The international fund to restore and preserve the cultural and spiritual heritage of the Athos Monastery of St Panteleimon was established in 2011 at the initiative of then President Dmitry Medvedev and Patriarch Kirill.
Monastery of St Panteleimon
Dmitry Medvedev’s opening remarks
The Monastery of St Panteleimon is one of 20 monasteries on Mount Athos in Greece. A Russian monastic settlement was established there in the 11th century and its first written reference dates back to February 1016.
By the beginning of the 20th century the monastery had become the biggest on Mount Athos in terms of area and the number of monks. At present it is home to about 70 monks and noviciates from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and Georgia. The monastery has a unique library that contains about 1,500 Greek, 550 Slavic and 400 Russian, 43 foreign hand-written codexes, and over 42,000 printed books.
The international fund to restore and preserve the cultural and spiritual heritage of the monastery was established at the first meeting of its Public Council of Trustees on 30 September 2011.
Since 2012 the fund has been restoring and repairing the monastery’s buildings, utility networks and roads. It has adopted programmes on cultural and educational work and projects for preserving the monastery’s spiritual heritage.
Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:
Dmitry Medvedev: Your Holiness, ladies and gentlemen.
I’d like to welcome you to another meeting of the Public Council of Trustees of the Athos Monastery of St Panteleimon. Some time ago (in fact, more than two years ago), in September 2011 the council passed a decision to establish an international fund with a view to conducting large-scale restoration of the monastery and preserving its spiritual and cultural heritage. Today we’ll sum up what was done over these years, discuss plans for the future and talk about some issues related to the thousand year anniversary of the Russian presence on Mount Athos that will be celebrated in 2016. Preparations for this historic event are already underway and a special group has been set up by the President’s directive. So we’ll discuss these issues as well.
Dmitry Medvedev: "All of us are very glad that the monastery is undergoing a new stage in its development. The number of monks is growing, the overall appearance of the monastery is being upgraded and many pilgrims from Russia are coming to visit it."
I won’t tell you what you are already well aware of: the links between Russia and Athos and the formation of spiritual traditions. All of us are very glad that the monastery is undergoing a new stage in its development. The number of monks is growing, the overall appearance of the monastery is being upgraded and many pilgrims from Russia are coming to visit it. This amounts to a revival of the monastery.
Substantial funds – over one billion roubles – have been raised for these purposes in the last few years. I’d like to thank members of our council for their organisational and fund-raising efforts, as well as all charitable donors and others who took part in this work. As with anywhere else, it is very important to monitor spending and ensure its transparency.
Dmitry Medvedev: "At any rate we plan to complete this year all priority construction work, paying special attention to creating modern engineering infrastructure which is very important for the monastery."
I’ve often discussed this issue with His Holiness. Some time ago the restoration work was stepped up, and I’m very glad about this. I’m referring to the restoration of several buildings, the construction of the road and the revival of some other parts of the monastery. At any rate we plan to complete this year all priority construction work, paying special attention to creating modern engineering infrastructure which is very important for the monastery. We must also decide what buildings can be restored by the thousandth anniversary, or after 2016. Needless to say, this work must be well-coordinated, considering the specific life of the monastery, and conducted by highly qualified experts with good experience of such restoration work.
I think that the past two years have not been wasted, and I’m pleased about this. Once again I’d like to thank all those who took part in this work. No less crucial work lies ahead of us. Let’s discuss it.
Your Holiness, I invite you to speak as well.
Meeting of the Public Supervisory Council of the Athos Monastery of St Panteleimon. Left: Archbishop of Yegoryevsk and Head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for Foreign Institutions, Mark. Centre: Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia
Patriarch Kirill: Mr Medvedev, thank you for this opportunity to hold a meeting of the Public Council of Trustees with your participation. We will sum up some results of our performance and map out our plans for the future, considering that we will celebrate the thousandth anniversary of the Russian presence on Athos in 2016. Last year I was fortunate enough to visit the Holy Mount again (I have not had this opportunity for five years because of the change in my official position). Having felt the spirit of Athos again, I can say that this place has tremendous spiritual potential. People feel it – those who are practically unchurched and those who come here out of curiosity. This is also true of those who are weary of the conditions of modern life and are overburdened by stress. They are not the same after visiting Athos.
