Agios Pavlos Monastery
Agios Pavlos Monastery is one of the 20 self-governing Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Mount Athos. It is ranked fourteenth in the Athonite, the hierarchical order of the twenty monasteries on Mount Athos.
About this building
The monastery was first mentioned in 972. It was founded by Saint Paul of Xeropotamou, who also founded the Xenophontos Monastery. Throughout its history it has survived the raids of the Catalan pirates, the Crusaders and the Ottoman Empire.
The oldest surviving part of the monastery is its medieval tower, built in 1522.The northern wing also preserves wall paitings from Cretan School from 1554. The katholikon or main church visible today was rebuilt between 1839–1844. Apart from the katholicon it owns 10 chapels.
The most notable treasures kept in the monastery are the Myrovlitissa (meaning "flowing myrrh" is a portable icon of the Virgin), a fragment of the True Cross and part of the gifts brought to the child Jesus by the Magi or Three Wise Men.
