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I. A metochion refers to a monastic property situated in either a rural or urban area, usually far from the main monastery buildings. It represents a dependent institution under the financial, administrative, and managerial jurisdiction of the ruling monastery. Therefore, a metochion is not a legal entity, but primarily part of the property of the sovereign communities.
Monks residing in a dependency are under the authority of the ruling monastery. They are subject to its administrative control, and can be recalled by the monastery at any time.
The management of the metochion is handled by an economos (steward). His appointment pertains to administrative matters of general significance, which must be brought before the monastery's Gerontia (art. 90 of the Charter). The economos oversees the property, receives the income generated from it, and represents the interests of the metochion as a financial unit.
II. Metochia of the monasteries of Mount Athos are governed by the laws of their respective ruling monasteries. Thus, even when located outside Mount Athos, they are protected by a special patriarchal status of stavropegial institutions, which excludes them from the supervision of the local archbishop. This is also evident from the special regulation of Mount Athos, which, as constitutionally confirmed, prevails over all provisions that appear to be contradictory, such as those in the Constitutional Charter of the Church of Greece. There it is stated that dependencies belonging to another authority must be established by a joint decision of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of National Education and Religious Affairs. This decision is published after the approval of the local bishop and the confirmation of the Holy Synod. Dependencies operate under the supervision of the Synod represented by the local bishop (art. 39, para. 7 of Law No. 590/1977). The same law excludes from the supervision of the local archbishop not only the Patriarchal and Stavropegial Monasteries of Vlatadon in Thessaloniki and Saint Anastasia Pharmakolytria (the Deliverer from Poisons) in Chalkidiki, but also the metochia of the Holy Sepulchre and of Saint Catherine of Sinai (art. 39, para. 8). This exception likely extends to the dependencies of the monasteries of Mount Athos, firstly, due to the self-governance of Athos, recognized constitutionally, and secondly, because of the stavropegial status of the ruling institutions.
III. Metochia of the Athonite monasteries, located outside the borders of Mount Athos, often serve as centers for independent monastic communities, both male and female. These dependencies are not legal entities and remain subordinate to the ruling monasteries.
The status of the female dependencies of Mount Athos is an ancient monastic establishment, historically documented in numerous records preserved in the archives of the monasteries. It is affirmed by both the Constitutional Charter of Mount Athos (art. 188) and the Constitution of Greece (art. 105), as well as by many other documents and regulations.
This status was recognized by the sigillion of the Ecumenical Patriarch No. 804 dated October 25, 1991, in the female cenobitic metochion of the Athonite Monastery of Simonopetra, dedicated to the Annunciation of Theotokos in Ormylia of Chalkidiki. It refers to the adherence to the provisions of the Charter of the Church of Greece regarding the establishment of the metochion, which must be approved by both the Holy Synod and the local metropolitan bishop. Nevertheless, the Ecumenical Patriarchate retains its supreme right over the metochion of this Patriarchal and Stavropegial Monastery, confirming both the commemoraton of the Patriarch's name and the payment of an annual fee that signifies the connection and dependency between the two institutions.
