Athanasius of Brest

Hieromartyr Athanasius, abbot of Brest, martyred for Orthodoxy in 1648.

St. Athanasius was a learned monk and abbot of the monastery of St. Simeon at Brest in the seventeenth century, when the Orthodox of Lithuania and Poland were under pressure to accept the Union with Rome. He defended the Orthodox faith fearlessly before the Polish authorities and endured repeated imprisonment.

In 1648 he was seized, tortured, and shot, and his body was cast into a pit; his relics were later recovered incorrupt. He is commemorated on September 5.

Feast day

On the New Calendar, Athanasius of Brest is commemorated on September 5. Churches on the Old (Julian) Calendar keep the feast on September 18 of the civil calendar.

Also commemorated on September 5

• 

  Zacharias the Prophet

  Prophet, Ζαχαρίας

  Prophet Zacharias and Elizabeth, parents of John the Baptist.

  Name days: Zacharias, Zach, Zachary, Zacharoula

• Elizabeth the Righteous, Mother of the Forerunner

  Holy Woman, Ελισάβετ

  Righteous Elizabeth, wife of the Prophet Zacharias and mother of St. John the Baptist.

  Name days: Elisavet, Elisabet, Elisabeth, Elizabeth, Eliza, Elisa, Liza, Lisa, Elsa, Beth, Betty, Elsie, Elissavet

• Abdaios of Persia

  Hierarch, Αβδαίος

  Hieromartyr Abdaios, bishop in Persia.

• Medimnos, Urban, Theodore and the 77 with them

  Martyr, Μέδιμνος, Ουρβανός, Θεόδωρος

  Holy Martyrs Medimnos, Urban, Theodore and eighty clergy of Constantinople burned at sea under the Arian emperor Valens.