Simonos Petra

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The monasteries of Athos

The monastery of Simonos Petra

The Holy Monastery of Simonos Petra (Simonopetra,Σίμωνος Πέτρας, Σιμωνόπετρα) is located on the southwest side of Mount Athos (Αθως, or Αγιον Ορος) and its complex, with a total area of 7,000 sq.m., is built on a granite rock, approximately 300 meters from sea level. Simonopetra, which develops over seven floors with many balconies, is a unique monument of Byzantine and post-Byzantine architecture.

History

Its history begins in the 13th century, when Saint Simon the Myroblytis lived (his date of birth is unknown; he died on December 28, 1257), who, after a vision he saw during his meditation in a cave in the area, decided to establish a monastery in honor of the birth of Christ, giving it the name New Bethlehem. However, after his death the nickname Petra tou Simonos or Simonopetra prevailed.

During the period 1365–1371, the Monastery enters a new phase of operation and development, when its second founder, the Serbian Ioannis Uglesis (lord of Serres in those years), proceeded to renovate and expand it, providing rich donations and strengthening it with shares and heirlooms.

Milestones in the history of the Monastery were three big fires that destroyed buildings and heirloom wealth, while also costing the lives of monks. The first fire broke out in 1580 after lightning struck the Monastery, causing great damage to its facilities and cells and burning valuable assets (relics, vestments, codes, sigils, etc.). Indicative of the great destruction is the fact that its monks were forced to leave it and settle in the Xenophon Monastery. However, after the actions of the abbot of Eugene, who traveled to the Danubian hegemonies to carry out a fundraiser, the ruler of Wallachia, Michael the Gennaeus (1558–1601), undertook the costs of its reconstruction.

The second fire, in 1622, combined with the heavy taxation imposed by the Turks, led the Monastery to decline and desolation. Thanks to the efforts of the hieromonk Ioasaph from Mytilene, Simonopetra was reopened at the end of the 18th century. Then the multi-storey building on the south side was also formed. In 1821, during the Greek Revolution, the Monastery was deserted for five years but was reestablished by the hieromonk and later abbot Ambrosios, while in 1864, during the abbotship of Neophytos (1828–1907), the construction of the south wing took place.

In 1891, another devastating fire was about to hit the Monastery, which completely burned its eastern side, while the Catholic Church and the Library were not spared from the flames either. In addition, the buildings that housed the Trapeza, the mansion, the abbot's house, four chapels, the hospital, as well as monks' cells were destroyed. At least the sacristy with all the relics, documents, holy relics and vestments was saved.

The news of the destruction of Simonopetra found its abbot Neophytos in Russia, where he had been since October 1888 accompanied by the hieromonk Dionysios and the deacon, and later abbot, Ioannikios, in order to collect financial aid for the Monastery. In 1892, Neophytos, returning to Mount Athos, saw the Monastery in such a tragic state that he thought of building a new monastery in a smoother location. This idea was soon abandoned and work on the restoration of the Monastery began immediately. Instead of renovating the now damaged eastern side, Neophytos decided to build a new multi-storey wing next to it from foundations. Work on the construction of the "Saint Mary Magdalene" wing, as it was named in honor of the patroness of the Monastery, began in 1897 and was completed in 1902.

Simonopetra, having had Ioannikios as abbot since 1907, passed into a new phase of prosperity, in conjunction with the liberation of Mount Athos from Ottoman rule in 1912. The sudden death of Ioannikios in 1919, at the age of only 52, did not stop the development course of the Monastery; on the contrary, his successor Hieronymos (1871–1956) continued his important work. The years of the Occupation were difficult, due to the lack of resources, with the risk of the Monastery being abandoned in the following decades, until 1973.

Then a new fraternity of twenty members from Meteora settled in the Monastery headed by the elder Aimilianos (1934–2019), who was also elected its abbot. Until 1995, as long as his health allowed, Emilianos gave great importance to the inner life of the Monastery, combining the experience of the older monks with the enthusiasm of the younger ones and attracting new monks to join the brotherhood. Since 2000, the abbotship has been taken over by Archimandrite Elissaios. Holy Monastery of Simonopetra has been following the communal system of life and administration since 1801 and today 65 monks live there. The Monastery has in Karyes – the capital of Mount Athos – a Representative Office and buildings (parts) that house its services and cells. It also has six seats and several sketes in mainland and insular Greece, as well as three sketes in areas of France.

