful rest. The Holy Mountain, according to Saint Nikodemos, means "a place of holiness; a place of purity; a place where so many holy feet have trodden. A place whose soil has been fermented from the blood, from the sweat, and from the tears of hundreds and thousands of venerable Fathers all together. The Holy Mountain is a place of virtue and good works."
The saints of Mount Athos exalted the Mountain and made it wonderful like Sinai, the mountains of Palestine, Pelusium, Galesios, Latros, Olympus of Bithynia. Over the centuries, the saints and their disciples, as venerables and martyrs, hesychasts and coenobites, recluses and missionaries, emerged as brilliant continuers of the genuine Orthodox monastic tradition, who preserved it as it was born in the cradle of Eastern Monasticism with vigils and sacrifices.
The saints of Mount Athos are the loving fathers of the Hagiorites. Our love for them comes from debt and gratitude for their gifts. It is the love of children for guardians, students for teachers. They turned the wildness of the Mountain into a place of calmness, they made the uninhabited place habitable, they turned the desert into a civilization. They became founders of monasteries and gathered close to them multitudes of monks. As long as they lived they were advisers and after their last they became intercessors for all. Monks from different places gathered in one place and took a name. They are followers of the first hesychast Peter, to whom the Mother of God gave him the joyous promise of constant protection of the Mountain. And indeed the Mother of God became a permanent shelter, guardian and physician not only of the saints, but also of all the monks.
The saints of Mount Athos gave themselves completely to God. Through many years of hard struggles they purified themselves and became clean vessels to receive heavenly gifts. They proved their love for their brothers by leaving their beloved silence and following divine signs to set up monasteries, sketes and cells. With many labors, expenses and temptations they built buildings to be, according to Saint Nikodemos, "schools of every virtue, fortifications of God's commandments, tutorial centers for ascetic labors, workshops for angelic citizenship, imitations of ancient and holy coenobiums, shelters for foreigners, refuges for the poor, harbors of salvation and serenity."
Because of its saints Mount Athos has been named Holy. These are the beauty of the Mountain, its majesty and the radiant heat in which the faithful rest. The Holy Mountain, according to Saint Nikodemos, means "a place of holiness; a place of purity; a place where so many holy feet have trodden. A place whose soil has been fermented from the blood, from the sweat, and from the tears of hundreds and thousands of venerable Fathers all together. The Holy Mountain is a place of virtue and good works."
The saints of Mount Athos exalted the Mountain and made it wonderful like Sinai, the mountains of Palestine, Pelusium, Galesios, Latros, Olympus of Bithynia. Over the centuries, the saints and their disciples, as venerables and martyrs, hesychasts and coenobites, recluses and missionaries, emerged as brilliant continuers of the genuine Orthodox monastic tradition, who preserved it as it was born in the cradle of Eastern Monasticism with vigils and sacrifices.
THE COMMON CELEBRATION OF THE SAINTS AND THEIR ICONOGRAPHY
The joint celebration of the saints of Mount Athos begins with the composition of the service and their encomium by Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite, who is also the last Synaxarist. Saint Nikodemos began his work with this "exhortation and honoring of the sacred and common Synaxis of all of the Monastic Fathers of the Holy Mountain". A service and encomium were printed in Hermoupolis, Syros in 1847, "with the assistance of the venerable assembly of Athonite Fathers", which were printed for approximately five hundred copies, and for "the community of the Monks, and for the benefit of all Orthodox Lay Christians". The exact time of writing is not known.
The first dated icon of the Synaxis of the Athonite Fathers was painted in 1796 and is located in the delegation of the Sacred Monastery of Konstamonitou in Karyes. Probably in 1796 the service was written and until its publication first circulated in manuscripts, as was customary. Around 1800 the icon of the Hagiorite Saints was painted, which is located in the hall of the Synaxis of the Sacred Community, while earlier it was on the iconostasis of the sacred temple of Protaton in Karyes of Mount Athos.
Saint Nikodemos in his eloquent encomium to the saints mentions the reasons that led him to the "new and common memory of all the Fathers of the Holy Mountain".
Because they have shown themselves to be "common protectors and benefactors of the whole community of the Holy Mountain". They "became for us ambassadors of a myriad of goods" who deserve to be celebrated together. An old custom of the Church is the common celebration of saints, such as "the Venerables slaughtered in Sinai and Raitho", the "Venerable Fathers on Cheesefare Saturday", the "ascetics in Libya and Egypt and Thebaid" and many other holy festal gatherings by country, places and monasteries. Continuing, Saint Nikodemos writes that, with the common celebration of the Venerable Hagiorites, "those Fathers of the Mountain, either named or anonymous, who have remained unpraised until now, because they do not have their own asmatic services, due to this common service and feast, they also" can now be "honored and celebrated". Moreover "so that we do not appear as ungrateful children, not honoring together our spiritual Fathers, these teachers and benefactors and guides, in whose monasteries we dwell, and we indulge in their teachings, and we eat their bread". Also "may this common feast of the holy Fathers become an incentive to imitate their virtue and zeal for us monks of the present time".
