Vatoped is the glow of the Byzantine emperors, one of the palisades of the Hesychastic movement, the richest, the most beautiful, the second most honorable monastery on all of Mount Athos! Vatopedos is the reflection and consolation of Mount Athos.
Can you imagine soccer on Mount Athos? And it is possible here! There is an educational institution for boys (boarding school) in the St. Andrew's monastery (on its territory) of Vatopedos. So, children play soccer here. As one of the legends tells, the history of the monastery itself began with the child Arcadius, the son of the Emperor Theodosius (IV century BC), who after the shipwreck was found alive and unharmed on the peninsula, sleeping under a bush. This is the literal translation of the Greek word "Vatoped" meaning "bush of a child".
From this "baby bush" grew beautiful flowers of monastic holiness. Vatoped is a reflection of the glory of the Byzantine emperors, one of the palisades of the Hesychast movement, the richest, most beautiful, second most honorable monastery on the entire Holy Mount Athos! Vatopede is the comfort and consolation of Mount Athos, guarding the image of Our Lady of the same name, by which all who seek God's mercy and the intercession of the Queen of Heaven invariably receive both comfort and consolation.
Vatoped is located on the eastern side of the peninsula between the monasteries of Esthygmen and Pantocrator. According to an oral tradition, Vatoped was founded in the IV century by the first Byzantine Christian emperor Constantine the Great, then it was destroyed by the Christian persecutor Julian the Apostate, and later rebuilt again at the end of the IV century by Theodosius the Great in gratitude to God for saving his son Arcadius. In its present form Watoped was built between 972-985 by three rich and, it must be said, noble men: Athanasius, Nicolas and Antony. These were the disciples of the blessed Abba Athanasius of Athos, the saintly ascetic sent them to work at the new site.
That is why both the inner structure of the monastery - the coenobitic charter ("kinovia"), and the outer - the Cathedral of the Annunciation - were arranged after the model of the Great Lavra of Athanasius of Athos already in the 10th century. In 985 Vatopede Monastery was first included in the list of the holy monasteries of St. Athos. And a hundred years later it flourished, abundantly sponsored by the emperors of the great dynasty of the Komnins. With such unprecedented patronage the monastery was not only rich and privileged (second only to the Great Lavra), but had the right to manage ten smaller monasteries, which, however, were subsequently destroyed.
The Vatopede monastery received, probably, the greatest number of notable novices: here at the end of XII century were the builders of Hilandar monastery Saints Simeon and Savva of Serbia. In 1287 Vatoped received the title of "royal monastery". The number of inhabitants has always been enormous. During the Turkish conquest Vatoped, like the rest of Athos, suffered from huge taxes, which weakened it considerably. The fires of 1854 and 1882 caused severe damage to the monastery, and at the beginning of the twentieth century. Vatoped lost all its possessions in Asia Minor to the Turkish authorities simply confiscated them. Throughout this time there were several attempts to restore the ancient monastic structure, which were unsuccessful until 1989. Nevertheless, during the Ottoman rule the Vatopedic monastery played a tremendous role in the education, enlightenment and spiritual revival in the Balkans. In 1748, the Abbot of Vatopedi, Meletios, initiated the founding of the Athos Academy. After a short time it became the leading educational institution in the Balkans. Today you can see the ruins of the academy building, but in its time it was attended by great personalities, who played a key role in the history of their homeland. Among them are Nicodemus of Svyatogorets, Macarius of Corinth, Cosmas of Aetolia, and Athanasius of Paros. The Aphoniasis became a guiding star shining throughout the Balkans.
The beginnings of the doctrine of the Uncovered Light are connected to the Monastery of Vatopedos: St. Gregory Palamas (died 1359), the founder of the Hesychast movement, lived here.Patriarch Gennadii (died in 1452) after he renounced the patriarchate, the Monk Maximos, called in Rus' "the Greek" (+1556). All in all, there were 60 saints canonized by the Church! They represent the main treasure of the monastery.
Among the material treasures the most revered, valuable and unique shrine of Vatopede Monastery is the honest Girdle of the Most Holy Mother of God. The Mother of God gave it to St. Thomas the Apostle, from the Blachernae Monastery in Constantinople it went to the famous Church of St. Sophia; after Constantinople was seized by the Ottomans, the Serbian King Lazar I managed to buy it back. He then gave it to the Vatopedic monastery. There are frescoes of the Macedonian icon painting school from the 14th century preserved in it, they decorate the Annunciation Cathedral (10th century), as well as beautiful Byzantine mosaics of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary and St. Nicholas of Myra. On the entire Holy Mountain no other mosaics of this type can be found. The unique marble iconostasis (972-985) is "hidden" behind an iconostasis made of wood, which dates back to the 18th century. There is also the oldest bell tower in all of Athos, dating back to the XV century. The library collection is one of the richest and rarest: books and manuscripts over 10,000 and 2068 respectively. The real jewel of the Vatopedic library is Ptolemy's Geography, containing ancient maps. In the monastery there are sacred vessels, many extraordinarily beautiful, elegant, original church vestments. There is also a diptych of icons of the Almighty and the Virgin Mary "Amelioration", which is revered as icons of Empress Theodora, who restored iconoclasm.
The Monastery keeps the miracle-working icons of the Virgin Mary "Zaklannaya", "Provozvestitelnitsa", "Ktitorskaya" ("Vimatarissa" in Greek), "Eleotochivaya" ("Dohiarissa" in Greek)in Greek), Paramithia, and the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary above the gate (it is also called Pirovlifissa), the most revered of these, of course, is "Joy and Comfort."
Among the relics of the monastery there are the parts of the Holy Cross and the garments of Christ, other items, which are connected with the earthly life of Jesus Christ and the Most Holy Mother of God; here is also kept thethe holy head of St. John Chrysostom, St. Gregory the Theologian, Modestus of Jerusalem, St. James of Persia, the ktitors of the monastery St. Nicholas, St. Athanasius and St. Anthony and the Great Martyr Mercury, the right hand of St. Andrew the First-Called and the right hand of the Apostle of Jerusalem. Andrew the First Called, as well as particles of a great multitude of other saints.
Nowadays Vatopedos monastery in addition to the katholikon (the main, Cathedral monastery temple) operates sixteen small temples (paraklis).
To visit Vatoped is probably a chance to feel like a real child under the fragrant bush of the prayers of the Vatoped Devotees and the Most Holy Abbess of Mount Athos! And the Gospel urges - be like children!
