Athanasios Parios

Saint Athanasios Parios
Born	1722 Kostos, Paros
Died	June 24, 1813 (age 90) Hermitage of St. George, Chios
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church
Canonized	1995
Major shrine	Kostos, Paros; Church of the Naxian Saints, Naxos.
Feast	June 24; First Sunday of September (with the other Saints of Paros and Naxos)
Attributes	Long white beard, vested as a Priest, holding a Gospel book.

Athanasios Parios (Greek: Ἀθανάσιος Πάριος; 1722–1813) was a Greek hieromonk who was a notable theologian, philosopher, educator, and hymnographer of his time, and one of the "Teachers of the Nation" during the Modern Greek Enlightenment. He was the second leader of the Kollyvades Movement, succeeding Neophytos Kausokalyvites (1713–1784). He also authored the lives of various saints. Parios was a noted Orthodox opponent of the Western European ideas of the French Revolution, exemplified by such authors as Rigas Feraios and Adamantios Korais.

Biography

He was born in 1722 at the village of Kostos on Paros and took the name Athanasios. His father's name was Apostolos Tulios and he came from Sifnos, but he lived in Paros after marrying a local woman. He received his first education in his village, while in 1745 he went to study in Smyrna, where he studied under Hierotheos Dendrinos and later (1751) at the Athonite Academy, where he studied under Neophytos Kausokalyvitis and Eugenios Voulgaris (with the latter between 1754 and 1757). He was trained by Neophytos in the "Grammar" and "On Composition" by Theodorus Gaza, and by Voulgaris in philosophical subjects. He was also trained in rhetoric and pastoralism.

In 1758, after encouragement and pressure from Voulgaris, he accepted the directorship of the school of Genus in Thessaloniki (Greek School of Thessaloniki). In the School he had as a pupil the later neo-martyr Saint Athanasius of Xerokrini. He taught at the School of Thessaloniki for only two years as the School was closed due to a plague epidemic in the city. So he fled to Corfu, where he completed his studies next to Nikephoros Theotokis, studying physics. Finally, he was driven to Messolonghi, after an invitation from his classmate at the Athonite Academy Panagiotis Palamas, who had founded the "Palamia School" in 1760. In 1767 to 1770 he returned to Thessaloniki, again taking over the School of Genus and after a short time he received an honorary invitation from the Patriarchate to take over the direction of the Athonite Academy.

He immediately accepted and went to Mount Athos, where he met Macarius of Corinth, who urged him to be ordained. Athanasius obeys and is ordained by him, an elder. At this time he would become actively involved with the Kollyvades movement, resulting not only in his being expelled from the seminary, but also in his being condemned as a heretic and excommunicated in 1776. He returned to Thessaloniki as a teacher in a gymnasium and was reinstated in 1781. He remained in Thessaloniki until 1786, where he worked closely with Nicodemus the Hagiorite on the very important project of editing the works of Gregory Palamas. But he also continued his exegetical, apologetic, historical-dogmatic, liturgical, hymnological, philosophical and pedagogical work, so that he became "one of the most important contributors to the revival and spiritual uplift of the enslaved Greeks". In 1786, he departed for Paros, but the Russo-Turkish war prevented him from landing on the island, and as a result he headed for Chios. There he took over a school, where he led it to considerable prosperity, retiring at the age of 90. He died two years later on 24 June 1813 at the monastery of St. George the Refston.

Thought

He used themes that did not remain in a narrow theological context, but in a broader social and political context. He was both erudite and multilingual, and as a result, he was aware of the world-changing effects of the Enlightenment in Europe. Thus he begins in his rather conservative language to judge the polar events and movements in Europe and to attack what he called their heretical arbitrariness. He thus wrote a book (Patristic Doctrine) in which he opposed the Enlightenment's liberal proposals for revolution. This book was published by the Patriarchate and seems to have been intended to express political considerations and demands of the Porte, so it is likely that it does not fully express the views of its author. The book became a cause for attacks against the church by the Enlightenment scholars, who accused it of pro-Turkism and servility, although it is clear that it reflected the overwhelming majority of the Phanariots, who lived in constant fear that a local revolt, even if successful, would expose the rest of the Greeks to the vengeful fury of the Turks. A fear that was not at all unfounded, based on events that preceded it (e.g. Orlov revolt) and that continued until 1922.