The complete asmatic service of the venerables is written with all the grace and love of the divine Nikodemos. His great reverence for the honored saints makes him an ecstatic, wondrous and inspired composer. The canons of Orthros mention the saints by name, but several names are missing. The labors of Saint Nikodemos and his stooping over the ancient libraries of the Mountain did not give him all their precious secrets. An attempt to complete the service was made by the contemporary and already blessed hymn writer Monk Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis, but even here the names of saints are absent, which research has brought to light in our days.
The service of the venerables is festively chanted, with particular splendor and magnificence, on the Second Sunday of Matthew, after the Sunday of All Saints, in all the monasteries and sketes of the Holy Mountain and especially in the churches in honor of the venerables and the Protaton.
The honor of the Saints of the Holy Mountain, although it is focused on the place where they lived, did not take long to take on wider dimensions. This is how they are honored and celebrated in their birthplaces and in the regions where they were based or that possess their icons and precious relics.
Source: From the book Οι Άγιοι του Αγίου Όρους, Εκδ. “Μυγδονία” 2008. Translation by John Sanidopoulos.
The joint celebration of the saints of Mount Athos begins with the composition of the service and their encomium by Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite, who is also the last Synaxarist. Saint Nikodemos began his work with this "exhortation and honoring of the sacred and common Synaxis of all of the Monastic Fathers of the Holy Mountain". A service and encomium were printed in Hermoupolis, Syros in 1847, "with the assistance of the venerable assembly of Athonite Fathers", which were printed for approximately five hundred copies, and for "the community of the Monks, and for the benefit of all Orthodox Lay Christians". The exact time of writing is not known.
The first dated icon of the Synaxis of the Athonite Fathers was painted in 1796 and is located in the delegation of the Sacred Monastery of Konstamonitou in Karyes. Probably in 1796 the service was written and until its publication first circulated in manuscripts, as was customary. Around 1800 the icon of the Hagiorite Saints was painted, which is located in the hall of the Synaxis of the Sacred Community, while earlier it was on the iconostasis of the sacred temple of Protaton in Karyes of Mount Athos.
Saint Nikodemos in his eloquent encomium to the saints mentions the reasons that led him to the "new and common memory of all the Fathers of the Holy Mountain".
Because they have shown themselves to be "common protectors and benefactors of the whole community of the Holy Mountain". They "became for us ambassadors of a myriad of goods" who deserve to be celebrated together. An old custom of the Church is the common celebration of saints, such as "the Venerables slaughtered in Sinai and Raitho", the "Venerable Fathers on Cheesefare Saturday", the "ascetics in Libya and Egypt and Thebaid" and many other holy festal gatherings by country, places and monasteries. Continuing, Saint Nikodemos writes that, with the common celebration of the Venerable Hagiorites, "those Fathers of the Mountain, either named or anonymous, who have remained unpraised until now, because they do not have their own asmatic services, due to this common service and feast, they also" can now be "honored and celebrated". Moreover "so that we do not appear as ungrateful children, not honoring together our spiritual Fathers, these teachers and benefactors and guides, in whose monasteries we dwell, and we indulge in their teachings, and we eat their bread". Also "may this common feast of the holy Fathers become an incentive to imitate their virtue and zeal for us monks of the present time".
The complete asmatic service of the venerables is written with all the grace and love of the divine Nikodemos. His great reverence for the honored saints makes him an ecstatic, wondrous and inspired composer. The canons of Orthros mention the saints by name, but several names are missing. The labors of Saint Nikodemos and his stooping over the ancient libraries of the Mountain did not give him all their precious secrets. An attempt to complete the service was made by the contemporary and already blessed hymn writer Monk Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis, but even here the names of saints are absent, which research has brought to light in our days.
The service of the venerables is festively chanted, with particular splendor and magnificence, on the Second Sunday of Matthew, after the Sunday of All Saints, in all the monasteries and sketes of the Holy Mountain and especially in the churches in honor of the venerables and the Protaton.
The honor of the Saints of the Holy Mountain, although it is focused on the place where they lived, did not take long to take on wider dimensions. This is how they are honored and celebrated in their birthplaces and in the regions where they were based or that possess their icons and precious relics.
Source: From the book Οι Άγιοι του Αγίου Όρους, Εκδ. “Μυγδονία” 2008. Translation by John Sanidopoulos.
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