Hilandar

Hilandar
Хиландар

Monastery information
Full Name	Хиландар
Order	Serbian Orthodox (Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople)
Established	1198
Dedicated to	Three-handed Theotokos (Virgin Mary)
People
Founder(s)	Saint Sava
Site
Location	Mount Athos Greece

Hilandar Monastery (Greek: Μονή Χιλανδαρίου, Serbian: Манастир Хиландар, pronounced [xilǎndaːr]) is a Serbian Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos in Greece. It was founded in 1198 by the first Serbian Archbishop Saint Sava and his father, Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja (who later became a monk there, taking the monastic name of "Simeon") of the medieval Serbian principality of Raška (Rascia). The Mother of God through her Icon of Three Hands (Trojeručica), is considered the abbess.^[1]

History

The name "Hilandar" is derived from chelandion, a type of Byzantine transport ship, whose skipper was called a "helandaris". The ancient cell of Helandaris was donated by Emperor Alexios III Angelos (1195-1203) "to the Serbs as an eternal gift..." and Stefan Nemanja establishes and endows the monastery in 1198 (before 13th february 1199).^[2]

Hilandar Monastery during King Aleksandar Obrenović visit in 1896.

In 1426 Gjon Kastrioti from Albania and his three sons (one of them was Skanderbeg) donated the right to the proceeds from taxes collected from the two villages (Rostuša and Trebište in Macedonia) and from the church of Saint Mary, which was in one of them, to the Hilandar where his son Reposh retired and died in 25 July 1431: in his honor the Saint George tower of Hilandar was known as the Albanian tower (Serbian: Arbanaški pirg).^[3][4]

Two medieval Bulgarian royal charters, the Virgino Charter and the Oryahov Charter, have been found in Hilandar's library. After the fall of Serbia and Bulgaria under Ottoman rule, the influx of Serbian monks decreased at the expense of Bulgarians, particularly from Macedonia. From the 17th to the 19th century, Hilandar was predominantly Bulgarian-populated: in his account of 1745, the Russian pilgrim Vasily Barsky writes that the monks of Hilandar were all Bulgarians.^[5] Ilarion Makariopolski, Sophronius of Vratsa and Matey Preobrazhenski have all lived there, and it was in this monastery that Saint Paisius of Hilendar began his revolutionary Slavonic-Bulgarian History. The monastery was dominated by Bulgarians until 1902.^[6]

A view of the Hilandar Monastery in 2006, after the Great Fire, and during first stages of the reconstruction process.

However, in 1913, Serbian presence in the Holy Mountain was quite big and the Protos was the Serbian representative of Hilandar.^[7]

In the 1970s, the Greek government offered power grid installation to all of the monasteries on Mount Athos. The Holy Council of Mount Athos refused, and since then every monastery generates its own power, which is gained mostly from renewable energy sources. During the 1980s, electrification of the monastery of Hilandar took place, generating power mostly for lights and heating.

Great Fire

On March 4, 2004, there was a devastating fire at the Hilandar monastery, with approximately 50% of the walled complex destroyed in the blaze. The blaze damaged the northern half of the walled complex, including the bakery. The library and the monastery's many historic icons were saved or otherwise untouched by the fire.

Vast reconstruction efforts are underway, to return Hilandar to its former glory.

Sacred objects

Icon of the Theotokos, "The Three-handed" (Trojeručica).

Among the numerous relics and other holy objects treasured at the monastery is the Wonderworking Icon of the Theotokos "Of the Akathist", the feast day of which is celebrated on January 12. Since Mount Athos uses the traditional Julian Calendar, the day they name as January 12 currently falls on January 25 of the modern Gregorian Calendar.

A sculpture on a rock presenting Saint Symeon, the founder of Hilandar Monastery.

The monastery also possesses the Wonderworking Icon of the Theotokos "Of the Three Hands" (Greek: Tricherusa, Serbian: Тројеручицa), traditionally associated with a miraculous healing of St. John Damascene. Around the year 717, St. John became a monk at Mar Sabbas monastery outside of Jerusalem and gave the icon to the monastic community there. Later the icon was offered to St. Sava of Serbia, who gave it to the Hilandar. A copy of the icon was sent to Russia in 1661, from which time it has been highly venerated in the Russian Orthodox Church. This icon has two feast days: June 28 (July 11) and July 12 (July 25).

The library holds 181 Greek and 809 Slavic manuscripts, about 20 000 printed books (3 000 in Greek language).

The monastery contains about 45 working monks.

See also

• Hilandar Research Library
• Miroslav Gospels

References

1. ^ Hilandar – The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity
2. ^ Tibor Zivkovic - Charters of the Serbian rulers related to Kosovo and Metochia. page 15
3. ^ Slijepčević, Đoko M. (1983) (in Serbian). Srpsko-arbanaški odnosi kroz vekove sa posebnim osvrtom na novije vreme. Himelstir. p. 45. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZFRpAAAAMAAJ&q=%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B1%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%88%D0%BA%D0%B8+%D0%BF%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%B3&dq=%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B1%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%88%D0%BA%D0%B8+%D0%BF%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%B3&hl=en&ei=MZsVToOOAYih-QaghKUJ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAQ. Retrieved 7 July 2011. "Заједно са синовима Константином, Репошем и Ђурђем приложио је Иван Кастриот манастиру Хиландару село Радосуше са црквом св. Богородице и село Требиште....Због тога је и пирг св. Ђорђа прозван »арбанашки пирг». Репош је умро у манастиру Хиландару 25. јула 1431. године и ту је сахрањен. (Together with his sons Konstantin, Repoš and Đurađ, Ivan Kastriot donated village Radosuše with church of saint Mary and village Trebište to the monastery Hilandar... Therefore the tower of Saint George was named "Albanian tower". Repoš died in Hilandar on July 25, 1431 and he was buried there." 
4. ^ Petković, Sreten (2008) [1989] (in Serbian) Hilandar Belgrade p. 21 ISBN 978-86-80879-78-9 "... a Ivan Kastriot sa sinovima iz Albanije otkupljuje jedan pirg od Hilandara da bi po potrebi tu mogao naći utočište. (... and Ivan Kastriot with his sons from Albania bought one tower of Hilandar to provide a shelter for them in case of need)." 
5. ^ "Chilandari". Mount Athos. http://www.mountathos.gr/active.aspx?mode=en{cf4d1b6f-9cd3-48a9-83c9-5097706a1a15}View. Retrieved 2008-10-09. "In the 17th century the number of monks coming from Serbia dwindled, and the 18th was a period of decline, following a disastrous fire in 1722. At that time the Monastery was effectively manned by Bulgarian monks." 
6. ^ "Хилендарски манастир" (in Bulgarian). Православието. http://www.pravoslavieto.com/manastiri/aton/hilendar/index.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-09. 
7. ^ Panagiotis Christou, "To Agion Oros", Patriarchal Institute of Patristic Studies, Epopteia ed., Athens, 1987 pp 313-314

External links

• Hilandar monastery at the Mount Athos website
• Another page dedicated to Hilandar Monastery
• Official web page of the monastery (Serbian)
• Photos from Hilandar
• Towards Former Beauty Information on the recent fire and reconstruction work (English)
• Hilandar Research Library Ohio State University Collection—the largest collection of medieval Slavic manuscripts on microform in the world

Coordinates: 40°20′46″N 24°07′08″E / 40.34611°N 24.11889°E / 40.34611; 24.11889