page_title: Hilandar
section_title: Founding
hierarchical_section_title: Hilandar / Founding
caption_attribution_description: English: The fresco of young Saint Simeon, King`s Church in Studenica, Serbia
context_page_description: The Hilandar Monastery is one of the twenty Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Mount Athos in Greece and the only Serbian monastery there. It was founded in 1198 by Stefan Nemanja and his son Saint Sava. St. Symeon was the former Grand Prince of Serbia who upon relinquishing his throne took monastic vows and became an ordinary monk. He joined his son Saint Sava who was already in Mount Athos and who later became the first Archbishop of Serbia. Upon its foundation, the monastery became a focal point of the Serbian religious and cultural life, as well as "the first Serbian university". It is ranked fourth in the Athonite hierarchy of 20 sovereign monasteries. The Mother of God through her Icon of the Three Hands, is considered the monastery's abbess.
context_section_description: The monastery was founded in 1198 when, prompted by the Mount Athos monastic community, Byzantine Emperor Alexios III Angelos (1195–1203) issued a golden sealed chrysobulls donating the ancient monastery Helandaris, "to the Serbs as an eternal gift...," thereby designating it, "to serve the purpose of accepting the people of Serbian descent, who seek to pursue the monastic way of life, as monasteries belonging to Iberia and Amalfi endure on the Mount, exempt from any authority, including the authority of Protos." Hilandar was thereby handed over to Saint Sava and Saint Symeon with the mission of establishing and endowing a new monastery, elevated to the imperial rank. Since then, the monastery became a cornerstone of the religious, educational and cultural life of Serbian people.
  The ancient pre-Serbian monastery Helandaris was first mentioned in one Greek manuscript from 1015 as being "completely abandoned and empty" which is why it had to be placed under temporary authority of the Konstamonitou monastery. A certain George Chelandarios (the Boatman), who was held in high esteem by the Athonites in 980, was probably the original founder of this ancient monastery prior to the arrival of Serbs. The monastery's church was already dedicated to the Entry of the Lady Theotokos into the Temple (November 21). Soon thereafter the monastery became a prey of continuous looting by pirates.
  Upon securing Serbian authority within the monastery, Saint Sava and Saint Symeon jointly constructed the monastery's Church of the Entry of the Lady Theotokos into the Temple between 1198-1200, while also adding Saint Sava's Tower, the Kambanski Tower, and Saint Symeon's monastic chambers - cells. Saint Symeon's middle son and Saint Sava's older brother, Serbian Grand Prince Stefan "the First-Crowned" King provided financial resources for this restoration. As Hilandar's founder, Saint Symeon issued a special founding charter or chrysobulls, which survived until World War II, when it was destroyed as a result of the Operation Retribution and the notorious April 6, 1941 German bombing of Belgrade that leveled to the ground the National Library of Serbia building in Kosancicev Venac. Following 1199, hundreds of monks from Serbia moved to the monastery, while large pieces of land, metochions and tax proceeds from numerous villages were provided to the monastery, especially from the Metohija region of Serbia.
  Saint Symeon died in the monastery on February 13, 1200 where he was buried next to the main church of the Entry of the Lady Theotokos into the Temple. His body remained in Hilandar until 1208 when his myrrh-flowing remains were transferred to Serbia and interred into the mother-church of all Serbian churches the Studenica Monastery according to his original desire, which he previously completed in 1196. Following the relocation of Saint Symeon's remains, what would eventually become world-famous grapevines began growing on the spot of his old tomb, which gives to this day miraculous grapes and seeds that are shipped all over as a form of blessing to childless married couples. Following his father's death, Saint Sava moved to his Karyes hermitage cell, where he finished the writing of the Karyes Typikon, a book of directives, which shaped the eremitical monasticism all across the Serbian lands. He also wrote the Hilandar Typikon regulating spiritual life in monasteries, organization of services and duties of monastic communities. The Hilandar Typikon was modeled in part after the typikon of the Monastery of Theotokos Evergetis in Constantinople.
caption: Stefan Nemanja, Grand Prince of Serbia
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