According to one school of thought, the founder of the Monastery was employed in the 11th century in the court of Kutlumus, the head of the Seljuk dynasty of that name in Asia Minor. A more likely theory is that the founder is to be sought among the monastic communities of Palestine in the 11th century, since in one of the old Arab dialects the word Kutlumus denotes the church of Christ the Saviour, to Whom the Catholicon of the Monastery has always been dedicated. The founder of the Monastery was known to later generations as Saint Koutloumousis, “the Chosen and Beloved of God, that most excellent in all things and virtuous Koutloumousis”, in the words of the Protos Isaac (14th century). The first signature we have of an abbot of the Koutloumousi Monastery is to be found in a document of 1169, among the signatures of the representatives of 28 Athonite monasteries. At that time, and for another hundred years, the Monastery was in no position to boast of its opulence or its exalted rank in the hierarchy of the Monasteries. Its economic stagnation was exacerbated by the depredations of Franks and Catalans during the period of Frankish rule, and by the brutality of the army of Michael VIII, which descended on Mt. Athos to enforce the union with the Pope which the Greek Emperor had signed in Lyons. Tradition has it that the monks were hanged and their bodies buried behind the Catholikon. Yet their sacrifice was not in vain. In 1263 the Protos of Mt. Athos conceded to Koutloumousi the abandoned Monastery of the Prophet Elias, and later, in 1287, the Monastery of Stavronikita, at that time in a state of dissolution. The Protos at this period was an elected official with administrative jurisdiction over the whole of Mt. Athos. These additions to the Monastery’s assets, together with the progressive temperament and the spiritual struggles of the fathers, led to a period of rapid growth for the Monastery.
However, the pirate raids continued. At the most critical period royal assistance arrived at Koutloumousi in the person of Andronikos II Paleologue, followed shortly after by Theodora Kantakouzini, who wrote: “To those who lead a virtuous life and who do battle so nobly and heroically at the monastery honored with the name of Christ the Saviour, also known as Koutloumousi… I hereby make a gift of the property in Serres known as Eleousa, which I purchased from the Holy Monastery of The Savior and Creator and Pantocrator in Constantinople, glorious to God”, stipulating explicitly that none of the provisions of her gift should be altered. In exchange she required that her name be commemorated daily in the holy services and that each year prayers be said for the peace of her soul. The monastic spirit had penetrated into the royal chambers and had touched the hearts of those who shared a sense of the more profound meaning of existence. However, after the fatal blow struck by the Frankish crusaders, the Eastern Roman Empire never recovered its former economic health. The monks of Mt. Athos were obliged to seek help elsewhere.
Hariton of Imbros took over the reins of the Monastery a little before 1362. By vigorous representations to the rulers of Hungary and Wallachia he managed to secure financial assistance in restoring the Monastery, as well as gifts of land. The first benefactors were Alexandros Basarab, and his successor Ioannis Vladislav. The latter, however, insisted that the abbot should abolish the cenobitic system and introduce to the Monastery the new idiorrhythmic rule, which permitted the monks to own personal property and to follow their own daily programme. Such a system well suited the Wallachian monks, who had no tradition of monastic life, and who wished to settle at the Monastery, but without adjusting to the demands of the cenobitic life, with its common spiritual and economic organization. Hariton wrote that “the cenobitic life is heaven on earth, and the allotted fate of the fathers”. Finally, however, financial hardship left him no alternative but to yield, in sadness of heart, and to introduce the idiorrhythmic system, but on the inviolable condition that Koutloumousi should remain a Greek monastery.
Another result of these relations was the profound influence exerted by the Greek culture on the spiritual life of the Danubian provinces. It was no coincidence that the Ecumenical Patriarch St. Philotheos Kokkinos appointed Hariton Metropolitan of Hungary and Wallachia, while he continued to carry out his duties as abbot of his Monastery.In 1393 the Patriarch Antonios proclaimed Koutloumousi a Patriarchal and Stavropegic Monastery. This meant that it now enjoyed the care and protection of the Patriarch, and was free from interference or influence from any secular power. A similar freedom was conveyed in the imperial golden bulls, by virtue of which the Monasteries are honoured with the appellation of ‘royal’. By and large this privileged status was respected even by the Ottoman rulers. And so, in the following centuries, the Monastery was free to enjoy a course of steady growth and prosperity, by 1574 ascending to occupy sixth position in the hierarchical ranking of the Athonite monasteries.
However, the consequences of the disintegration of the Roman Empire were not easy to bear: an economic crisis brought on by the burden of taxation and the confiscation of monastic estates, a decline in the number of monks. Fortunately in due course the Monasteries succeeded in placing all their civil affairs under the direct authority of the Sultan. At the same time Koutloumousi was able to maintain enclaves of the faith and rallying points for the enslaved Greek people at its dependencies in Serres, on Andros, Imbros, Samos, Limnos, at Marmaras, in Sithonia, Crete and even in Slatina in Romania. Monks were also dispatched as priests to serve the thriving Greek communities of central Europe. During the 17th and 18th centuries the Monastery had to rely exclusively on the support of pious Greeks. The end of the 18th century brought distinction to the Monastery in the work of the most distinguished figure in the modern history of Koutloumousi, the scholar Bartholomew of Imbros, teacher and editor of the liturgical books.
In the mid-19th century the Monastery was subjected to a new ordeal, owing to the new expansionist policy of the Russians. An attempt was made in 1856 by instruments of the new Russian policy to impose a Russian identity on the Monastery. Their plans, which had succeeded at the Monastery of St. Panteleimon, came to nothing in the case of Koutloumousi, thanks to the indivisible sense of fellowship binding the monks. This year was a milestone for another reason, too: as the result of a unanimous petition addressed by the monks to the Ecumenical Patriarch, the Monastery returned to its original cenobitic rule. It was at this time that a fire reduced the northern wing of the Monastery to ashes. The priest-monk Meletios, distinguished for his virtue and administrative talents, travelled with the blessing of the Patriarchate as far as Russia, western Europe and even America, with letters from the Monastery seeking financial support. He was successful enough to be able to finance the restoration of the northern wing, but his project of a further construction was interrupted by his demise.
In the wake of the Second World War the Monastery was afflicted by an alarming decline in the number of monks. The ravages of time and the almost total loss of the Monastery’s assets in land, jeopardized its very existence. But eventually the will of God manifested itself in the survival and gradual recovery of the Monastery’s fortunes. It has not of course been a road entirely without obstacles and setbacks: in 1980 the eastern wing was burned, while torrential rains caused landslides and cracks in the Monastery buildings. But God never subjects us to temptation and trial without providing also the necessary patience to endure, and to await the final happy outcome.