The Library of Simonopetra

Today the Library of Simonopetra, which is now installed on the 7th floor of the eastern wing, has approximately 65,000 book titles. Only its publications up to 1900 number around 4,500 copies. According to the results of the registration of the forms of the specific time period, which were published in 1989 (see in this regard Yiannis Karas, The Greek publications of I.M. Simonos Petras), the Library numbered 2,425 titles with publication years up to 1900. in the above cataloging, most editions are from the 19th century, with only 276 works from previous centuries (17 editions from the 16th, 62 from the 17th and 197 from the 18th century). The oldest is from 1513: Isocrates Logoi, Venice, from the printing house of Aldos. The Library treasures not only Greek books, but also books in various other languages, such as French, English, German, Russian, Romanian, etc. In addition, over 40% of the books are encyclopedias and works by Greek and Latin classical and modern authors.

The Library is open to the public and can be visited by pilgrims on a daily basis. It is used both by scientists and students and generally by pilgrims who sometimes stay at the Monastery for a longer period of time.

The books are arranged in thematic sections and cataloged both in an electronic catalog and in tabs. The classification system is DEWEY, with appropriate adjustments for monastic library data.

The section of the Library that deals with Athos Studies is accessible from the website Athos Library and it is possible to read and download in pdf format all the relevant articles and books in this field. The same applies to the Meteorological Studies category.

The history of the Library of the Holy Monastery of Simonos Petra is divided into two time periods, the period before the fire on May 28, 1891 and the period after. As mentioned, the great fire that started from the bakery of the Monastery burned down the space where the Library was housed, as well as all its printed and handwritten books, with the result that the Library began to be built from scratch.

Manuscripts

Based on the list of manuscript codices, compiled by the University of Athens professor Spyridon Lambros in 1880, we learn that until 1891 the Monastery possessed at least 245 manuscripts (of which 56 were musical), dating from the 9th to the 19th century . The earliest of these documents was a note on the Gospel of John by John Chrysostom, written on parchment in the 9th century, while the earliest dated was a gospel copied by the priest Constantine in 1189.

According to the historian Kriton Chrysochoidis, the creation of the Library of manuscript books of the Monastery of Simonos Petra began with its foundation and continued in the following years, with donations, purchases and copies of codices.

The first known donation was from the Serbian despot John Uglesi (1365–1371), while at the beginning of the 16th century the bishop and abbot of Gerasimos Monastery donated 54 manuscript codices. From the middle of the 16th century and throughout the 17th century, the Library was enriched with codices that were manuscripts of ascetic and hagiological texts, also copied by Simonopetra monks. These books eventually amounted to 103 manuscripts, i.e. 55% of the entire collection, as noted by K. Chrysochoidis. It should be noted that the copying of liturgical books was a common practice in all the monasteries of Mount Athos, and despite the discovery of printing in the mid-15th century, the copying and use of manuscripts continued. The continuation of this practice is mainly attributed to the high cost of printed books, but there was another factor, less practical, that encouraged the production and acquisition of manuscripts. In particular, each manuscript copy acquired additional aesthetic value and fidelity, products of the labor of its copyist.

After the fire of 1891, the creation of the new manuscript library, following the spirit of the times with the predominance of the printed book, was based for its enrichment mainly on documents of museum value and less utilitarian. This pursuit arose from the more general need for the monasteries of Mount Athos that a category of heirlooms, including valuable manuscripts, should not be absent from their collection.

The current collection, according to the philologist and paleographer Panagiotis Sotiroudis, who in 2007 began cataloging the manuscripts of the Monastery (the Catalog was published in 2012), includes 179 manuscripts, all on paper except for one parchment and a few parchment fragments. Chronologically, only four are located in the 12th (1), 14th (1) and 16th (2) centuries, while the rest – with the exception of the parchment scraps – date between the 17th and 20th centuries. The content of the manuscripts mainly concerns theological, ecclesiastical and musical subjects, with an emphasis on the services of saints, especially for the patrons of the Monastery, Simon the Myroblites and Mary Magdalene, but also of other saints whose relics are kept there. The remaining handwritten books kept in the collection are classified into categories: legal, medical, school textbooks, rhetoric, grammar, lexicography, textbooks, chronographs, etc.

