Elder Anthimos of Saint Anne's: The wise and God-bearing contemporary Father of Athos

The publication of the long-awaited English edition of Elder Anthimos of Saint Anne’s, translated from the sixth Greek edition (2004), brings to the Anglophone world a treasure of Orthodox spirituality. Elder Anthimos (1913–1996) was a humble monk of the St. Anne’s Skete on Mount Athos whose life shone “like a star shedding a new light of piety and as a brightly shining vessel of grace.” Although not yet canonized, his holiness is attested by countless witnesses—monks, pilgrims, and visitors—who experienced his exactitude in the Orthodox Faith and his gentle, wise direction.

Dr. Charalambos M. Bousias has drawn upon the expanded Greek sixth edition to present material previously unpublished outside Greece. This volume includes not only a richly detailed biography but also liturgical services—Great Vespers, the Supplicatory Canon, and Matins—composed by Dr. Bousias himself. These services, first printed separately, are here gathered alongside numerous photographs (many in color), offering a vivid portrait of Elder Anthimos’s ascetic environment: the monastic cells, the church of Saint Anne’s, the Holy Mountain’s rugged beauty.

Elder Anthimos’s spiritual counsel addressed souls from all walks of life. He guided monks at Saint Anne’s and other Athonite monasteries, as well as lay faithful in Greece, Russia, and beyond. His relics are preserved in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral and at Valaam Monastery, where the Akathist to Elder Anthimos is chanted weekly. Such widespread veneration—despite his non-canonical status—speaks to the power of his example: a life wholly oriented toward prayer, humility, and the purification of the passions.

This English edition features a new Introduction by Jon Stroop, situating Elder Anthimos within the millennia-old tradition of Orthodox monasticism and the unique spiritual history of Mount Athos. Readers will discover how, through sobriety, unceasing prayer, and zeal for virtuous living, Elder Anthimos became an infallible guide of souls. The lessons of his life and teachings stand as a salutary antidote to the turbulence of modern existence, revealing paths to holiness accessible to every Christian, no matter one’s station or vocation.

Whether you are a pilgrim to the Holy Mountain, a student of Orthodox hagiography, or a seeker of deep spiritual counsel, this volume offers both biography and liturgical practice. It invites you to enter the stillness of Saint Anne’s Skete, to walk the rutted paths that Elder Anthimos trod, and to partake of his unwavering trust in Divine Providence. Let his God-pleasing life edify you; let his words encourage you to press on in the spiritual struggle, that you too might become a witness to the living presence of Christ in our day.

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