“A great gift from the Good God, like Saint Sofian, we can say was granted to us this time from another Orthodox country, even from another nation, being Georgian,” said Bishop Siluan of Hungary on Saturday about Saint Anthimos the Iberian.
His Grace celebrated the Divine Liturgy at Antim Monastery on the feast of Saint Anthimos, the founder of the monastic establishment in the centre of Bucharest.
Bishop Siluan highlighted the cultural and linguistic training of Saint Anthimos, who arrived in Wallachia, having been brought by another Romanian Saint, Prince-martyr Constantine Brâncoveanu.
“He saw the many gifts that the Good God had placed in Saint Anthimos the Iberian and brought him here, to Bucharest, to labour in many places, especially in the printing of books. Church books, books in Romanian—most of them were his own effort, but others, of course, also with his disciples and fellow labourers whom he gathered around him—most of them for the Romanian people, for the Church.”
Saint Anthimos understood the importance and necessity of ensuring that Orthodox teachings reached as many faithful and clergy as possible.
A polyglot saint
Bishop Siluan emphasised that Saint Anthimos was a polyglot and learned Romanian so well that he is considered one of its greatest preachers.
“His Didache sermons remain as testimony across the ages, as well as being one of the greatest men of culture our Church has given, even if of another nation. He was, not least, a creator of the ecclesiastical Romanian language and beyond. He acquired Romanian with such effort, love, and accuracy that to him is linked the introduction of Romanian into worship.”
More than three centuries after his martyrdom, the teachings and writings of Saint Anthimos the Iberian remain timely and useful for the Church.
“Yet, after so much time, more than 300 years, both his foundation—this monastery and many others built during his archpastorate—and his word, his prayer, his teachings remain to this day as the rich fruit of his labour.”
Saint Anthimos the Iberian
The Holy Hieromartyr Anthimos the Iberian was born in Iberia (today’s Georgia) around 1650. Around 1690, he came to Wallachia, where he was entrusted with printing church books.
Later, he established a printing school at Snagov Monastery. His most valuable work is the Didache sermons—28 homilies delivered during his archpastorate.
In 1708, he was enthroned as the Metropolitan of Wallachia, continuing his printing activity. Between 1713 and 1715, he founded Antim Monastery. In 1716, with the installation of the Phanariot regime, he was arrested and sentenced to imprisonment at Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai. On the way, however, he was killed and his body thrown into the waters of the Tungia River near Adrianople.
In 2016, marking 300 years since the martyrdom of Saint Anthimos the Iberian, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church declared it the Commemorative Year of Saint Anthimos the Iberian and of Church Printers. On this occasion, His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Antioch consecrated the altar of the central church at Antim Monastery after its restoration works.
More photos from the feast are available in the photo gallery section.
Photo: Basilica.ro / Raluca Ene
