The Holy MonkMartyr Athanasii
Commemorated on July 20
The Holy
MonkMartyr Athanasii (Afanasii) of Bretsk (Uncovering and Transfer of
Relics 1649): The martyr's death of the holy Passion-bearer Athanasii,
Hegumen of Bretsk, transpired on 5 September 1648 (the account about his life
and deeds are located under this day). For the space of eight months the body
of the sufferer for Orthodoxy lay in the ground without church funeral. On 1
May 1649 a boy pointed out to the brethren of the Simeonovsk monastery the
place of burial of the hegumen. The ground in which the martyr was buried
belonged at the time to the Jesuits, and therefore they had to go to work
secretly. At night the monks dug up the undecayed body of the hegumen and
immediately took it off to another place, and in the morning – to their
monastery, where after several days, on 8 May, they buried him with honour at
the right-side kleros (choir) in the main church of the monastery dedicated in
honour of the Monk Simeon the Stylite.
The earthly life of
the MonkMartyr Athanasii had come to an end, but the remembrance of him
remained always alive and sacred among the Orthodox inhabitants of the west
Russian frontier. The profound veneration of believers here for his holy name,
and the undecayed relics of the monk-martyr – placed in a copper reliquary,
were glorified by grace-abundant gifts of wonderworking and attracted a vast
number of believers.
On 8 November 1815 at
the time of a fire occurring at the Bretsk Simeonovsk monastery, the wooden
monastery church burned, and the copper reliquary, in which the relics of the
monk-martyr were kept, melted in the flames of the conflagration. The day following
the fire an unharmed portion of the relics were found by the priest Samuel of
Lisovsk and placed by the pious inhabitants of the city of Bretsk beneathe the
altar of the monastery refectory church. In the year 1823, with the blessing of
the archbishop of Minsk Anatolii, the holy relics were placed in a wooden
vessel by the head of the monastery and put in church for veneration.
It pleased God to
bestow miraculous power and by this preserved a portion of the relics of the
MonkMartyr Athanasii.
In finely drawn
traces there rises up before us this priestly image of the great champion of
Orthodoxy, unsparing for faith and neighbour. Deeply religious, inexorably
devoted to the faith of the holy fathers, he became bold of spirit and expressed
by word and by deed his priestly indignation against the oppression of Orthodox
Christians by the haughty Latino-Uniates. With fervent faith in his calling by
God he entered into the struggle for his oppressed brethren. "I am not a
prophet, but only a servant of God my Creator, sent in accord with the times,
in order to speak to everyone the truth... He for this hath sent me, so that I
might proclaim beforetime the destruction of the accursed Unia". Suchlike
were the words of the fervent, unyielding and inspired struggler for Orthodoxy,
deeply believing in the victorious power of the true faith-confession.
The complete
affirmation of Orthodoxy and the final and total undoing of the Unia – Saint
Athanasii saw in this his single goal, the realisation for which he gave up his
holy life. Besides this end, there was naught other than as he already lived in
his personal life. Having submitted to the will of God, he had no thought for
dangers, nor considered the obstacles, to fulfill his holy duty. His daring,
spiritually-inspired speech and writings of petition, his published grievances
against the gatherings and voluntary folly in Christ – the MonkMartyr
Athanasii tried all these expedients for the attainment and triumph of his
sacred goal – the affirmation of Orthodoxy in the ancient Russian land. One
time, having repudiated the Unia, he was inspired with a deep sense of pity and
love towards those who had become the victims of Uniate complicity. The
righteousness and sincerity of Saint Athanasii in relation to those nearby
defined the course of all his deeds. By his existence in the solitary life,
surrounded by open and hidden enemies, the holy ascetic remained a steadfast
defender and pillar of Orthodoxy, strengthened only by the light of faith in
its solemnity and veracity. A martyr's death did not frighten him, wherefore he
preached the fulfillment of his prophetic prediction: "The Unia will die
out, but Orthodoxy will flourish".
© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.