History and present days
After the Mount Athos Monastery of Great Lavra, the road crosses the area called the one of the Aphorism, a windswept and uninhabited plateau, which reaches the Lavrio Skete of Saint John the Forerunner, better known as the Romanian Skete. Shortly before the skete, on the right side of the slope there is the seat of the Holy Trinity, better known as the seat of the Old Isaiah, because it was there that the monk Isaiah, elder of Saint Athanasius the Athonite, lived his monastic life. In its area there were formerly vineyards. The seat has been renovated several times (the dates 1780 and 1909 can be considered as the most important periods). The path that starts from the Great Lavra goes as well to Saint Nilus, to Kausokalyvia and to the Skete of Saint Anna. If you intend to take this route, it is better to reach the seat of the Old Isaiah by car and start the hike from there. In that way one can save time and effort. At the seat there is a fountain with fresh water, from where one can stock up for the route.
On the position of the current Athonite skete there has already been the Cell of Saint John the Forerunner, where monks from Chios were practicing from 1772. In 1820, two Moldavian monks bought it from the Monastery of Great Lavra and obtained the written consent of the ruling monastery to convert the cell into a skete. The turmoil caused by the Greek Revolution a year later forced them to return home and go to Neamt Monastery, where they finished their lives.
The cell came back into the ownership of Great Lavra, which assigned it to various monks for a rent. In 1852 the cell was purchased by two Moldavian monks, Nephon and Nektarios, who, after the purchase, went to Moldavia to collect the necessary amount. They were informed of the existence of the consent document in the Neamt Monastery. Through the mediation of the ruler Gika, the ruling monastery issued a document recognizing the cell as a Moldavian Skete.
Sovereign Gikas immediately dedicated an annual grant to it and in 1855 issued a decree recognizing the monastery as Romanian. In 1856, during the reign of the Patriarch Cyril VII, the competent patriarchal decision was issued to recognize the skete. The foundation stone of the church was laid in 1857 and the church was consecrated in 1866 by the Metropolitan of Bucharest. The period 1867-82 is characterized by maximum disorder in the skete, disputes between Moldavian and Romanian (Vlach and Transylvanian) monks, intrigues (in which monk Niphon was the leader). Order was restored only in 1882, with a document explicitly defining the sovereign rights of Great Lavra and the obligations of the skete. During the socialist regime in Romania (1945-89), the skete faced problems similar to those faced by the Russian catholics after the October Revolution (1917). Today it is experiencing a new era of prosperity, thanks to the spiritual guidance of the skete's Master, Hieromonk Petronius.
