Bishop
Saint Athanasius (Volkhovsky), Bishop of Mogilev and Polotsk, was born in the city of Poltava in the family of priest Pavel Volkhovsky. At baptism, he was named Feodor. He graduated from the Tver Theological Seminary and the Kiev Theological Academy. In 1765, he was ordained a priest, and in 1769, after the death of his wife, he accepted monasticism in the Chernihiv Ilyinsky Monastery, taking the name Athanasius.
From 1770, he performed various duties at the Chernihiv Cathedral and the Holy Trinity Monastery. In 1776, he became the abbot of the Novgorod Kirillov Monastery, and in 1781, he was appointed the vicar of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. In 1783, he was transferred to the Vyazig Monastery, where he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.
On November 13, 1785, he was appointed archimandrite of the Novgorod Yuriev Monastery. On May 6, 1788, he was confirmed to the Staraya Russa vicarial see. In this position, he served as an assistant to Metropolitan Gabriel. In 1795, after the death of Georgy Konisky, he became the Bishop of Mogilev and Polotsk.
He managed the Mogilev flock, converting Uniate churches to Orthodoxy. For this, Emperor Paul I awarded him the Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky. In 1797, due to a denunciation by deacon Kharkevich, he was removed from the see and assigned to rest in the Mgar Spaso-Transfiguration Monastery.
He passed away on January 1, 1801, in Poltava and was buried in the Poltava Cross Exaltation Monastery. His relics remained incorrupt. In 1882, the incorruption of his body was discovered. In 2010, he was glorified by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. On November 30, 2017, the name of the saint was included in the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church.
