Feasts and saints with names like “Athanasius”

Venerable Athanasius, founder of the Great Lavra and Coenobitic Monasticism on Mount Athos, and his six disciples

Venerable Athanasius, founder of the Great Lavra and Coenobitic Monasticism on Mount Athos, and his six disciples

Saint Athanasius of Athos, in holy Baptism named Abraham, was born in the city of Trebezond. He was orphaned at an early age, and being raised by a certain good and pious nun, he imitated his adoptive mother in the habits of monastic life, in fasting and in prayer. Doing his lessons came easily and…

Confessors Zosimus the Hermit and Athanasius the Commentarisius (Superintendent of Prisoners), Anchorites, of Cilicia

The Monk Confessor Zosimus came from Cilicia and was an inhabitant of the wilderness. During a time of persecution against Christians under the emperor Diocletian (284-305) Saint Zosimus was seized and subjected to fierce torture for the Faith, but by the power of God he was preserved unharmed.…

Saint Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria

Saint Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria

Saints Athanasius and Cyril were Archbishops of Alexandria. These wise teachers of truth and defenders of Christ’s Church share a joint Feast in recognition of their dogmatic writings which affirm the truth of the Orthodox Faith, correctly interpret the Holy Scripture, and censure the…

Venerable Athanasius, Abbot of Syandemsk, Vologda

Venerable Athanasius, Abbot of Syandemsk, Vologda

Saint Athanasius of Synadem and Vologda was a disciple of Saint Alexander of Svir (August 30). After the death of his mentor, he established the Dormition hermitage in the forests of Karelia, not far from the city of Olonets, on an island of Lake Synadem. The slander and pettiness of the local…

Righteous Athanasius of Novolotsk

Righteous Athanasius of Navolotsk went at the end of the sixteenth century from the Kargopol region to the Olonets land, where he founded a monastery 78 versts from what later became the city of Petrozavodsk. The saint died at a Verkholedsk suburb not far from Shenkursk.

Saint Athanasius the Confessor of Constantinople

Saint Athanasius the Confessor of Constantinople

Saint Athanasius the Confessor was born in Constantinople of rich and pious parents. From his childhood he dreamed of devoting himself entirely to God, and having reached maturity, he settled in one of the Nicomedia monasteries, called the Pavlopetrios (i.e., in the names of the holy Apostles Peter…

Venerable Athanasius of Murom

Igumen Athanasius labored in the monastery of Saint Lazarus of Murom, or Murmansk, in the mid-fifteenth century. Unfortunately, there is no information about his godly life. After his repose, the body of Saint Athanasius was placed in a special chapel, and here his chains are kept as evidence of…

Venerable Athanasia, Abbess of Aegina

Venerable Athanasia, Abbess of Aegina

Saint Athanasia was abbess of a monastery on the island of Aegina in the ninth century. She was born into a pious Christian family, and her parents were named Nicetas and Marina. Already at seven years of age the girl studied the Psalter, which she read constantly and with feeling. Once, while…

Saint Athanasius of Meteora

Saint Athanasius of Meteora

Saint Athanasios, the son of wealthy parents, was born in 1302 at Hypátē, the well-known medieval town of New Patras, and was named Andronikos in Holy Baptism. His mother died during childbirth, and after a short time his father also reposed. Thus, young Andronikos lost both of his parents in a…

Saint Athanasius the Great, Patriarch of Alexandria

Saint Athanasius the Great, Patriarch of Alexandria

Saint Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria, was a great Father of the Church and a pillar of Orthodoxy. He was born around the year 297 in the city of Alexandria into a family of pious Christians. He received a fine secular education, but he acquired more knowledge by diligent study of…

Saint Athanasius of Lubensk, Patriarch of Constantinople

Saint Athanasius of Lubensk, Patriarch of Constantinople

Saint Athanasius III Patelarios, Patriarch of Constantinople, Wonderworker of Lubensk, in the world Alexis, was born in 1560 on the island of Crete, into the pious Greek family Patelarios. Despite his education and position in society, Alexis was attracted by the life of Christian ascetics. After…

