Founders of Antim Monastery

Saint Antim Monastery

The Life of Saint Antim

Saint Hierarch Martyr Martyr Antim Ivirean was born in the mid-17th century in Georgia or Iviria, baptized Andrei.

From his youth he was taken as a slave by the Turks, then he was freed from bondage by Patriarch Dositzei Nottara of Jerusalem, who made him a monk at the Holy Sepulchre and appointed him abbot at the monastery of Cetățuia near Iasi.

In 1690, the hieromonk Antim was sent by Patriarch Dositei to Bucharest to perfect himself in the art of printing. Here he was welcomed by St. Constantine Brâncoveanu, who entrusted him with the management of the printery in the capital.

St. Antim proved himself not only a good printer, but also a good steward of church property, being appointed abbot of the monastery of Snagov (1694-1701), bishop of Râmnic (1705-1708) and metropolitan of Romania (1708-1716).

Anton Maria Del Chiaro said of him that "he was endowed with such rare gifts that he was able to do any craft, especially sculpture, drawing and embroidery, in a marvelous way". Of all artistic crafts, St. Metropolitan Antim showed particular skill and devotion in the art of printing, carrying out a rich activity in the printing works of Bucharest, Râmnic and Targoviste.

Among the books printed by him and made available to the faithful are: The Anthologion ( 1697), The Greek-Arabic Liturgy (1701), being the first Orthodox book in the world printed in Arabic characters, The Greek-Arabic The Last Supper (1702), The New Testament (1703), The Psalter (1694, 1710), The Evholohion (1706), The Octoih (1712), The Liturgy (1713), The Catavasion (1715), The Last Supper (1715). Although a "foreigner of the Romanian nation", the great scholar and artist from Iviria identified himself with the Romanian people, appropriating the "sweet Romanian language".

The works of St. Antimus are the following: the most necessary and most useful ecclesiastical teaching for the teaching of priests (1710), Heads of commandment to all the ecclesiastical body, Didache (28 sermons), Brief teaching for the mystery of repentance (1705), the Faces of the Old and New Testament (1709).

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