The Monasteries of Athos and Chalkidiki (8th-11th Centuries): A Pioneering Front?

Abstract

Following the re-establishment of the Cult of Images in 843, the Bithynian Olympus (present-day Uludağ, Turkey) became the site of so many monastic settlements that it was all but impossible for the ascetics there to find true solitude. Therefore, they set their sights on Mount Athos in Chalkidiki, and began to settle there from the ninth century onwards. It was a turbulent time for the region, and as a result of complex political developments the land was abandoned and reverted to the state (klasma lands), with the tax revenues benefitting central authorities rather than local communities. The economic growth of the ninth century thus explains the conflicts over the lands around Mount Athos between the peasant population, the monasteries founded in the Chalkidiki region, and the monks on Athos itself. These conflicts were exacerbated by the foundation of the large institutions of Xeropotamou, Lavra and Iviron-the latter two of which also enjoyed the status of »imperial monasteries«. The extant documentation allows us to better understand both the attempts by the monastery to appropriate the lands and the resistance to these attempts by the village communities, who were particularly concerned with retaining grazing lands for their animals. Interestingly, the officials and judges in charge of the region seemed to have favoured the village communities in these conflicts.

The Monasteries of Athos and Chalkidiki (8th-11th Centuries): A Pioneering Front?

“…45 Actes de Lavra I, ed. Lemerle et al,[58][59][60][61] 46 A metochion is a dependency of a monastery; the monastery staffs it with monks so as to ensure it is administered to its advantage. As for Iviron, its main acquisition was the Kolobou monastery, founded around 866 by John Kolobos in the region of Siderokausia.…”

“…The people living in that town, which was mostly inhabited by farmers, contested the pretensions of the monastery of the Georgians (or Iberians, that is, Iviron) with the help of their bishop whose possessions were entangled with those of the townspeople. 61 If we add to this the considerable efforts put into the foundation of Lavra by Athanasius, who even went so far as to drill into the mountains to irrigate the monastic gardens 62 and who, above all, thought it would be useful to have a deep-water harbour 63 where passenger ships could make land, we get an idea why I have chosen the title for this article.…”