Icone russe représentant Athanase l'Athonite (Sv. Afanasy Afonsky)
Saint Athanase l'Athonite
Fondateur de la Lavra au
mont Athos (+ v. 1004)
Abramios naît à
Trébizonde, sur les bords de la Mer Noire, dans une famille de la haute
aristocratie byzantine. Pour parfaire ses études, il se rend à Constantinople
où il obtient un poste de professeur. Vient à passer par la capitale,
saint Michel
Maleïnos, higoumène d'un monastère de Bithynie. La rencontre du saint
moine détermine la vocation du professeur Abramios qui repart en Bithynie avec
Michel. Il reçoit le nom monastique d'Athanase et se lie d'amitié avec le neveu
de Michel, Nicéphore Phocas, futur empereur byzantin. Au bout de quelques
années, Athanase disparaît. On le retrouve, ermite incognito, sur le Mont
Athos, cherchant la vie parfaite dans des cabanes de branchages. Athanase
voulait rester seul avec le Seul. Mais le Seul et l'empereur byzantin en
avaient décidé autrement. Le soutien impérial lui donne les moyens nécessaires
pour fonder le grand monastère de Lavra sur la Sainte Montagne, puis d'autres
monastères, malgré l'opposition des ermites pour qui la vie commune est une
forme abâtardie du monachisme. Dans ces fondations de monastères, l'ami de
l'empereur met la main à la pâte et se fait maçon, menuisier, charpentier. Il
mourra écrasé par la coupole d'une église à laquelle il travaillait.
Au Mont Athos, vers 1004,
saint Athanase, supérieur humble et pacifique, qui établit dans la Grande Laure
la vie cénobitique, avec des cellules au voisinage de l’église.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1444/Saint-Athanase-l-Athonite.html
Saint Athanase de l’Athos
Abramios naît à
Trébizonde, sur les bords de la Mer Noire, dans une famille de la haute
aristocratie byzantine. Pour parfaire ses études, il se rend à Constantinople
où il obtient un poste de professeur. Vient à passer par la capitale, saint
Michel Maleïnos, higoumène d'un monastère de Bithynie. La rencontre du saint
moine détermine la vocation du professeur Abramios qui repart en Bithynie avec
Michel. Il reçoit le nom monastique d'Athanase et se lie d'amitié avec le
neveu de Michel, Nicéphore Phocas, futur empereur byzantin. Au bout de quelques
années, Athanase disparaît. On le retrouve, ermite incognito, sur le Mont
Athos, cherchant la vie parfaite dans des cabanes de branchages. Athanase voulait
rester seul avec le Seul. Mais le Seul et l'empereur byzantin en avaient décidé
autrement. Le soutien impérial lui donne les moyens nécessaires pour fonder le
grand monastère de Lavra sur la Sainte Montagne, puis d'autres monastères,
malgré l'opposition des ermites pour qui la vie commune est une forme abâtardie
du monachisme. Dans ces fondations de monastères, l'ami de l'empereur met la
main à la pâte et se fait maçon, menuisier, charpentier. Il mourra écrasé par
la coupole d'une église à laquelle il travaillait.
Autre biographie:
En 1001 meurt dans son monastère, écrasé par la coupole de l’église, Athanase de l’Athos, moine et fondateur de la vie cénobitique sur le Mont Athos.
Né à Trébizonde, dans la Turquie actuelle, le jeune Abraham, très tôt orphelin, se rend à Constantinople pour y parfaire ses études, jusqu’à devenir professeur à la Cour de l’empereur. La rencontre avec l’higoumène d’un monastère de Bithynie l’amena à discerner sa vocation monastique. Abraham reçut alors le nom monastique d’Athanase et s’établit sur le Mont Athos.
Vers 961, il entreprit la construction de la Grande Laure, où il rassembla les moines qui l’avaient rejoint ; il leur donna une règle de vie commune inspirée de celle de Théodore Stoudite. Sur la sainte Montagne, domaine jusqu’alors de la vie érémitique et de l’hésychasme, le cénobitisme était ainsi introduit, provoquant une conversion collective à l’idéal communautaire et la naissance d’autres monastères.
