The Holy Monastery of Stavronikita is the smallest in size of Mount Athos. It is located on the eastern side of the peninsula between the Monasteries of Iveron and Pantocrator.
Its foundation dates back to the 10th and 11th centuries, when, according to uncertain evidence, a Nicetas or Stavronicetas Nicephorus, an officer of the Emperor JohnTsimiskes, created here the first settement. The Monastery went into decline in the 12th century as a result of pirate raids; in the 13th it came under the control of the Koutloumousiou Monastery; in the 16th century it was already a dependency of Philotheou. In 1533, the Abbot of the Geromeriou Monastery, Grigorios, bought Stavroniketa from Philotheou in order to revitalise it. So that, by a patriarchal sigillium of the same year, it was recognised as a stavropegic monstery. In 1541, the Ecumenical Patriarch Ieremias I did his very best to refound the Monastery and to see that it functioned once again, thus continuing the work of Grigorios. The interior of the katholikon was decorated in 1546 with paintings of the famous Cretan painter Theophanis and his son Symeon. The church is dedicated to St Nicholas. The refectory of the Monastery was also decorated by Theophanis, who was responsible for the depiction of the Twelve Great Feasts on portable icons.
At present it has 30 monks.
Small note on cache maintenance: stef73 and dogganos have both offered to assist. Thanks!