A pious Greek woman, twice widowed, who became a nun and later abbess of a monastery on the island of Aegina, renowned for her charity, austerity, and miracles after her repose.
Feast Day
April 12
Also Apr 18
Draft
Draft — pending review. Not yet verified for publication.
Athanasia was a Greek woman of the island of Aegina, born into a Christian family in the ninth century. Twice married and twice widowed, she distributed her wealth to the poor, embraced the monastic life, and became abbess of a community of women. She was renowned for her severe asceticism, her humility, and her charity, and after her repose her relics were found incorrupt and a source of healing. She is commemorated on April 12 and April 18.
Drawn in youth to the monastic life but compelled by her parents and by imperial decree into marriage, Athanasia came to her vocation only after the death of her second husband. As abbess she refused even the smallest service from her sisters, kept a rule of bread and water, and built three churches; her tomb at Aegina became known for miracles.
Timeline 4 moments
ReadHide
c. 790Birth on AeginaAthanasia was born around the year 790 on the island of Aegina to Christian parents. By tradition a vision in her childhood inclined her toward the monastic life.
as a young womanTwo marriages and widowhoodHer parents gave her in marriage; her first husband was killed within a short time. An imperial decree then required unmarried women to marry, and she was married a second time. By tradition her second husband came to share her devotion and himself entered the monastic life.
after her widowhoodMonastic life and abbacyAthanasia distributed her possessions to the poor and, with other pious women, formed a monastic community on Aegina. After some years she was made abbess against her own wish, governing in great humility.
c. 860ReposeAthanasia reposed in about the year 860. Her relics were found incorrupt and flowed with fragrant myrrh, and her tomb became a place of healing.
Contributions & Legacy
3 contributions
ReadHide
Life
Athanasia was born on Aegina to a Christian family about the year 790. Tradition relates that she was drawn to monasticism from childhood, but her parents required her to marry. Her first husband, a soldier, was killed only a short time after the wedding. When an imperial decree obliged unmarried women to marry, she entered a second marriage; by the account her second husband was won to her piety and at length withdrew to become a monk.
Freed at last from worldly obligation, Athanasia gave away her wealth to the poor and gathered other devout women into a monastic community on the island. The sources relate that the community afterward moved to a place called Timia, near a church of Saint Stephen. Though she was made abbess, she governed in such humility that she would not permit her sisters to serve her even in small things.
Asceticism and Charity
Her hagiographer recorded a rigorous ascetic discipline. She wore a hair-shirt beneath coarse woolen clothing, ate only bread and water and that only after the ninth hour, abstained from cheese and fish except at Pascha, and gave much of the night to prayer. In time of famine she distributed food to the hungry, taught the Scriptures to the women of the town, and received monks who came to her. From the offerings brought to the community she built three churches, dedicated to the Theotokos, to John the Baptist, and to Saint Nicholas.
Repose and Veneration
Athanasia reposed in about the year 860; the sources place her death in mid-August, on or near the feast of the Dormition, and give her age as about fifty-two. After her burial her relics were found incorrupt and were observed to flow with fragrant myrrh, and her tomb at Aegina became renowned for healings, drawing crowds who sought her intercession. She is commemorated in the Orthodox Church on April 12 and again on April 18.