Athanase était doué d’une grande compassion à l’égard des petits et des souffrants ; les hagiographes soulignent qu’il ne renonçait jamais à prendre son tour quand il s’agissait de servir les infirmes, malgré les grands engagements qu’exigeait son rôle d’higoumène de la Laure. De même, on rappelle la patience avec laquelle il se dévouait aux très nombreux fils spirituels qui dépendaient de lui.
Athanase est avec Pierre de l’Athos la figure la plus importante liée à la
naissance et au développement de la vie monastique dans la presqu’île de
l’Athos ; pour cette raison, il est l’un des saints les plus aimés par les
moines orthodoxes.
Lecture
Athanase trouvait bon de se retirer, chaque jour, après la dernière lecture du
soir, dans une chapelle latérale de l’église dédiée aux Quarante martyrs, pour
que les frères puissent lui rapporter leurs tentations, celles qu’ils avaient
subies pendant la veille, comme celles qui leur arrivaient pendant le sommeil.
L’homme de Dieu les renforçait dans leur foi, les comblant de confiance et de
patience, et traitant chacun avec le remède adapté aux problèmes qu’il lui
avait confiés, comme si chacun lui avait montré, dans l’ouverture du cœur, son
mal-être spirituel. Il les renvoyait tout joyeux, ragaillardis et encouragés
dans leur lutte contre les démons. C’était pour Athanase un devoir auquel il
n’aurait pu déroger, que de se retirer tous les jours dans la chapelle des
Quarante martyrs pour consoler et encourager ses frères dans leur combat
spirituel.
(Vie de saint Athanase de l’Athos 26)
Prière
Les armées célestes se sont émerveillées de ta vie dans la chair : tu es allé,
dans ton corps voué à la mort, au-devant de luttes invisibles, père digne de
tout éloge, et tu as couvert de confusion la phalange des démons. C’est
pourquoi, ô Athanase, Christ t’a récompensé de ses dons précieux.
Ô père, intercède pour
nous auprès du Christ notre Dieu pour qu’il sauve nos âmes.
SOURCE : http://jubilatedeo.centerblog.net/6573367-Les-saints-du-jour-05-Juillet
ATHANASE L'ATHONITE (entre
925 et 930-1002)
Abraamios, le futur
Athanase, naît à Trébizonde, où, orphelin, il grandit, épris de vie intérieure,
dans la meilleure société. Après 945, il fait à Constantinople une brillante
carrière universitaire, mais rompt avec le siècle après avoir rencontré un
grand spirituel, Michel Maléïnos, higoumène du mont Kymina, où Abraamios
devient moine sous le nom d'Athanase (vers 952). Hésychaste accompli, il craint
pour sa solitude devant l'afflux des moines et, vers 958, fuit à l'Athos où ne
vivent alors que des ermites. Il entretient une amitié difficile avec le grand
chef de guerre Nicéphore Phocas qui est un disciple laïc de Maléïnos et qui, ne
pouvant arracher durablement Athanase à l'Athos, lui demande d'y construire une
« laure » où lui-même compte se retirer. La Grande Laure (Lavra)
s'élève ainsi de 961 à 963, destinée, semble-t-il, à favoriser une vie
semi-érémitique. Mais, après l'accession à l'empire et l'assassinat de
Nicéphore, Athanase, bouleversé, se rallie définitivement au cénobitisme :
Lavra devient la première communauté de l'Athos, à laquelle d'autres s'ajoutent
du vivant même d'Athanase, constituant la forte structure du monachisme athonite.
Athanase meurt accidentellement en 1002, dans un effondrement, alors qu'il
visite les travaux du catholicon.
Les règles (hypotypose et typicon),
écrites par Athanase pour sa communauté, reprennent et accentuent dans le sens
de l'ordre et de la régularité les dispositions du Stoudios. La journée du
moine est partagée entre l'office, la lecture et le travail manuel ;
l'idéal proposé est de fraternité évangélique, dans la soumission mutuelle (hypotagé).
