Designation

The official name of the Monastery is the Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi. The basic name Vatopedi or Vatopediou appears already in the first historical testimonies concerning the Holy Mountain and has a double etymology and correspondingly double spelling a) interpreted as paidion of the wattles is based on a tradition. According to this, the Monastery was founded on 4^ο century by Theodosius the Great, whose son Arkadius was miraculously rescued from a shipwreck and found in its area full of briars, (excavations carried out in 2000 around the current catholicon, brought to light the early Christian temple, the great basilica that Theodosius the Great had built, on the ruins of this original temple the current catholicon was built in the 10th century) b) interpreted as a field of briars, it simply indicates the fact that in the area around the Monastery there are many briars.

In earlier times, the Monastery was characterized as Basilica. This designation was acquired at some time by all the monasteries of Mount Athos, due to their relations with the Byzantine emperors. It was also called Patriarchal and Stavropegic, privileged designations given by the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

For the name of the Monastery, one can refer to the analytical study of Associate Professor of the Democritus University of Thrace and former Governor of Mount Athos, Mr. Nikos Doukas-Papadimitriou, "The name of the Vatopedi Monastery through Byzantine and post-Byzantine sources".