Our Father among the Saints Athanasius the New, Metropolitan of Christianopolis and Exarch of Arcadia, the Wonderworker
Life
Saint Athanasius the New, Wonderworker and Archbishop of Christianopolis, was a hierarch of the Peloponnese under Ottoman rule. According to the Greek tradition recorded by later sources, he was born around 1640 in Karytaina, in the region of Gortynia, with the secular name Anastasios Korfinos; his parents were Andreas and Euphrosyne, and he had three siblings.
He served as Metropolitan of Christianopolis and Exarch of Arcadia from about 1680–1681 until his repose in 1707 or 1708, devoting his episcopate to the relief and education of an impoverished and persecuted Orthodox population. He is commemorated on May 17 and venerated as a wonderworker, his relics having been found incorrupt after his death.
Timeline 4 moments
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c. 1640Birth in KarytainaBy tradition he was born around 1640 in Karytaina, in the region of Gortynia in the southern Peloponnese, and given the name Anastasios Korfinos. He received his first schooling in his hometown, is thought to have studied at the school of the renowned Philosophou Monastery, and later continued his education in Constantinople.
before tonsureCall to monastic lifeAlthough his father wished him to marry and arranged a betrothal to the daughter of a wealthy man in Patras, Anastasios desired the monastic life. The tradition relates that, while traveling to Nafplion to buy items for the wedding, he experienced a vision of the Mother of God and Saint John the Baptist calling him to monastic service; he sent his servants back with the wedding garments and went on to Constantinople, where he was tonsured a monk with the name Athanasios and ordained deacon and then priest.
1680–1681Consecration as MetropolitanHe was ordained Metropolitan of Christianopolis and Exarch of Arcadia, in succession to Metropolitan Eugenios, by late 1680 or early 1681 — a date attested by his signature on synodal documents in April 1681. Though nominally titled for Christianopolis (the modern village of Christianoi), the see was centered for safety in the city of Kyparissia.
1707/1708ReposeAfter a brief illness he reposed in 1707 or 1708. His relics were exhumed a few years later, between 1710 and 1713, and were found incorrupt and fragrant.
Contributions & Legacy
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Episcopal Ministry
Athanasius shepherded his flock in the Ottoman-ruled Peloponnese amid severe economic, religious, and moral hardship. The sources credit him with a program of reform aimed at the spiritual and material relief of his people: he founded schools to train candidates for the priesthood, waived the maintenance fees customarily owed to the bishop, and undertook the repair of churches within the constraints of Ottoman licensing.
He is also remembered for supporting monasteries and for his charitable care of orphans, widows, the needy, the elderly, and the persecuted.
Veneration
By tradition, the faithful are said to have beheld a glittering star before his mouth as he proclaimed the prayers of the Divine Liturgy. The discovery of his relics incorrupt and fragrant after his death is recorded as a sign of his sanctity, and he came to be venerated as a wonderworker.
He is commemorated on May 17 as Saint Athanasius the New of Christianopolis. The Orthodox Church in America records a Troparion and Kontakion for the saint.
