For the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Odessa there was given the official permission by Synod for the construction of Athos town church, and already on May 9, 1893 it was founded the construction of the temple. It had lasted only for three years: 10 January 1896 there was the solemn consecration of the town church. The author of the project of the cathedral was the architect Nikonov. The temple is located near the railway station Odessa.

After exiting the train station, your eyes inevitably will rest on this five-dome religious building with unusual decoration and mosaics, St. Panteleimon Cathedral and Monastery. The history behind this cathedral is Afonskoe podvorye (the Athos Town House) was established in 1876 next to the railway station as a stopover for Russian pilgrims traveling to Holy places - the Mount Athos, Constantinople and Jerusalem. The town house provided a shelter, food and helped with travel documents. Until 1917, thousands of Russian pilgrims had visited holy places every year.

The growing popularity of the place resulted in its enlargement, and in 1893 a three-storey cathedral was erected, two floors - to shelter pilgrims, and the third floor - for the church. Such a construction makes the cathedral a religious building beyond Ukraine’s borders. Having survived the atheism of Soviet time, the Cathedral reopened in the 90ies, and in 1995 it has been converted into the monastery. Currently the cathedral is undergoing the renovation.

The bell tower of St. Panteleimon Cathedral has 11 bells, which differ in weight and size: the smallest bell weighs only 5 kg, and the largest – 1200 kg. On the third floor of the temple there is the personification of the Holy Mount Athos, the thing that did not exist in times of the construction of the cathedral in Russ. The golden iconostasis, created by the master Ahapnin, astonished with its magnificence, and the wall painting in the Byzantine style, performed by masters of Odessa, has never remained unnoticed.

Since the foundation of the town church and building of St. Panteleimon Cathedral, this place has been the start point for the faithful on a pilgrimage to holy places. The temple helped in obtaining documents and overnight, gave them food. October revolution of 1917 brought much suffering to St. Panteleimon Cathedral: 1923 the cathedral and town church were closed due to the persecution of the Church.

The cathedral resumed its work in the summer of 1944. At this time there started working pastoral courses, taught by Father Superior Pimen, who became later the Patriarch of All Russia, as well as several future metropolitans. But the prosperity of the temple did not last long: in 1961 with the Khrushchev “Thaw”, it was closed again, and the building became a planetarium. Theological Seminary moved to Odessa Holy Assumption Monastery.

Divine service at St. Panteleimon Cathedral finally resumed only in 1990, and after five years at the place of the former town church there was opened the Monastery, where later appeared the dominical school and the library.