The collection of archival material from the Athonite Archives and from the monastery of Saint John the Theologian in Patmos, is part of an infrastructure program which promotes systematic research of archival and manuscript collections. [ + ]

One of the Institute’s for Byzantine Research basic aims is the discovery and study of unpublished primary sources, in order to promote new knowledge and the critical presentation of new data leading to reconsideration of accepted historical theories. These aims are fulfilled by the Program «Archival, diplomatic and palaeographic research», an infrastructure program which promotes systematic research of archival and manuscript collections. Research focuses mainly on libraries and Archives surviving in the great monastic centres of Greece and especially in the monastic community of Mount Athos and the monastery of Saint John the Theologian in Patmos.
The database contains information concerning archival material from the Athonite Archives and from the monastery of Patmos recorded on microfilms. The elaboration of the entries was based on:

1. research conducted by the Institute’s researchers or its external collaborators in the Archives of the monasteries of Dionysiou (N. Oikonomides, P. Nikolopoulos), Kastamonitou (N. Oikonomides), Docheiariou (N. Oikonomides), Haghiou Pavlou (K. Chryssochoidis), Karakallou (K. Chryssochoidis-P. Gounaridis), Xeropotamou (P. Gounaridis), Hilandar (V. Anastasiadis), Stavronikita (A. Giannakopoulos), Pantokratoros (A. Pardos) and of the Protaton (H. Gasparis) and
2. research conducted by the Program’s external collaborators Eirini Sermetziadi, Romina Tsakiri, N. Melvani, N. Livanos and A. Tselikas on documents from the monastery of Saint Panteleimon, as well as on supplementary archival material from the Archives of the monasteries of Hilandar, Dionysiou and Pantokratoros.

The entries concerning the Byzantine documents of Patmos are based on the descriptions and the diplomatic editions published by Era Vranoussi and Maria Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou. The database was designed by Z. Melisakis; S. Busses contributed to the classification of the material and N. Melvani supervised the processing of the digitized material. The project was coordinated by K. Chryssochoidis, research director of the IBR/NHRF. The database includes Byzantine and Post-Byzantine documents from Mount Athos and the monastery of Patmos. Each document is accompanied by a detailed entry with data concerning its form and contents. The most important field is the extensive summary of the document’s content. For the documents of Patmos, the user has also access to the complete texts of the diplomatic editions. The database includes 5009 Byzantine and Post-Byzantine documents; 4902 documents are from 11 monasteries of Mount Athos: Haghiou Pavlou (59), Dionysiou (286), Docheiariou (124), Karakallou (395), Kastamonitou (28), Xeroptamou (213), Pantokratoros (603), Stavronikita (593), Hilandar (1689), Protaton (472) and Panteleimonos (440).
The remaining 107 Byzantine documents are preserved in the monastery of Saint John the Theologian in Patmos. Electronic (www.ekt.gr/pandektis). Zisis Melisakis, Researcher C
Institute of Byzantine Studies / National Hellenic Research Foundation
48 Vassileos Constantinou Av.116 35 Athens-Greece
Tel.: +30 210 7273641
E-mail: zmelis@eie.gr Copyright for the use of the images belongs to the monasteries of Mount Athos included in the Program and to the monastery of Saint John the Theologian in Patmos. [ - ]