Ηegumen / Abbot
Venerable Athanasius was a native of a pious family and studied at the Vilnius Brotherhood School. In 1620, he became the governor of Jan Faustyn Luby, who was taken from Russia to Poland. In 1627, he was tonsured as a monk, and in 1632, he was ordained as a hieromonk. In 1636, he became the igumen of the Brest monastery and actively defended the rights of the Orthodox, proclaiming that the union with Rome was cursed "forever." At the Sejm in Warsaw in 1641, he secured the confirmation of the rights of the brotherhood but faced opposition. In 1643, he returned to Warsaw, where he presented a complaint about the oppression of the Orthodox. He was arrested but was acquitted and restored to the rank of igumen.
After hearing a voice from the Kupiatic Icon, he again asked the king for the destruction of the union. In 1648, he was arrested and, after refusing to renounce the Orthodox faith, was subjected to a cruel execution. In May 1649, the monks found his remains, which were buried in the temple in honor of St. Simeon the Stylite.
The veneration of the saint began immediately after his martyrdom. On January 5, 1658, it was recorded that his incorrupt relics rested in Brest. On July 20, 1666, the relics of the saint were opened, and by the order of Peter I, his head was transferred to Saint Petersburg.