Toutefois, par rapport à la règle stoudite, l'insistance se déplace de l'hypotagé à
l'obéissance au supérieur (hypakoé), où l'on trouve peut-être une réminiscence
de la règle bénédictine. Athanase, d'autre part, a prévu que quelques moines
pourraient vivre en hésychastes. Ainsi se fera, non sans tension, la synthèse
athonite de l'érémitisme et du cénobitisme, avec un large éventail de
vocations.
Olivier CLÉMENT,
« ATHANASE L'ATHONITE (entre 925 et 930-1002) », Encyclopædia
Universalis [en ligne], consulté le 5 juillet 2015. URL : http://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/athanase-l-athonite/
SOURCE : http://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/athanase-l-athonite/
Also
known as
Atanasio
Abraham
Profile
Studied at Constantinople. Monk at
Saint Michael’s monastery,
Kymina, Bithynia, taking the name Athanasius. Fearing that the was going
to be chosen abbot,
Athanasius fled to Karyes, changed his name, claimed to be illiterate, and hid
in his cell. Hermit in
a cave at Mount Athos, Greece in 958.
Athananius helped his old
friend from Constantinople,
Nicephorus Phocas, prepare an expedition against the Saracens in 961,
serving as almoner to
the fleet. Phocas gave Athanasius part of the money raised, and the hermit used
it to found a monastery on
Athos in 963.
This was to be an idiorhythmic house where anchorites, hermits,
and monks could
live in community, but without the requirements for group activity common to
other monasteries.
At the same time
the monastery was
being dedicated, his old friend Phocas became emperor. Fearing he would be
called to serve at the imperial court,
Athanasius fled to Cyprus.
Phocas found him, assured the monk that
he would be allowed to continue his religious life in peace, and helped finish
work on the monastery.
Though he faced opposition in the founding of this house, which ended only by
imperial decree, the monastery flourished.
Athanasius insisted on Bible study,
founded a school and
large library,
and he personally planted hundreds of trees on the grounds. Eventually there
were 58 communities on the mountain, and thousands of holy men still live there
today.
Born
c.920 at
Trebizond as Abraham
c.1003 when
the arch of a church under construction fell on him and five of his monks
Additional
Information
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
images
video
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
MLA
Citation
“Saint Athanasius the
Athonite“. CatholicSaints.Info. 16 March 2023. Web. 21 February 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-athanasius-the-athonite/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-athanasius-the-athonite/
Athanasius the Athonite,
Abbot (AC)
Born at Trebizond c. 920;
died c. 1003. Son of an Antiochene and baptized Abraham, Athanasius studied at
Constantinople. He was successful in his studies and a safe career in the civil
service was his for the asking. But instead he became a monk at Saint Michael's
monastery at Kymina, Bithynia. This was a laura, i.e., a group of monasteries
where the monks lived individual lives around their church.
To avoid being named
abbot of Saint Michael's when the abbot, Saint Michael Maleinos, died,
Athanasius hid in a cell at Karyes, changed his name, and pretended to be
illiterate. He migrated to Mount Athos in Greece. Mount Athos, one of the three
peaks on the Chalcedonian Peninsula which juts out into the Aegean Sea, is one
of the most exquisitely lovely places in the world. It is a land of red and
ocher and gold, of cypresses and begonias and bougainvilleas, of fantastic
roofs and brilliant sunlight, of sparkling sea and arid mountain.
Saint Athanasius was not
the first holy man to live on Mount Athos, for since the 9th century
anchorites, such as Peter the Athonite and Euthymius the Thessalonian, had
lived in caves among the rocks.
When he reached Mount
Athos in 958, an old friend from Constantinople, Nicephorus Phocas, asked his
help in preparing an expedition against the Saracens in 961. Phocas insisted on
appointing him almoner of his fleet.
On its successful
completion, Athanasius returned to Mount Athos and with money given him by a
grateful Phocas began the first monastery on Athos in 961. Athanasius wanted to
found a new kind of monastery, the so-called idiorhythmic monastery, where each
inmate could follow his own rhythm and tempo. His hope was that anchorites,
hermits, wandering monks, and cenobites could all live together in his laura.
When Nicephorus Phocas
became emperor in 963, the year the monastery was dedicated, Athanasius fled to
Cyprus to avoid being called to court, but the emperor found him, reassured
him, and gave him money to continue his work on Athos.
