History and present days
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The ancient monastery of Xystri (Xestrou or Xestou), whose abbots co-signed the Athonite documents of the palaeologan period, was located on the position of the skete. Its most recent history dates back to the building of a cell (1652) by the Ecumenical Patriarch Athanasios III Patellaros, who built the church of Saint Anthony. Later, the cell passed to the possession of the Vatopaidi Monastery and in 1763 it was given to the deposed Patriarch Seraphim II, who rebuilt it from the ground and dedicated the church to Saint Andrew the Apostle. When Seraphim left for Russia (1771), the cell was given to a succession of Greek monks, until it was passed to two Russian monks in 1842. In 1849, after pressure from the Russian embassy in Konstantinople, the cell was recognized by a patriarchal announcement as a skete and began to grow rapidly in number of monks and buildings. Then the wings were built, forming a quadrangle around the kyriakon. At the beginning of the 20th century the skete had 800 monks. After the October Revolution in Russia (1917), it followed the fate of the gradual decline that all Russian holy foundations on Mount Athos experienced. In 1958 the west wing was severely damaged by fire. In 1970 it was completely deserted. In the winter of 1972 the monk Samson (in the world Simeon Malinin, b. 1885, c. 1913), the last of the Russian monks, had passed away and was buried in this place. In 1992 the skete was manned by a small escort of Greek monks, who installed a modern and fully equipped icon conservation workshop in the basement of the kyriakon. Recently they have been replaced by a brotherhood of monks from the Philotheou Monastery.
The size and magnificent character of the skete further emphasise the sense of decay and abandonment. Crossing the pompous facade, the visitor has the feeling of being a diver on the wreck of a giant ocean liner, and, if he happens to be a film enthusiast, he will have no difficulty in describing the skete complex as the "Titanic" of Mount Athos.
The church's kyriakon began to be built in 1867 and was consecrated in 1900 by the Ecumenical Patriarch Joachim III. It follows the basilica typology and is one of the largest churches in the Balkans (60 m long, 33 m wide, 29 m high). The wooden iconostasis is particularly high and bears many icons in successive tiers; in most of them the saints are depicted full-length, in accordance with the requirements of Russian art of the time. It is all gilded and dazzling. The athonite admirer, writer and painter, Nikos Gabriel Pentzikis used to say that if one sees this iconostasis, one can immediately understand why the October Revolution took place in Russia. The floor of the church is covered by wood. While flat, it creates the illusion of creating a ripple in perspective. In a shrine to the right of the gate of the sanctuary steps, the venerable cart of Saint Andrew the Apostle is kept. Visitors to the skete usually limit themselves to the dazzling kyriakon and overlook the three-storey building that houses the church of Saint Anthony's Cell, probably a much more important building from an architectural point of view. Its founder, Patriarch Seraphim II, was an active hierarch who maintained friendly relations with scholars of the time, such as the director of the Athonite Academy, Eugene Voulgaris and Osios Paisios Velitskowski. He remained on the patriarchal throne for only three years (1757-60). During this time he established for the first time the celebration of the memory of Saint Andrew the Apostle as a throne feast of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, since, according to tradition, the Apostle Andrew ordained the first bishop of Byzantium. He was accused of a Russian attitude and financial misdeeds, resulting in his removal from the patriarchal throne.
