Hilandar

Hilandar Monastery (, , Hilandar) on Mount Athos in Greece. It was founded in 1198 by the Serbian Saint Sava and his father, Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja (who later became a monk there, taking the monastic name of "Simeon") of Raška. The Mother of God through her Icon of Three Hands (Trojeručica), is considered as the abbess.http://www.blackwellreference.com/public/tocnode?id=g9780631232032_chunk_g978063123203212_ss1-13
==History==
The name "Hilandar" is derived from helandion, a type of Byzantine transport ship, whose skipper was called a "helandaris". The ancient cell of Helandaris was donated by emperor Alexios III Angelos (1195-1203) "to the Serbs as eternal gift..." in order to transform it into a "Serbian" monastery. 
Two medieval Bulgarian royal charters, the Virgino Charter and the Oryahov Charter, have been found in Hilandar's library. After the fall of Serbia and Bulgaria under Ottoman rule, the influx of Serbian monks decreased at the expense of Bulgarians, particularly from Macedonia. From the 17th to the 19th century, Hilandar was predominantly Bulgarian-populated: in his account of 1745, the Russian pilgrim Vasily Barsky writes that the monks of Hilandar were all Bulgarians. Ilarion Makariopolski, Sophronius of Vratsa and Matey Preobrazhenski have all lived there, and it was in this monastery that Saint Paisius of Hilendar began his revolutionary Slavonic-Bulgarian History. The monastery was dominated by Bulgarians until 1902.
However, in 1913, Serbian presence in the Holy Mountain was quite big and the Protos was the Serbian representative of HilandarPanagiotis Christou, "To Agion Oros", Patriarchal Institute of Patristic Studies, Epopteia ed., Athens, 1987 pp 313-314.
In the 1970s, the Greek government offered power grid installation to all of the monasteries on Mount Athos. The Holy Council of Mount Athos refused, and since then every monastery generates its own power, which is gained mostly from renewable energy sources. During the 1980s, electrification of the monastery of Hilandar took place, generating power mostly for lights and heating.
On March 4, 2004, there was a devastating fire at the Hilandar monastery, with approximately 50% of the walled complex destroyed in the blaze. The blaze damaged the northern half of the walled complex, including the bakery. The library and the monastery's many historic icons were saved or otherwise untouched by the fire.
==Sacred objects==
Among the numerous relics and other holy objects treasured at the monastery is the Wonderworking Icon of the Theotokos "Of the Akathist", the feast day of which is celebrated on January 12. Since Mount Athos uses the traditional Julian Calendar, the day they name as January 12 currently falls on January 25 of the modern Gregorian Calendar.
The monastery also possesses the Wonderworking Icon of the Theotokos "Of the Three Hands" (Greek: Tricherusa, Serbian: Тројеручицa), traditionally associated with a miraculous healing of St. John Damascene. Around the year 717, St. John became a monk at Mar Sabbas monastery outside of Jerusalem and gave the icon to the monastic community there. Later the icon was offered to St. Sava of Serbia, who gave it to the Hilandar. A copy of the icon was sent to Russia in 1661, from which time it has been highly venerated in the Russian Orthodox Church. This icon has two feast days: June 28 (July 11) and July 12 (July 25). 
The library holds 181 Greek and 809 Slavic manuscripts, about 20 000 printed books (3 000 in Greek language). 
The monastery contains about 44 working monks.
== See also ==
*Hilandar Research Library
==References==
== External links ==
* Hilandar monastery at the Mount Athos website 
* Another page dedicated to Hilandar Monastery
* Official web page of the monastery 
* Photos from Hilandar
* Towards Former Beauty Information on the recent fire and reconstruction work 
* Hilandar Research Library Ohio State University Collection—the largest collection of medieval Slavic manuscripts on microform in the world
Category:Serbian Orthodox monasteries
Category:Monasteries on Mount Athos
Category:1198 establishments
Category:Byzantine sacred architecture
Category:Medieval Athos
Category:Christian monasteries established in the 12th century
bg:Хилендарски манастир
ca:Monestir d'Hilandar
cs:Chilandar
de:Kloster Hilandar
el:Μονή Χιλανδαρίου
es:Monasterio de Chelandariou
fr:Monastère de Hilandar
hr:Hilandar
it:Monastero di Hilandar
ka:ქილენდარის მონასტერი
nl:Hilandar
pl:Klasztor Chilandar
ro:Mănăstirea Hilandaru
ru:Хиландар
sr:Манастир Хиландар
sh:Hilandar
sv:Hilandar
uk:Монастир Хіландар