Position in the Athonite Hierarchy

From the 10th century until today, the hierarchy of the Athonite institutions has been a key element in the organization of the Athonite state. According to archival evidence, Vatopedi was initially last in the hierarchy, but thanks to its increase in size around 1040, its abbot Athanasios signed the documents of the Protaton immediately after the Lavriotis and the Iverites representative. This rise is officially recognized in the Athonite typicon of Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos (1045), in the provisions of which the special position of the abbot of Vatopedi is determined among the other abbots of Mount Athos, whom he precedes, with the exception of the one of the Lavra. From the end of the 11th century. Vatopedi will also begin to claim the first position of the Lavra, although it will eventually return to the third, after the Monastery of Ivira and before the Amalfi Monastery, a position it will maintain throughout the 12th century. However, in 1287, the year in which the designation of Basilica was added to the title of the Monastery, its abbot will add to his signature the designation of the Monastery as the first Lavra of Mount Athos, indicative of its high position in the Athonite hierarchy, perhaps also of the multitude of fathers enrolled in it, but also of its glory at that time, even if this designation is not repeated in the Byzantine period. In 1301, Andronikos II Palaiologos (1282-1328) considered Vatopedi as one of the first Athonite institutions, while in 1362 the Monastery would rise again to second place, which it would maintain in the following centuries, until today.