Summary
The chronological question of establishing a russian monastery in Athos
History of the Russian monastery of Saint Panteleimon, especially from the 14th to the middle of the 19th century, is very complex. Throughout this period, for more than five centuries, the monastery was administered by non-Russian monks. Therefore, the question - ”who has the historical right to govern the monastery”, posed by the Greek historians from the middle of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century, seems meaningful. However, it is questionable whether the answer to this question was sought not only in the problematic period of the monastery's history (1309-1875), but also in the period before it. By disputing the early history of the Russian monastery (until 1309), the historical rights of Russian monks to own the monastery of St. Panteleimon were disputed too, which led to the paradoxical conclusion that the monastery became Russian only in 1875.
Based on of contemporary historical knowledge, the early period of the history of the Russian monastery (up to the 14th century) seems to be unquestionable both in terms of ethnic structure of its monasticism and in terms of who operated the monastery. The existence of Russian monasticism and the Russian monastery on Mount Athos before the 13th century is undoubtedly confirmed by Serbian historical sources from the end of the 12th century to the mid-18th century.
