Hieromartyr Anthimus the Georgian, metropolitan of Wallachia; Martyrs Callistratus and Epicharis of Rome; 18th Sunday after Pentecost

Orthodox Calendar, September 27 Hieromartyr Anthimus the Georgian, metropolitan of Wallachia ( † 1716 ) This chosen person by God was born in Iviria (today’s Georgia) about 1650, to righteous parents, John and Maria, and baptised Andrew. Grown up in the spirit of the Orthodox tradition, young Andrew received from God the gifts of church painting and sculpture.

When the Turks invaded his native place, he was caught, made slave and taken to Constantinople, where he suffered the bitterness and humiliation of the life lived among foreigners alien to his nation and to his Christian faith. After a while he was redeemed by Christians and then he served God for many years as lay person at the Ecumenical Patriarchate, improving his artistic skilfulness and the knowledge of Greek, Turkish and Arabian.

About 1690, following the advice of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Dositheus Notarius, he came to Wallachia, where the righteous ruler prince Constantin Brâncoveanu asked him to help with the printing of church books. He took up the monastic garment, received the name of Anthimus and he was ordained hieromonk at  Snagov Monastery , near Bucharest.

In the summer of 1691, the former…