Not long ago we received here, in Moscow, the Gift of the Magi from St Paul’s Monastery. As always happens, vast numbers of people came to bow to the gifts – over 400,000 in Moscow. But usually there is also a negative response – this is how society works. Every action has a reaction. So, people who were against this event and mass worship of the gifts expressed negative opinions about them. One Athos monk who accompanies the sacred gifts was asked: “What can you say to those who claim there is something wrong with the gifts and that artifacts cannot do anything? They work only in the deformed imagination of people are obsessed with rituals and magic… His answer was simple: “If there were no wonder, people would not be queuing up." This is really so. People do not go to a well if it is empty. Therefore, veneration of the relics and visits to the monastery are of tremendous spiritual significance for modern people. Moreover, Russia has had traditional ties with Athos for a millennium and for us Mount Athos is very important, all the more so since it accommodates Russian monasticism – the Monastery of St Panteleimon and other monasteries.
Patriarch Kirill: А vast amount of restoration work has been carried out at a very high level. I think nothing like this has ever been done in Athos, at least in our monastery. This was serious professional restoration.
Now I’d like to say a few words about what has been done. I had an opportunity to visit this place myself and take a look. It goes without saying that a vast amount of restoration work has been carried out at a very high level. I think nothing like this has ever been done in Athos, at least in our monastery. This was serious professional restoration. I must say the pace of work was also satisfactory, although probably it could have been higher. After the formation of our international fund of support for the restoration of the monastery, things changed for the better as compared with the past. I am gratified to say this and would like to thank all those who worked on this programme, and also the monks from the monastery who are present at this meeting – Father Makary and Father Filosof. When some of our financial flows stop, ingenious monks find some other sources of funding. I’m also grateful to you, brethren, for these efforts.
That said the main financial and organisational burden is still shouldered by our fund and our Public Council of Trustees. Therefore, it will be important for us to map out clear-cut and realistic plans for the future and think about their funding so that at least the most important projects are restored by 2016.
Among these are the Monastery of St Panteleimon, the Ksilurgu Assumption Priory and Old Rusik. I won’t mention all of them – there are many more and they are probably mentioned here. We should also decide what should be restored and renewed in the future. There are many wonderful sites of religious worship and some non-religious places that are of historic value because they reflect the history of scientific and technical progress. Monks are truly resourceful and very many technical innovations were used in monasteries.
Patriarch Kirill: There are artifacts on Athos that must be renewed and restored. Russian monks not only carried out their main mission of praying and asking the Lord to bless them and all others who turn to Athos for spiritual support.
There are artifacts on Athos that must be renewed and restored even from the cultural point of view. Russian monks not only carried out their main mission of praying and asking the Lord to bless them and all others who turn to Athos for spiritual support. They also managed their monasteries and developed their economy. There are traces of this economic and cultural prosperity on Athos. As I’ve said it is very important not to forget about these artifacts. We must express our attitude toward the possibility of restoring them. There are many artifacts that I have in mind. There are many interesting artifacts around the monastery, such as the Ksilurgu Assumption Priory, which we’d like to see restored, as well as other buildings which we discussed earlier.
In conclusion I’d like to thank once again all those who attended this meeting, first and foremost Mr Medvedev for this opportunity to convene and for your perpetual attention to Athos. We talk about it whenever we meet and I'd like to thank you for this attention.
May the Lord help us concentrate in theory and practice on resolving our tasks for the millennium celebrations and further into the future. Thank you for your attention.
Dmitry Medvedev: Thank you very much Your Holiness.
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