ATHOS, MOUNT. — It is the easternmost of the three peninsulas that extend southward from the Chalcidice peninsula. It is almost 50 km long and averages 5 to 7 km in width. A mountain ridge runs the length of the peninsula, terminating in a peak of 1935 meters, which is Mount Athos proper, whose name has been extended to the entire peninsula. The name "Holy Mountain" (τό ἄγιον ὄρος) first appears in 9th-century documents, from which the monks who inhabit it are called Hagiorites (also Athonites, Athoites). They began to populate the mountain—attracting those desirous of quiet and seclusion—when the Muslim conquest drove them from Palestine, Syria, and Egypt, and when the Byzantine Empire was afflicted by the iconoclastic persecution. The earliest monasteries were established in the flat part of Athos, but later they spread into the interior of the Holy Mountain. Around the year 824, St. Euthymius visited the place and spent three years there in solitude.
I. HISTORY
The history of Athonite monasticism can be divided into four periods.1st period. — This first period, from the origins up to St. Athanasius the Athonite, is characterized by an intense eremitical life, as evidenced by the imperial chrysobulls of Basil I the Macedonian (885) and Leo VI the Wise (911), confirmed by Romanos I Lecapenus (934), by which the emperors forbade any interference or attempt to violate the complete independence of the hermits of the Holy Mountain. Their interests were safeguarded by a central authority called the Seat of the Elders for the monasteries outside the mountain, and by a supreme head called the Protos for the monasteries within the mountain inhabited by solitaries (hesychasts).
2nd period. — It begins with the arrival on Athos of St. Athanasius the Athonite (born Abraham) who, in 936, founded a laura (or monastery) still extant today, with a rule (typicon) of cenobitic life, i.e., communal, without individual possessions, and under the obedience of a single head or abbot (hegumen). This innovation in governance provoked protests from the solitaries who even appealed to Emperor John Tzimiskes, but the visitor Euthymius sent by him confirmed Athanasius’ reform. From then on, Athonite cenobites multiplied, and a regulation was compiled governing relations among the monasteries, with the supreme head or Protos residing at the center of the peninsula, in Karyes.
The increase in the number of monks led, under Constantine IX Monomachus, to the convening of a general assembly of 180 solitaries that established a new typicon (1046) laying down rules of common interest such as the delimitation of possessions and rights, the prohibition of buying or selling land still without an owner, and the norms for transferring from one monastery to another.
It was in the time of St. Athanasius (between 980 and 1000) that the Benedictine monastery of the Amalfitans was founded, "τῶν Ἀμαλφιωτῶν (Μολκρυῶν)," whose first superior was Leo, brother of Pandulf II, Prince of Capua. The monastery, from which also came an abbot of Monte Cassino, John of Benevento, was later destroyed by the harassment of soldiers of the Crusade. Some remains still exist at the eastern extremity of the peninsula (O. Rousseau, *L'ancien monastère bénédictin du Mont-A.*, Maredsous 1929).
In addition to Greek-speaking monks, those of Georgia took up residence on Athos; their monastery, called the Iberians ("τῶν Ἰβήρων"), was founded around 980. The occupation by the Bulgarians in 1230 and by the Serbs in the mid-14th century led to the foundation of the Bulgarian monastery of Zografou and the Serbian monastery of Chilandar. The 11th–16th centuries were turbulent and bloody for Athos due to Saracen raids and the warriors of the Fourth Crusade, against whom the monks appealed to Innocent III. They did not, however, adhere to the union decreed at the Council of Lyon (1274), since it had been imposed by force by Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus.
In the 14th century, after Murad I’s victory at Kosovo (1389), Athos fell under Turkish rule, though the monks were left in a privileged position. In the same century, the monks were shaken by the controversy over hesychasm (v.), PALMAS (v.) and Barlaam (v.).
At the time of the Council of Florence (1438–39), the monks delegated by the Great Laura and the monastery of Vatopedi subscribed to the decree of union, but in practice it remained a dead letter.
Around the same period (16th century), grave abuses of idiorrhythmy manifested themselves among the Hagiorite monks. In its essence, this is a way of life that allows individual monks to dispose of goods acquired through their own labor or otherwise and exempts them from most duties of communal life, substituting individualism and particularism for pure cenobitism, with the consequence of a broad development of commerce among the monks themselves and with the outside world. In vain did Patriarchs Sylvester of Alexandria and Jeremiah II of Constantinople oppose this movement in the 16th century; it was only in the 18th and 19th centuries that it was effectively curbed.
During the early centuries of this second period, monastic life was faithfully practiced in both its solitary and cenobitic aspects. Solitaries lived independently in their hermitages and cells, sometimes isolated, sometimes gathered under a single superior (then called *setai*). Cenobites lived in large monasteries, subject to a rule (typicon) and a superior (hegumen) who, assisted by his council, governed and administered the monastery. Each monastery had its own tribunal and novitiate (first one year, then two or three). Profession involved three degrees: rassophore, microschemos, and megaloschemos. The first two categories were assigned external and manual labor, while the megaloschemoi retained the ancient ascetic prerogatives: prayer, contemplation, austerity. All were bound to live in poverty, chastity, and obedience.
All cells, monasteries, and the territory were under the jurisdiction of the Protos. Formerly three times, and later twice a year, all the hegumens would go to the Protos’ residence, which was autonomous, for the election of his councilors and to deliberate on matters of common interest to the peninsula. The Protos enjoyed special privileges: he received the blessing (*sphragis*) from the Patriarch of Constantinople and granted dispensations to the other hegumens.
As the authority of the Protos waned due to the growing wealth and power of the great monasteries, which gradually usurped his authority, the second period of Athos’ history ended in the 16th century. The name of the Protos appears for the last time in official acts of 1584.
3rd period. — The 17th and 18th centuries marked the relaxation of Athonite monasticism. Idiorrhythmy continued to undermine monastic discipline from a religious standpoint and threatened the very existence of the monasteries from an economic one through poor administration and indebtedness. In 1744, Patriarch Paisius II attempted to rectify the finances of the Hagiorites, and Gabriel IV