The monastery of Philotheou
The Philotheou monastery is twelfth in hierarchy and dedicated to the Annunciation. According to tradition
it was founded on the site of an ancient Asklepieion, and is mentioned for the first time in
a document of A.D. 1015. However, it seems to have been built (end of the l0th century) by hosios
Philotheos, a contemporary of saint Athanasios. The monastery received benefactions from
the Emperor Nikephoros Botaneiates (A.D. 1078-1081), the two Andronikoi Palaiologoi and the
Serbian kral Stephen Dusan. During the period of the Ottoman occupation it was aided by the tzar
of Russia Michael (A.D. 1641) and the princes of Wallachia (Gregore Gikas A.D. 1734, etc.). The
great fire of A.D. 1871 is one of the natural disasters that have befallen the monastery, while the
sojourn there of Kosmas Aitolos is regarded as a high-point in the history of monasticism.
