The establishment of the Mount Athos (Aghion Oros) monasteries led to systematic cultivation of vineyards and to wine production on a large scale. A special text, which is the first ‘typikon” of the monastic community and concerns the wine trade on Mount Athos (972), laid down the procedures governing the wine commerce within the boundaries of the district. However, it was not long before monastic wine was sold outside the Holy Mountain’s boundaries as well. For the following one thousand years, in many parts of Greece, the monasteries would be cast in the role of the ark that would safeguard winegrowing tradition and would set up organized wineries.