The many conflicting tales of the monastery's name hint to the obscurity of its historical origins. In a document by the
Protos Nikiforos dating back to 1012 there is the signature of a monk who signs as "Nikiforos monk from Stravonikita" (), while in a 1016 document, the same monk signs as "from Stavronikita" (). This alludes to the existence of a Stavronikita monastery as late as the first half of the 11th century. According to archaeologist Sotiris Kadas this means that the Stavronikita monastery was one of the monasteries that were founded or built during the first years of organized monastic life on Mount Athos. This early part of the monastery's history ended approximately during the first half of the 13th century when the monastery was deserted due to constant
pirate raids as well as due to the tremendous impact caused by the
Fourth Crusade to the whole of the
Byzantine Empire. The deserted monastery came initially under the jurisdiction of the
Protos and later under the jurisdiction of
Koutloumousiou monastery and later
Philotheou monastery and functioned as a
skete. In 1533, The monks of Philotheou sold Stavronikita to the
abbot of a
Thesprotian monastery, Gregorios Giromeriatis (Greek: Γρηγόριος Γηρομερειάτης). By the end of the 15th century, the Russian pilgrim Isaiah confirms that, the monastery was Greek. In 1536, a
patriarchical edict by
Patriarch Jeremias I reinstated Stavronikita's status as one of the monasteries of Athos, bringing their total number to 20. Therefore, Stavronikita became the last officially consecrated monastery of Athos and is usually referred as the last monastery to be added to the athonite hierarchy. of
Saint Demetrius, built in 1770. Gregorios Giromeriatis eventually left his monastery in Thesprotia and permanently settled in Stavronikita. In subsequent years he expended great efforts to rebuild and expand the monastery. He built a surrounding wall, many cells, as well as the monastery's
catholicon. After the death of Gregorios in 1540, the renovation was continued by Patriarch Jeremias himself out of love and respect for Gregorios. An extraordinary feature of the monastery during this era is the fact that while most of the athonite monasteries had already largely adopted the so-called "idiorythmic" lifestyle (a
semi-eremitic variant of Christian monasticism), Stavronikita was founded and continued to function long after as on the principles of
cenobitic monasticism. The subsequent history of the monastery was marked by the fact that it always remained small in comparison to other athonite monasteries, both in property and in number of monks. Despite the repeated aid by the athonite community as well as by important benefactors, such as
archon Servopoulos in 1612, the monk Markos in 1614, the people of
Kea in 1628, Thomas Klados in 1630 and the
Prince of
Wallachia,
Alexandru Ghica from 1727 to 1740, the monastery's evolution was constantly hampered partly by quarrellings with nearby
sketes and monasteries, most notably with
Koutloumousiou monastery, over matters of land property and more importantly by two great fires in 1607 and in 1741 that burnt Stavronikita to the ground. However, the monastery continued to grow. In 1628 the
catholicon was renovated and in 1770 the monastery's well-known
aqueduct was built along with some of its
chapels, such as the chapel of
Saint Demetrius at the monastery's graveyard, the chapel of the
Archangels and the chapel of the
Five Martyrs. During the
Greek War of Independence in the early 19th century, Stavronikita, as well as the whole of Mount Athos, experienced harsh times. The monastery faced a harsh economic situation due to extraordinary debt that helped fund the war, while its monks were scattered after the
Ottomans invaded Athos. Therefore, the monastery, along with some other athonite monasteries, was deserted and so were many of its holdings in
Wallachia,
Moldavia and elsewhere. This situation lasted for about a decade, after which the Ottomans left Athos and any monks that had survived started returning to the monastery. However, the monastery's prosperity was again endangered by three great fires in 1864, 1874 and 1879 that caused great damage. The monastery was rebuilt but the monks became largely indebted again which led to further decline. This situation was partly reversed by the efforts of the abbot Theophilos, a monk formerly from
Vatopedi. In 1968, became Abbot of Stavronikita and turned the monastery into a cenobitic one, thus reviving monastic life at Stavronikita. Vasileios moved to
Iviron Monastery in 1990. ==Architecture==