International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Valerii Pirogov 
Institute of Russian Athos, Moscow, Russian Federation; 
[e-mail]
Organizational Aspects of the Reconstruction of the Documentary Heritage 
of the Russian Monastery of Holy Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon 
on Mount Athos of the Byzantine Period
The most extensive researchers of the documentary heritage of the Russian monastery on 
Mount Athos are:
- Prof. Alexander Solovyov (†1971, Switzerland);
- Prof. Vladimir Mošin (†1987, Skopje);
- Prof. Paul Lemerle (†1989, Paris).
The investigations of A. Solovyov and V. Mošin, apparently, due to the circumstances of the 
work outside Russia and in emigration, are fragmented, but in conjunction with the depth study.
The works of Paul Lemerle are examples of the paleographic and codicological analysis of 
several dozen of Greek and Serbian documents, the nomenclature of which has been fully borrowed 
from the book of the monk p. Azaria and Prof. Ternovsky (1873), compiled on the basis of the 
investigations of the Archimandrite Procopius Dendrinus (†1848).
The Institute of Russian Athos and the St. Panteleimon Monastery was the first time in 
historical science tasked to reconstruct the full documentary heritage of a corporation by example 
of the Russian monastery on Athos.

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The following concept was developed within the task:
1. Together with the St. Panteleimon Monastery was established a private independent Institute 
of Russian Athos.
2. The study was to attract the best Byzantinologist, including, of course, the best Paleographers 
and Codicologists.
3. We have collected the documents (or mentions of unpreserved documents) of all their known 
and hypothetical location.
4. We elaborated the methodology of analysis of these acts.
This methodological approach yielded the following intermediate results:
1. A catalog of the documentary heritage of the Russian monastery on Mount Athos - 1700 
documents (up to 1735). This catalog is a prelude to the publication of the texts of acta.
2. A 3 books of the “History of the Russian monastery on Mount Athos up to 1735” (partially 
published).
3. A bibliography “Athos” - 6.5 thousand items.