The monastery was founded in 1083 by Prince Gregory Pakourianos, a prominent
statesman and military commander in the Byzantine service, as a Byzantine
Iberian Orthodox monastery. He set up a seminary for the youth at the
monastery. The curriculum in the first place included religion, as well as
mathematics, history and music. In the 13th century, Byzantine Iberian Monks of
the Petritsioni (Bachkovo) Monastery lost the domination over the monastery,
but their traditions were preserved until the beginning of 14th century and an
Armenian Gospel of the 10th century lived to this day. During the time of the
Second
