Commemorated on June 13
Saint
Anthimus of Iberia was one of the most highly educated people of his
time. He was fluent in many languages, including Greek, Romanian, Old
Slavonic, Arabic, and Turkish and well-versed in theology, literature,
and the natural sciences. He was unusually gifted in the fine arts—in
painting, engraving, and sculpture in particular. He was famed for his
beautiful calligraphy. Finally, St. Anthimus was a great writer, a
renowned orator, and a reformer of the written Romanian language.
Little
is known about the youth of St. Anthimus. He was a native of the
Samtskhe region in southern Georgia. His parents, John and Mariam, gave
him the name Andria at Baptism. He accompanied King Archil to Russia and
helped him to found a Georgian print shop there, but after he returned
he was captured by Dagestani robbers and sold into slavery. Through the
efforts of Patriarch Dositheus of Jerusalem, Anthimus was finally set
free, but he remained in the patriarch’s service in order to further his
spiritual education.
Already famed for his paintings, engravings,
and calligraphy, Anthimus was asked by Prince Constantine Brincoveanu
(1688-1714) of Wallachia (present-day Romania) to travel to his kingdom
around the year 1691. After he had arrived inWallachia, he began to
manage a local print shop. The printing industry in that country
advanced tremendously at that time, and the chief inspiration and
driving force behind the great advances was the Georgian master
Anthimus. He succeeded in making Wallachia a center of Christianity and a
major publisher of books for all the East.
In 1694 Anthimus was
enthroned as abbot of Snagov Monastery (in present-day Romania), where
he soon founded a print shop. In the same year his new print shop
published
Guidelines for the Divine Services on May 21, All
Saints’ Day. The book was signed by Subdeacon Michael Ishtvanovich,
future founder of the first Georgian print shop.
In 1705 Anthimus,
“the chosen among chosen abbots of Wallachia,” was consecrated bishop
of Rimnicu Vilcea, and in 1708 he was appointed metropolitan of
Hungro-Wallachia. The whole country celebrated his elevation. As one
abbot proclaimed: “The divine Anthimus, a great man and son of the wise
Iberian nation, has come to Wallachia and enlightened our land. God has
granted him an inexhaustible source of wisdom, entrusted him to
accomplish great endeavors, and helped to advance our nation by
establishing for us a great printing industry.”
Under the direct
leadership of St. Anthimus, more than twenty churches and monasteries
were erected in Wallachia. Of particular significance is All Saints’
Monastery, located in the center of Bucharest. The main gates of this
monastery were made of oak and carved with traditional Georgian motifs
by St. Anthimus himself. The metropolitan also established rules for the
monastery and declared its independence from the Church of
Constantinople.
From the day of his consecration, Metropolitan
Anthimus fought tirelessly for the liberation of Wallachia from foreign
oppressors. On the day he was ordained he addressed his flock: “You have
defended the Christian Faith in purity and without fault. Nevertheless,
you are surrounded and tightly bound by the violence of other nations.
You endure countless deprivations and tribulations from those who
dominate this world.... Though I am unworthy and am indeed younger than
many of you—like David, I am the youngest among my brothers— the Lord
God has anointed me to be your shepherd. Thus I will share in your
future trials and griefs and partake in the lot that God has appointed
for you.”
His words were prophetic: In 1714 the Turks executed the
Wallachian prince Constantine Brincoveanu, and in 1716 they executed
Stefan Cantacuzino (1714-1716), the last prince of Wallachia.
In
his place they appointed the Phanariote (a member of one of the
principal Greek families of the Phanar, the Greek quarter of
Constantinople, who, as administrators in the civil bureaucracy,
exercised great influence in the Ottoman Empire after the Turkish
conquest.) Nicholas Mavrokordatos, who concerned himself only with the
interests of the Ottoman Empire.
During this difficult time,
Anthimus of Iberia gathered around him a group of loyal boyar patriots
determined to liberate their country from Turkish and Phanariote
domination. But Nicholas Mavrokordatos became suspicious, and he ordered
Anthimus to resign as metropolitan. When Anthimus failed to do so, he
filed a complaint with Patriarch Jeremiah of Constantinople.
Then
a council of bishops, which did not include a single Romanian
clergyman, condemned the “conspirator and instigator of revolutionary
activity” to anathema and excommunication and declared him unworthy to
be called a monk. But Nicholas Mavrokordatos was still unsatisfied and
claimed that to deny Anthimus the title of Metropolitan of
Hungro-Wallachia was insufficient punishment. He ordered Anthimus to be
exiled far from Wallachia, to St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mt. Sinai.
Metropolitan Anthimus, beloved of the Romanian people, was escorted out
of the city at night since the conspirators feared the reaction of the
people.
But Metropolitan Anthimus never reached Mt. Sinai. On
September 14, 1716, a band of Turkish soldiers stabbed St. Anthimus to
death on the bank of the Tundzha (Tunca) River where it flows through
Adrianople, not far from Gallipoli, and cast his butchered remains into
the river.
Thus ended the earthly life of one more Georgian
saint—a man who had dedicated all of his strength, talent, and knowledge
to the revival of Christian culture and the strengthening of the
Wallachian people in the Orthodox Faith.
In 1992 the Romanian
Church canonized Anthimus of Iberia and proclaimed his commemoration day
to be September 14, the day of his repose. The Georgian Church
commemorates him on June 13.
SOURCE:
SAINT OR FEAST POSTED THIS DATE 2014(with 2013's link here also and further:, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, and even 2008!):
Commemorated on June 30
