On May 19 2019 a fire broke out in the Russian monastery Panteleimonos, as a result of which the monastery generator room was completely burned and the monastery lost its source of electricity (source: afonit.info)

In an interview the abbot of the monastery Archimandrite Evlogy (Ivanov) explained that during the night of Saturday to Sunday, the room housing the monastery’s generators and other technical equipment caught fire and completely burned out. It is unclear what caused the fire. Only one small generator survived, with which they are powering the kitchen. Even the lights in the church are all turned off.

The life of the monastery continues, of course, but the brethren are not able to accept pilgrims for the time being, and the approximately 150 guests who were staying there at the time had to leave, as equipment necessary for serving the pilgrims cannot be operated.

No people were harmed in the fire, nor were any sacred objects, and the liturgical life of the monastery continues undisturbed. About 100 brothers and a small number of workers remain living in the monastery, but in the best-case scenario, according to Fr. Evlogy, it will take about a month for the brothers and workers to resume their work.

Wim Voogd, 22 May (thanks to Vasilis on Facebook)

The latest report on this issue (30/5): ”the monastery was able to resume accepting a limited number of guests after less than a week, reports afonit.info. Beginning on May 25, the monastery began receiving only those guests who had previously reserved a place in the guest house”.