Athanasius encountered
great opposition from hermits living on the mountain long before he had arrived
there as he attempted to install the laura system there. He escaped two murder
attempts, and resistance ended only when Emperor John Tzimisces forbade any
opposition to Athanasius.
In time he became
superior over 58 communities of monks and hermits on the mount. Thousands of
monks still live and pray there today in 20 monasteries; it is now and has been
for centuries the center of Eastern Orthodox monasticism and not in communion
with Rome since shortly after the saint's death. The monastery that Athanasius
founded is still the largest.
Though celibate--indeed
every woman, every female animal and every smooth-faced creature is
banned--they are not held to fasting or abstinence. They are obliged to obey an
abbot, but they do not have to attend services except on major feast days. They
provide their own food and are not bound to poverty, and in fact many of them
keep their personal wealth.
It might perhaps sound as
if they are indulgent to themselves and giving themselves too much personal
freedom. But, in fact, the system confers heightened value on their virtuous
acts, because they are done freely, and not out of constraint of obedience.
The idiorhythmic rule
that Athanasius established was far in advance of his times--a radical
departure from the customs of other monasteries. He made his monastery as
little like a barracks as possible. He did, however, force his monks to read
and study the Bible and one of his first concerns was to open a school next to
the monastery.
Throughout his life he
despised worldly honors as greatly as he despised ignorance. He had a
particular contempt for gluttony, even going so far as to excommunicate those
monks he found guilty of it. Since his day his monks have lived an independent
existence, taking gifts from no one and providing their own simple needs
themselves.
His memory is preserved
not only in the rule that he established and the buildings that he erected but
also in the hundreds of trees that he planted in the courtyards and on the
terraces, in the imposing library he founded, and in the reliquaries of
Nicephorus Phocas, whom he had served.
A Catholic one was being
added to the monastery, a church in the form of a Greek cross where the
"nikterinos" or night office was to be recited. Athanasius, who was
supervising the work, and five of his monks were killed when the arch of a
church on which they were working collapsed (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney,
Encyclopedia).
An anonymous Russian icon
of Athanasius with Saints Barlaam and Joasaph is available on the web.
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0705.shtml
St Athanasius
Celebrated on July
5th
Abbot and founder.
Athanasius was born in Trebizond, Turkey, around 920 and studied at
Constantinople.
He became a monk, at St
Michael's Monastery in Kymina in the Bithynian Olympus and then migrated to
Mount Athos in Greece, where he founded the 'great laura' or monastery there in
961, with the help of his friend Nicephoras Phocas, who later became emperor.
This was the start of the great monastic republic of Mount Athos, that thrives
to this day. Athanasius and six other monks died in 1003, when a church roof
collapsed.
By the time of his death there were 60 communities on the mountain. Throughout
his life St Athanasius was offered many honours but refused them all. He was a
great teacher of the early Eastern church.
SOURCE : https://www.indcatholicnews.com/saint/193
Sant' Atanasio l'Atonita
920 - 1003
Nacque attorno al 920 a
Trebisonda da una famiglia originaria di Antiochia e gli fu imposto il nome di
Abraamios. Studente a Costantinopoli, vi strinse un'amicizia con l'egumeno del
monastero di Kyminas, Michele Maleinos, e con Niceforo Focas, nipote di
Maleinos, divenuto in seguito imperatore. Dopo aver esercitato per qualche
tempo la professione di insegnante, Abraamios lasciò la cattedra per ritirarsi
a Kyminas a vivere da eremita: celebrò questo cambiamento mutando il nome di
battesimo in Atanasio. Si stabilì poi sul Monte Athos, dove visse assumendo il
nome di Barnaba. Raggiunto dalI'amico Niceforo, venne convinto a partecipare
alla spedizione contro i Saraceni nell'isola di Creta (960). Venne compensato
con i fondi che usò per costruire un monastero dedicato alla Santa Vergine sul
Monte Athos: fu il primo cenobio del noto sito monastico. La guida di Atanasio
e la sua riforma non sempre furono accettate ma trovarono assenso da parte di
Costantinopoli, venne così considerato il fondatore del cenobitismo
atonita. Morì nel 1003, travolto da una trave di una chiesa in
costruzione. (Avvenire)
Etimologia: Atanasio =
immortale, dal greco
Martirologio Romano: Sul
monte Athos, sant’Atanasio, egúmeno, che, uomo umile e mite, istituì nella
Grande Laura una regola di vita cenobitica.
