Protos (monastic office)

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Protos (monastic office)

Protos (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
???t??, translation "First") is a monastic office at the Eastern Orthodox monastic

Monasticism

Monasticism is the religion practice in which one renounces world pursuits in order to fully devote one's life to spiritual work. The origin of the word is from Ancient Greek, and the idea was originally related to Christian monks....
state of Mount Athos

Mount Athos

Mount Athos is a mountain on the peninsula of the same name in Macedonia , of northern Greece, called in Greek language Agion Oros , or in English, "Holy Mountain"....
.

The Protos is a monk

Monk

A Monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, the unconditioning of mind and body in favor of the realization of one's true nature, and does so living either alone or with any number of like-minded people, whilst always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose....
, elected among the members of the Iera Epistasia ("Holy Administration", which functions as the executive committee of the Iera Kinotita, the governing body of Athos made of representatives from each of the Athonite monasteries) to be the head of the Athonite monastic community.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Protos (monastic office)'

Start a new discussion about 'Protos (monastic office)'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

Protos (Greek

Greek language

Monasticism

Mount Athos

Mount Athos is a mountain on the peninsula of the same name in Macedonia , of northern Greece, called in Greek language Agion Oros , or in English, "Holy Mountain"....
.

The Protos is a monk

Monk

Patriarch

Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised Autocracy authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy....
al synod

Synod

A synod is a council of a Ecclesia , usually a Christianity church, convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. An ecumenical council is so named because it is a synod of the whole church ...
s, and has the right to confirm and dismiss abbots, with the approval of the Patriarch of Constantinople

Patriarch of Constantinople

The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is the Archbishop of Constantinople ? New Rome ? ranking as primus inter pares in the Eastern Orthodox Church organization, which is seen by followers as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church....
, under whose jurisdiction Mount Athos functions as an autonomous monastic republic. In the past, the Protos seems to have been given authority to ordain

Ordination

In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies....
(cheirotonia) priest

Priest

A priest or priestess is a person having the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities....
s, but currently ordinations on Mount Athos are performed by the Archbishop

Archbishop

In Christianity, an archbishop is an elevated bishop. In the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion and others, this means that they lead a diocese of particular importance called an archdiocese, or in the Anglican Communion an Ecclesiastical Province, but this is not always the case....
of Thessalonika.

The earliest historical documentation of the office of Protos is from 908

908

Events...
. The First Typikon

Typikon

The Typikon, or Typicon is a liturgical book which contains instructions about the order of the various Eastern Orthodox Christian church services and ceremonies, in the form of a perpetual calendar....
of Mount Athos (the book containing monastic rules and regulations), published by the emperor

List of Byzantine Emperors

This is a list of the Emperors of the late Eastern Roman Empire, commonly known as the Byzantine Empire by modern historians. This list does not include numerous co-emperors who never attained sole or senior status as rulers....
John Tzimisces in 972

972

972 was a year in the 10th century....
, recognised the first authority over Mount Athos which was elected by the monasteries. During the centuries that followed, the institution of the Protos would at times flourish and at other times decline.

In the beginning of the nineteenth century the Typikon of 1810 was published, which assigned the Protos (Primate) along with four overseers and with a holy synod

Synod

A synod is a council of a Ecclesia , usually a Christianity church, convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. An ecumenical council is so named because it is a synod of the whole church ...
composed of representatives from the twenty sovereign monasteries which make up the Mount Athos community.

The seat of the Protos has been in Karyes

Karyes (Athos)

Karyes is a settlement in Mount Athos. It is the seat of the clerical and secular administration of the Athonite monastic state. The 2001 Greek census reported a population of 233 inhabitants....
since 911

911

Events...
, and the primary church for the Athonite administration is called the .

Protos (monastic office)

External links