Athanasius (;

secular name A legal name is the name that identifies a person for legal, administrative and other official purposes. A person's legal birth name generally is the name of the person that was given for the purpose of Civil registry, registration of the birth ...

: ''Andrey''; died 1570s) was Metropolitan of Moscow and all Rus', the

primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

of the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

, from March 1564 to May 1566. He was the eleventh metropolitan in Moscow to be appointed without the approval of the

Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople () is the List of ecumenical patriarchs of Constantinople, archbishop of Constantinople and (first among equals) among the heads of the several autocephalous churches that comprise the Eastern Orthodox ...

as had been the norm.

Biography

In the 1530s to 1540s, Athanasius served as a priest in

Pereslavl-Zalessky Pereslavl-Zalessky (, ), formerly known as Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, or simply Pereyaslavl, is a town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located on the main Moscow–Yaroslavl road and on the southeastern shore of Lake Pleshcheyevo at the mouth of the ...

. From 1549 to 1550, he was appointed the

archpriest The ecclesiastical title of archpriest or archpresbyter belongs to certain priests with supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches and may be somewhat analogo ...

of the Cathedral of the Annunciation in the

Moscow Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Kremlin Wall along with the K ...

and became

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (; – ), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible,; ; monastic name: Jonah. was Grand Prince of Moscow, Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1533 to 1547, and the first Tsar of all Russia, Tsar and Grand Prince of all R ...

's personal confessor. Athanasius accompanied the

tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

during his military campaign against

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

in 1552 and held a service during the laying of the foundation stone of the Annunciation Cathedral in that city. He was known as a writer and

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...

painter. Athanasius participated in the church sobors of 1553 and 1554 as a witness with regards to the restoration of

s and

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

s in the Kremlin cathedrals after the fire of 1547. From 1555 to 1556, Athanasius was engaged in restoring the icon of Nikolai Velikoretsky together with Metropolitan Macarius. In 1567, he participated in the restoration of the icon of

Our Lady of Vladimir The Virgin of Vladimir, also known as Vladimir Mother of God, Our Lady of Vladimir (), is a 12th-century Byzantine icon depicting the Virgin and Child and an early example of the ''Eleusa'' iconographic type. It is one of the most culturally s ...

. It is believed that Athanasius is the author of the icon called '' The Belligerent Church''. Also, he wrote the ''Life of Daniel of Pereyaslavl'' (; 1556–1562) and supposedly the '' Book of Royal Degrees'' (between 1560 and 1563). In 1562, Athanasius was admitted to the

Chudov Monastery The Chudov Monastery (; more formally known as Alexius’ Archangel Michael Monastery) was founded in the Moscow Kremlin in 1358 by Metropolitan Alexius of Moscow. The monastery was dedicated to the miracle (''chudo'' in Russian) of the Archange ...

. In 1564, he was elected Metropolitan of Moscow and all Russia, replacing the deceased Metropolitan Macarius. It was Metropolitan Athanasius to whom Ivan the Terrible would address his message on the introduction of the

oprichnina The oprichnina (, ; ) was a state policy implemented by Tsar Ivan the Terrible in Russia between 1565 and 1572. The policy included mass repression of the boyars (Russian aristocrats), including public executions and confiscation of their land ...

in 1565. Athanasius would often talk to the tsar and express his concern about the disgraced. Officially, Metropolitan Athanasius left his post due to a "grave sickness", but some Russian historians believe that it was his rejection of oprichnina that would cost him his post. Athanasius moved to the Chudov Monastery and lived there until his death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athanasius, Metropolitan Of Moscow 1570s deaths Metropolitans of Moscow and all Rus' Year of birth unknown 16th-century Russian clergy