The monastery of Xeropotamou
The Xeropotamou monastery is dedicated to the memory of the Forty Martyrs and is eighth in the hierarchy.
According to tradition it was founded by the empress Pulcheria (A.D. 450-457). It is more likely however that it was founded by hosios Pavlos
Xeropotamenos, a rival of saint Athanasios, shortly after monks first came to the
Great Lavra. Amongst the benefactors of the monastery
were the Palaiologoi and the kings of Serbia and, during the Tourkokratia, sultan Selim I. The monastery
suffered badly from raids and fires in the l6th and l7th centuries A.D., and modern times
have not been particularly kind to it.