Nacque circa il 920 a Trebisonda da una famiglia originaria di Antiochia e gli fu imposto il nome di Abraamios. Compì gli studi prima nella città natale e poi a Costantinopoli, dove strinse una viva amicizia con l'egumeno del monastero di Kyminas, Michele Maleinos, e con Niceforo Focas, nipote del Maleinos, divenuto in seguito imperatore. Dopo aver esercitato per qualche tempo la professione di insegnante, Abraamios lasciò la cattedra per ritirarsi a Kyminas, nella Bitinia, a vivere da eremita sotto la direzione di Maleinos: celebrò questo cambiamento mutando il nome di battesimo in Atanasio. Il desiderio di isolamento e la volontà di impedire la sua elezione ad egumeno del monastero alla morte di Michele lo portarono ad abbandonare Kyminas. La sua nuova sede fu il Monte Athos, dove visse assumendo il nome di Barnaba. Dopo qualche anno di isolamento venne scoperto dalI'amico Niceforo, che lo pregò di seguirlo nella spedizione contro i Saraceni nell'isola di Creta (960). Atanasio assecondò il desiderio dell'amico e, in ricordo dell'ottenuta vittoria, accettò i fondi necessari per costruire un monastero dedicato alla Santa Vergine sul Monte Athos. In questa laura, tuttora esistente, che fu la prima del Monte Athos, si seguiva una regola di vita cenobitica, sotto il comando di un solo capo.
Nonostante la consuetudine alla vita solitaria, Atanasio divenne illuminato legislatore e direttore di monaci e di monasteri. Nel 963 abbandonò, però, il monastero per sfuggire agli onori derivanti dalI'amicizia di Niceforo, eletto ormai imperatore. Tuttavia, le reiterate preghiere dei monaci lo costrinsero a tornare. In questo periodo Atanasio si preoccupò di attrezzare un porto sul mare per facilitare le comunicazioni fra i vari monasteri. La sua opera di riforma religiosa e la sua stessa presenza non furono però gradite agli eremiti del sacro monte, che congiurarono spesso contro di lui fino a metterlo due volte in pericolo di vita. Innumerevoli proteste giunsero a Giovanni Zimisce (969-978), successore di Focas, ma il visitatore Eutimio, mandato in ispezione, approvò la riforma di Atanasio e l'imperatore confermò con una crisobolla la donazione di Focas. Da quel momento si moltiplicarono i cenobi atoniti e fu compilato un regolamento che fissava le relazioni dei monasteri tra loro, e stabiliva che il capo supremo o Proto risiedesse nel centro della penisola, a Karyès. La fama di Atanasio aumentò con i prodigi che gli vennero attribuiti; numerose sono, infatti, le guarigioni miracolose tramandate dal suo biografo.
L'impulso dato alla fondazione di nuovi monasteri fu così valido da meritare ad Atanasio I'appeliativo di fondatore del cenobitismo atonita. La sua morte (circa 1003) avvenne tragicamente: Atanasio fu travolto da una trave assieme a cinque monaci durante la costruzione della capriata di una chiesa.
Secondo fonti accreditate, restano di Atanasio canoni in onore dei ss. Teodoro e Giovannizio, il typicon già ricordato e un testamento. La tradizione locale mostra i luoghi santificati dalla sua presenza: la grotta ove amava ritirarsi per pregare, la fonte miracolosa scaturita dopo le sue preghiere, il luogo dove definitivamente sconfisse il demonio e la tomba oggetto di grande venerazione. La Chiesa greca ne celebra la festa il 5 luglio e ne ricorda il nome la domenica di Sessagesima, insieme con quelli che figurano ne1 Canone di Teodoro Studita.
Autore: Gian Domenico Gordini
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/60800
Voir aussi : http://orthodoxievco.net/ecrits/vies/moines/athanase.pdf
