Monastery of Agios Panteleimon

The Holy Monastery of Agios Panteleimon is built on the west side of Mount Athos, 15 km from Karyes. Its original location was higher on the mountain, at about 2.5 km from today, where it was founded in the 11th century and operated until 1765, before being transferred to a bay on the beach. The old monastery is known as the "Old Monastery" and flourished until the 16th century, with the help of Serbian rulers and Russian tsars.

The construction of today's Monastery was done by Greek and Russian monks and the result is impressive. The monastery complex with its dozens of domes, high-rise, colorful buildings, and typical architecture seems like a normal city in the eyes of visitors. After the election of a Russian abbot, in 1875, the service was sung in two languages ​​(Greek and Russian), while the monastery is also known as "Russian", due to the large, timeless presence of Russian monks. The Katholikon, dedicated to Agios Panteleimon, was built in the period 1812-1821 and the bank, with a capacity of 1,000 monks, was built in 1890. The monastery has 15 chapels inside and 20 chapels outside. The Monastery of Agios Panteleimon holds many vestments, heirlooms, portable icons, and utensils and its library has over 20,000 books, in Greek and Russian, as well as hundreds of Greek and Slavic manuscripts. Famous are the icons of the Virgin of Jerusalem and the mosaic of Alexander Nevsky. But the biggest attraction is the huge bell of the Monastery, the largest on Mount Athos (and in Greece), which weighs 13 tons, has a diameter of 2.85 meters and for its operation, two monks are required.