The monastery was founded in the 13th century by
Simon the Athonite, who was later sanctified by the Eastern Orthodox Church as Saint Simon the Myrrh-bearer. Tradition holds that Simon, while dwelling in a nearby cave, had a vision where the
Theotokos instructed him to build a monastery on top of the rock, promising she would protect and provide for him and the monastery. Simon called the original monastery "New
Bethlehem" (Greek: Νέα Βηθλεέμ); to this day, it is dedicated to the
Nativity of Jesus. In 1364, the
Serbian despot Jovan Uglješa funded the monastery's renovation and expansion, issuing a royal
chrysobull for it in 1368. Russian pilgrim Isaiah wrote that, by the end of the 15th century, the monastery was Bulgarian. In 1567, the
arsanas (port building) of Simonopetra was completed. Its construction was funded by a
Wallachian noble. In 1581, Simonopetra was destroyed by a fire, in which a large portion of the monks died. Evgenios, the monastery's
abbot traveled to the
Danubian Principalities hoping to raise funds to rebuild the monastery. The most important donor was
Michael the Brave, Prince of
Wallachia, who donated large portions of land as well as money to the monastery. The monastery was also burnt in 1626, and the last great fire happened in 1891, after which the monastery was rebuilt in its current form. In recent centuries, the monks of the monastery were traditionally from
Ionia in
Asia Minor. However, during the mid-20th century, the brotherhood was greatly reduced by a reduction in the influx of new monks. The current brotherhood originates from the
Holy Monastery of Great Meteoron in
Meteora, when in 1973 (also known as
Aimilianos of Simonopetra) and his monks moved into Simonopetra, hence repopulating the almost abandoned monastery. He served as Abbot of Simonopetra from 1974 until 2000. 20th-century saints associated with the monastery include (d. 1957). ==Architecture==