Today, Sunday, May 12, marks the 29-year anniversary of the issuance of a venerable Patriarchal sigillium (seal) by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to allow the transformation of the Holy and Great Monastery of Vatopedi into a coenobium – the monastic tradition that emphasizes community life amongst the monks.
Twenty-nine years have also passed since the enthronement of hieromonk Efraim as the Elder Archimandrite Abbot of the historic Mt. Athos Monastery – the first Pro-Abbot after 500 years of idiorrythmic rule.
The semi-autonomous Orthodox monastic community’s second, in rank, monastery, remained in the idiorrythmic state for five centuries until 1990.
