Iviron Monastery

The Iviron Monastery

The Iviron Monastery ( Greek Ιερά Μονή Ιβήρων Ierá moní Ivíron , also Iberon , Iveron transcribed, Georgian : ივერთა მონასტერი) is an Orthodox monastery in the monastic republic on the Athos peninsula in Greece . It is in third place in the hierarchy of the Athos monasteries. It is one of the twenty self-governing monasteries on Athos and was dedicated to the Assumption of Mary .

Iviron was built around 980 under the direction of Georgian Prince Johannes Varazvatsche (Warazvace), an official at the court of King Dawits IV and later a monk, his son Euthymius and his son-in-law Johannes Tornik (ios). In 979, in the service of the Byzantine emperor Basil II , Tornik put down the revolt of a Greek general in Asia Minor. The income and booty from this action let him lavishly equip the monastery.

Iviron was an important center for Christian Georgian culture, mainly because of the over 160 translations made by John's son, Saint Euthymios , second abbot of the monastery (died 1028). After the Mongol invasion of 1326, contacts between Georgia and the Athos monastery decreased, and in 1355 Greek became the official language in Iviron. The library with its 2000 manuscripts, including important Georgian text documents, testifies to the continuing cultural tradition of the monastery. Michail Sabinin worked here in the 1880s . Today the community of the monastery consists of more than 70 monks and novices.

The Katholikon was built between 980 and 983 and received its present form in 1513. The building is divided into a three-conch choir with side chapels and a double narthex (vestibule).

Of all the monasteries on Athos, this one preserves the most holy relics. A famous icon from the 9th century - the Panagia Portaitissa - is also one of the monastery's treasures. It is considered the most famous Georgian foreign monastery.

The name Iviron goes back to the ancient Georgian Kingdom of Iberia (Iveria), home of the first monks.

literature

• Andreas M. Wittig: Iberon (Iviron) . In: Lexikon des Mittelalters Volume 5 , 1999, ISBN 3-476-01742-7 , Sp. 312.
• Andreas Müller: Mount Athos. History of a monastic republic. CH Beck, Munich 2005, pp. 79-82, ISBN 978-3406508516

Web links

Commons : Iviron Monastery  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Entry in the Ortodoxwiki (English)
• Entry at mountathos.gr (English)
• Website of the Greek Ministry of Culture (English)
• Information on the history of the monastery and photos

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ilma Reissner: Georgia. History - art - culture. Herder, Freiburg a. a. 1989, p. 31

Coordinates: 40 ° 14 ′ 43.9 ″  N , 24 ° 17 ′ 5.1 ″  E