Agiou Panteleimonos monastery

The monastery of St. Pantaleon (Greek Άγιος Παντελεήμων, Aghios Panteleimon, known as Ρωσσικόν, Rossikon ) is a Russian Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos, Greece. It was founded by several Russian monks in the 11th century and in 1167 recognized as an independent monastery. During the Mongol rule in Russia most monks Greeks or Serbs. Under the Ottoman rule in Greece, the monastery was under almost, so that in 1730 only lived two Russian and two Bulgarian monks in it.

In 1765 the monastery was relocated closer to the sea coast and the Russian Admiral Fyodor Ushakov taken off, as well as by the Russian Tsars under their auspices. Rossikon was completely remodeled and expanded. From its area and its population ago it was the largest monastery on the Holy Mountain of Athos and housed in the year 1903 1446 monks and over 2,000 monks in 1913.

In the course of its history Rossikon was destroyed several times by large fires, including in 1307, when it was attacked by Catalan pirates ( see Catalan revenge ), as well as in 1968., The first Russian leader to visit the monastery, Vladimir Putin was on 9. September 2005.

Rossikon has an extensive library of medieval manuscripts and some valuable relics, such as the head of St. Pantaleon, one of the most popular saints in Russia. The bells of the monastery from the 19th century and are considered the largest in Greece.