Printed books

Until 1891, in addition to manuscripts, Simonopetra also had a collection of printed books, but these were also burned by the flames of the fire. From the Catalog of the main things burned in the fire of 1891 compiled after the disaster in the period 1891–1893, it is deduced that in addition to the 245 manuscript books, at least 750 volumes of printed books were also destroyed. As evidenced by other data from the Archives of the Monastery, this number was much higher. Simonopetra had a remarkable Library that was located above the austere of the Catholicon and where, in addition to the liturgical books for the daily needs of the Monastery, books from many fields of knowledge were treasured (e.g. works of ancient Greek authors, works of ancient and Byzantine history, dictionaries, grammars and syntax of the Greek and French languages, books on arithmetic and geography, physics, medicine, etc.). He also had a memorable collection of magazines, including Ecclesiastical Truth, Eastern Star, Thrace, Pharos tis Macedonia, Elikoniades Muses, etc.

The reconstruction and enrichment of the Library after 1891 was a key priority of the monks, which is demonstrated by the sums spent for this purpose in the first five years after the fire: 773 grosci in 1892, 796 in 1893, 902 in 1894, while in 1895 expenditure shot up to 4,984 groschen and in 1896 fell to 2,345, to stabilize at 400 groschen annually thereafter. Another source of acquisition of books was the donations of individuals and organizations to the Library at the beginning of the 20th century. The donations of Eleni Evgeniou Pallis, the widow of Andreas Mamoukas, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Konstantinos Doukakis and others stand out.

In 1909, the librarian Nilos Simonopetritis attempted a first inventory of the printed books owned by the Monastery, estimating their number at 252. Of these, 149 have survived to this day, 39 (all functional) are missing, while another 43 were impossible to identify.

It should be noted that the Library of the Monastery throughout time, i.e. before and after 1891, maintained an open and functional character, lending books to its monks and the Simonopetri students, who studied at the Athonia School.

Publications of the Monastery

The Monastery itself has published a series of: a) liturgical books, b) music books, c) the volume on Simonopetra, the life of Saint Simon, Saint Magdalene and others related to the history of the older fathers of the Monastery, as well as d) digital discs with chants. In addition, as the Athos Library (it is part of the Monastery) it has published a number of books about Mount Athos, Moni Simonos Petra and on various theological-ecclesiastical topics which are listed in detail on the Athos Library/Athos Library website.

Catalogs of the Library and Archives

Vamvakas, D., "Holy Monastery of Simonos Petra. Catalog of the archive", Athonic Symmeikta, vol. 1, 1985, pp. 105–153.

Kadas, S.N., The notes of the manuscripts of Mount Athos. Monastery of Simonos Petras, unprinted from the magazine Byzantina 16 (1991), pp. 263–302.

Karas, G., The Greek publications of I. M. Simonos Petras, Athens, KNE / EIE, 1989.

Lampros, S., Catalog of the Greek codices in the libraries of Mount Athos, vol. A, Cantabria, England 1895, pp. 114–129.

Sotiroudis, P., Holy Monastery of Simonos Petra. Catalog of Greek manuscripts, Mount Athos 2012.

Source https://www.aboutlibraries.gr/libraries/handle/20.500.12777/lib_2530

The choir of Simonos Petras

The choir of Simonopetra is highly regarded among Byzantine music specialists and enthusiasts with most popular Byzantine chant, "Agni Parthene". It is very popular among pilgrims as well as the general public. We are currently evaluating the choir and will soon publish a critique. Our findings so far indicate fundamental problems which will be difficult to correct.

Here is a list of the most popular chants.
Hymns from the Psalter (1990)
O Pure Virgin (Agni Parthene) (1990)
Divine Liturgy (1999)
Great Vespers (1999)
Paraklesis (1999)
Service of Saint Simon (1999)
Sunday Matins (Orthros) (1999)
Service of St. Silouan the Athonite (2004)