Sveta Gora

--CONTENT --
Sveta Gora or Athos is a mountain peninsula in northern Greece, 57 km long and 7 km wide. The total area is 389 square kilometers. Its highest peak is 2033 m high. According to the Greek constitution, St. Gora is an autonomous monastic community under Greek sovereignty and the seat of 20 Orthodox monasteries. Along with the monasteries there are 12 roosts (smaller monasteries), metos, as well as more than 600 kells, Calliopes and Catisms. The main city and administrative center of Sveta Gora is Kareya, who is the seat of the civic governor of the Greek authorities. Spiritual Sveta Gora is directly subordinate to the Constantinople Patriarchate in Istanbul. The habitation of the peninsula is allowed only to monks and the total population is about 1400 people.

Transmission
According to an old tradition, the Virgin Mary and St John were on their way to Jopa in Cyprus to visit St. Lazarus. Suddenly the boat swayed, lost course, and ended up in the then pagan Athos. Because of the stormy sea, the boat crashed near the monastery Iviron today. God's Mother came ashore and was excited by the wild beauty of the mountain, blessed her and asked her son Jesus Christ to turn this place into her garden. Suddenly she heard a voice: Let this place be your heritage and your garden, paradise and heaven, and salvation for those seeking salvation." Since then, the mountain has been dedicated to the Virgin Mary as her garden, which does not allow the presence of other women than the Mother of God.

History
Sveta Gora was formed as a monastery community in 963, when monk Atanasius founded the Great Laurel, which is still the largest of all 20 monasteries of the Atanasius Holy Forest. The monastery has benefited from the patronage of Byzantine vasilevs, which contributes to its rapid expansion and increase of its wealth and property. During the Fourth Crusade (1202 The Holy Forest has new Catholic masters who force the Saint-Gore monks to accept the patronage of Pope Inokentius III. This continued until the Byzantine Empire was restored. In the 14th century, Catalan mercenaries robbed the Athos monasteries.

When in the 15th century Byzantine Empire conquered by Ottoman Empire The Holy Forest is also conquered. The Ottomans hit hard and robbed the monasteries, but later they left them alone. The number of monks and the wealth of the monasteries decreased dramatically in the coming centuries. However, they managed to survive until the beginning of the 19th century, when monasteries began visiting more often by pilgrims and accepting new monks from Orthodox countries such as Russia, Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia. Each of these countries sends generous donations to the monasteries of Svetogora. In the 18th century and the Hillendar monastery was generously donated by Bulgarian traders as Hadji Wolf and Dr. Hillendar is the center of the Bulgarian Revival. Many prominent Bulgarians of this time visit it or inhabit it: Sophronius Vrachanski, Neofit Bozeli, Ila