Library
The Monastery of Saint John the Theologian is one of the few examples of Greek monasteries to be able to display continuous activity, from the time of their creation until today. The unique treasures that were kept and protected throughout the 900 years of its existence make the monastery one of the world’s great monuments.
The uniqueness of the Library lies behind exactly this fact: the continuous enrichment of the library with codices and printed books, as well as the preservation of a significant archive of documents. The initial core of the library comprised of the books and documents of the founder of the monastery and its library, St. Christodoulos (1088).
The Monastery became a centre of spiritual radiance for the broader geographic area of the Mediterranean, as well as, for the entire Christian world, from the times of the Byzantine Empire until today.
The greatest part of the library consists of:
- 1,197 manuscript codices from the Classical to the post-Byzantine era. The illuminated manuscripts are considered as of exceptional artistic quality and particularly well preserved.
- More than 13.000 documents from the same era, which mainly refer to the relations of the monastery with the Byzantine Emperors and the Patriarchate of Constantinople (to which the monastery is until today a dependency) as well as of the relations with the Ottoman Empire and with the Western sovereigns. In a number of other documents we learn about the financial or other relationships the monastery had with its neighbouring territories and the Mediterranean.
- More than 4,000 incunabula.
- More than 15,000 modern editions and periodicals.
Research on the manuscript documents and bound books at the library and their preservation and their preservation are of extreme importance. Therefore, maintaining an up to date photographic archive of these has been one of the priorities for the monastic library.