Martyrs Aristocles the Presbyter, Demetrian the Deacon, and Athanasius the Reader, of Cyprus

Martyrs Aristocles the Presbyter, Demetrian the Deacon, and Athanasius the Reader, of Cyprus

The Holy Martyrs Aristocles the Presbyter, Demetrian, and Athanasius suffered for the Christian Faith during the persecution under the emperor Maximian Galerius (305-311). The presbyter Aristocles, a native of the Cypriot city of Tamasa, served in the cathedral church during the time of the…

Saint Athanasius Parios

Saint Athanasius Parios, the distinguished theologian and great teacher of the Greek nation, was born in the village of Kostos on the island of Paros around 1721—1722. His father, Apostolos Toulios, was from Siphnos, and his mother was a native of Paros. The future saint was a leading member…

Uncovering of the relics of Venerable Athanasius, Abbot of Brest-Litovsk

Uncovering of the relics of Venerable Athanasius, Abbot of Brest-Litovsk

The Monastic Martyr Athanasius of Brest (Uncovering and Transfer of Relics 1649): The martyric death of the holy Passion-bearer Athanasius, igumen of Bretsk, occurred on September 5, 1648. For eight months the body of the sufferer for Orthodoxy lay in the ground without a church funeral. On May 1,…

Martyr Athanasius, Abbot of Bretsk

Martyr Athanasius, Abbot of Bretsk

The Hieromartyr Athansius of Bretsk was Belorussian and was born in about the year 1597 into a pious Christian family named Philippovich. He received a serious upbringing, and he knew the theological and historical literature, as is evidenced in the diary of the saint, which has been preserved. In…

Venerable Athanasius of Serpukhov

Venerable Athanasius of Serpukhov

Saint Athanasius of Serpukhov (in the world Andrew) was born at Obonezh Pyatina into the family of the priest Auxentius and his wife Maria. He was, from youth, inclined towards prayer and renunciation of the world, and he sought a worthy guide in monastic labors. At this time, news of Saint…

Saint Athanasius, Patriarch of Constantinople

Saint Athanasius I, Patriarch of Constantinople (1289-1293; 1303-1311), in the world Alexius, was from Adrianopolis. While still in his youth, thriving upon the knowledge of the wisdom of Christ, he left his home and went to Thessalonica, where he was tonsured in one of the monasteries with the…

Venerable Athanasius of Medikion Monastery

Saint Athanasius of Medikion Monastery (+ ca. 814) loved the monastic life and secretly left his parental home, but was forcibly returned by his father. After a certain time Athanasius entered the Medikion monastery in Bithynia with his father’s consent. He was a companion of Saint Nicetas…

Venerable Athanasius the Younger, Patriarch of Constantinople

Saint Athanasius I, Patriarch of Constantinople (1289-1293; 1303-1311), in the world Alexius, was from Adrianopolis. While still in his youth, thriving upon the knowledge of the wisdom of Christ, he left his home and went to Thessalonica, where he was tonsured in one of the monasteries with the…

Venerable Athanasius “the Resurrected One”, Recluse of the Kiev Near Caves

Saint Athanasius, hermit of the Near Caves of Kiev, was a contemporary of the archimandrite Saint Polycarp (July 24) of the Kiev Caves. Saint Athanasius was grievously ill for a long time. When he died, the brethren prepared him for burial, and on the third day the igumen came to bury him. However,…

Venerable Athanasius the Recluse of the Kiev Caves

Saint Athanasius, Recluse of the Far Caves of Kiev is mentioned in the Fourth Ode of the general Canon of the Monastic Fathers of the Far Caves. The “Sayings and Lives of the Saints Who Repose in the Cave of Saint Theodosius” says that Saint Athanasius had no need of candles in the…