The Holy and Great Monastery of Vatopedi is an Eastern Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos, Greece. Vatopedi was founded in the second half of the 10th century by three monks, Athanasius, Nicholas, and Antonius, from Adrianople, who were disciples of Athanasius the Athonite. The monastery was expanded several times during its history, particularly during the Byzantine period and in the 18th and 19th centuries. More than 120 monks live in the monastery.
In September 2008, the monastery was implicated in an alleged real estate scandal. The monastery was accused of trading low-value land for high-value state property in a deal with the New Democracy government of Prime MinisterKostas Karamanlis. In the ensuing court case, all of the accused were ultimately acquitted and it was decided that there was no financial damage to the public treasury. The financial writer Michael Lewis reports that a Greek parliamentary commission estimated the value of government property received by the monastery at one billion euros. Michael Lewis, in his book , visits the monastery, details the frugal, hard-working lifestyle of the monks and investigates the real estate deal which would have helped in efforts to restore Vatopedi to its former glory. After the story became public in August 2008, the government cancelled the land deals and two ministers resigned, under huge pressure from the media and public. Additionally, Parliament voted unanimously to set up a commission to investigate the deal. However, after investigations, the estimations of the public agencies for the exchanged real estate objects were found to have been in order. In December 2010 a Court of Appealsfound guilty and imposed a ten-month imprisonment to ex-judge Maria Psaltis on charges of misconduct and violations of judicial secrecy. The same penalty was issued to Abbot Ephraim and monk Arsenios on instigation. Finally Abbot Ephraim monk Arsenios and the judge Maria Psaltis were relived from the accusation from Areios Pagos, the Supreme Court of Hellenic Republic, by the act 966/2012. As of December 2011, 3 years after the reveal of the alleged scandal, none of the two different investigating parliamentary commissions and various trials had found any of the persons involved guilty of illegal money transactions or real estate fraud. Then, in late December 2011, the Abbot Ephraim was arrested, and jailed pending trial, for alleged fraud and embezzlement. On January 11, 2012, the Criminal Division of the Supreme Court accepted the proposal of the Deputy Prosecutor of the Supreme Court Law Mr. Tsangas: it set aside the decision under which Psaltis, Ephraim, and Arsenios had each been sentenced to 10-month imprisonment. The Supreme Court considered that the contested decision of the Court of Appeals had no legal justification and presented logical gaps, inconsistencies, and shortcomings. Moreover, the Supreme Court ruling that any disclosure of the outcome of the conference only a court is no longer a criminal offense , which means that the three defendants will be treated under more favorable conditions when judged again by the court. In October 2013 it was reported that fourteen persons, including Abbot Efrem and monk Arsenios were indicted on several counts including money laundering related to the Land Deal Controversy, which has been referred to as the "holy exchange" On 23 March 2017 Efrem was fully acquitted.
Miracle-working icons within the monastery
There are seven icons of the Mother of God in the monastery purported by believers to be miracle-working: Elaiovrytissa, Ktetorissa, Esphagmeni, Pantanassa, Pyrovolitheisa, Antiphonitria and Paramythia.