The Holy Monastery of Chilandari

The history of the Monastery of Chilandari

The Holy Monastery of Chilandar is the foundation of Serbian identity. Thanks to the mission of Saint Sava, the founder of the Monastery of Chilandar, the Serbian people, the Church, the state and the Serbian culture emerged from this holy place. It is the only Serbian institution that has been continuously preserved from 1198 to the present day.

The Monastery of Chilandari is one of the 20 monasteries of Mount Athos, a peninsula in northeastern Greece. Mount Athos is the only autonomous monastic state in the world. It belongs to the Greek state and is ecclesiastically subordinate to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Although monks have been settled on Mount Athos since the 6th century, the first of the existing monasteries was founded in 963.

Mount Athos has always been a pan-Orthodox multi-ethnic community, and all monks enjoy the citizenship of the Hellenic Republic. However, regarding the ethnic origin of the founders and monastic brotherhoods, in relation to the identity of the monks and founders, out of the twenty monasteries, seventeen are Greek and three Slavic.

Of these, the Holy Monastery of Chilandari is a Serbian monastery. Chilandari was founded in 1198. The monk Simeon, former ruler of Serbia (under the name Stefan Nemanja) and founder of the Nemanjić Dynasty, which was to rule for two centuries, abdicated in favor of his son, Stefan Protostephan. Nemanja decided to follow in the footsteps of his younger son, Rastko, who had already gone to Mount Athos and was tonsured a monk with the name Sava.

Soon after his arrival, Nemanja was joined by his son, and together they requested permission from the Byzantine Emperor Alexios III Angelos to found a monastery for Serbian monks who wished to live according to the ascetic life of the Athonite monks. By imperial chrysobull, the Emperor granted the father and son permission to found the monastery on the site of an older monastery, also known as Chilandari. The chrysobull stated that the monastery and the surrounding area were "ceded to the Serbs in perpetuity".

In 1198, with the financial support of King Stephen the First, the foundations were laid for the construction of a larger monastery of Chilandari. In the centuries that followed, the monastery expanded mainly to the north and less to the south. No major construction was carried out until the time of King Milutin. In 1300, he built the church of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary, one of the best preserved and most beautiful churches on Mount Athos.

The legacy of the Monastery of Chilandari

The Monastery of Chilandari, as is true for all the monasteries of Mount Athos, is an immense treasure trove of religious art. The treasures, temples and archives of the monastery include approximately 1,200 icons, dozens of which are miraculous and belong to the most beautiful works of Byzantine art. The most revered icon is the Virgin Mary "Tricherousa", who is honored as the Abbess of the Monastery; 507 manuscript documents of medieval rulers; 1,041 unique manuscript books totaling 312,000 pages; 80 old printed books from the 15th to the 17th centuries; 40,000 books from the 17th century to the present day.

There are also valuable works of applied arts and a rich ethnographic collection. The architectural heritage includes layers from the 12th to the 19th century, with about 25 cells, chapels and temples outside the fortified complex. The priceless frescoes cover an area of ​​5,000 m². The heritage of Chilandari extends over 10,000 acres of monastic land.

As an Athonite Byzantine monument, the Monastery of Chilandari has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

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  • Providing material assistance

    We provide material and financial assistance to large and three-child families in need, as well as to students from large families.

  • Provision of consulting services

    We provide advisory services regarding the rights of large and three-child families and the operation of the relevant state and local authorities.

  • Public awareness

    We raise awareness among public opinion and government agencies about the problems of large families and highlight the
    demographic problem of our country