Adamantios Korais responded to this book with the Brotherly Doctrine, in which, with sharp personal characterizations of Athanasius and his more general ideas, he endeavoured to convince that Patristic Doctrine did not reflect the whole of the Greek people. It was precisely there that the difference between two worldviews became apparent. Korais and his school echoed European ideas which demanded a purely national state, according to the visions of the humanists, based on an ancient Greek geographical constitution of borders, while Athanasius and the more conservative ones echoed the shape of a traditional multi-ethnic state. The aim of this scheme wss to manage to preserve the small portions of Greeks that were scattered within the borders of the Ottoman state as a narrow geographical Greek scheme would leave them exposed to the appetites of the Ottomans and ultimately to the destruction of their cultural identity. Thus in Athanasius' eyes the establishment of the national state meant the immediate annihilation of Hellenism. In addition, in his mind there is a second cause. The organization of the state under the Enlightenment worldview means secularization of common life, application of natural law and normative utilitarianism, with the result that the foundations which had preserved until his time the common Greek consciousness even in the most adverse conditions were threatened.

Christos Yannaras notes that this scheme was not an easy pro-Turkism, nor a voluntaryism, but a worldview completely different from the narrow nationalist structure of the Enlightenment. An ecumenical system, which had begun to bear fruit, since Greeks had already occupied key positions in the Ottoman state, while trade and shipping had largely passed into Greek hands. The Phanariotes and the more conservative classes believed in a conquest from within, an idea that in Athanasius' time was gaining ground. The clash between Korais and Athanasius was ultimately not just a clash of progressives and conservatives, but the confrontation of two different political visions, each corresponding to a different type of Hellenism. The Hellenism of the Genos or the Hellenism of an ethno-racial Hellenism that would draw its identity directly from classical Greece, entertaining 10 centuries of Byzantium.

History

• 1722 - Born in the village of Kostos, on the island of Paros. (Some sources give 1721, others range from 1723 to 1725. However, the plaque outside his church in Kostos lists 1722 as his birth year).
• On the island of Paros he received instruction in the "common letters." Desiring higher education, he left his parents and his native place and went to Smyrna, to study at the Greek school of that city. The school was founded in 1717, and was later named the Evangelical School, and became famous. He resided in Smyrna for six years.
• 1752 - Went to Mount Athos and enrolled in the Athonite Academy, where he studied under Neophytos Kausokalyvites and Eugenios Voulgaris. He later studied at Corfu under Nikephoros Theotokis.
• 1767–1770 - Taught at Thessaloniki, after which he returned to the Athonite School to become director.
• 1776 - Condemned as a heretic, defrocked, and excommunicated by Patriarch Sophronios II and the Holy Synod of Constantinople
• 1781 - Successfully defended himself before Patriarch Gabriel IV and the Holy Synod, and restored to communion and the priesthood
• 1788–1811 - Principal of the School in Chios.
• At the age of 90, he withdrew to the cell of St. George the Refston and died there on June 24, 1813.

Works

• 1785 - Antipapas, analyses the work of Saint Mark of Ephesus.
• 1797 - Paternal Teaching, written by Athanasios, but published under the name of Patriarch Anthimos of Jerusalem.
• 1798 - Christian Apologies
• 1787 - Rhetorical Pragmatics and Metaphysics
• 1802 - A Response to the Irrational Zeal of the Philosophers Coming from Europe
• 1806 - Epitome, a theology textbook, which was a collaboration with Saint Makarios of Corinth.

Relations

• Athanasios (d. September 8, 1774). Athanasios was from the town of Koulakia, near Thessaloniki, and was provided a good education, studying under Athanasios Parios in Thessaloniki. He later went to Mount Athos to the Vatopedi Monastery where he became a monk. Athanasius later was martyred for Christ, not willing to convert to the Islamic faith. He was hanged and buried near the Church of St. Paraskeve.
• Minas Minoidis (d. France). Minas was a student of Athanasios Parios. He taught rhetoric and philosophy in Serres and Thessaloniki; he also taught ancient Greek and literature in Paris. He was an interpreter at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. Minas was militantly opposed to Korais' ideas on language, his most severe and unfair critic. He was a fervent supporter of the fight for Greek independence. He discovered the verse "Myths of Vavrios" in a Mount Athos manuscript.
• Ierotheos Dendrinos and Christodoulos, Doctor of Philosophy.
• St. Nikephoros of Chios (May 1), was sent to the city of Chios to be educated in its schools by Gabriel Astrakaris. Nikephoros remained close to this priest throughout the period of his education, where he developed a love for learning, and a respect for those who taught others. He also met St. Athanasius Parios, who was the director of the school in the city of Chios.

Further reading

• Saint Athanasios Parios (Modern Orthodox Saints, vol. 15) by Constantine Cavarnos. ISBN 1-884729-78-9

St. Athanasios of Paros, together with St. Macarios of Corinth and St. Nicodemos the Hagiorite were the three great spiritual leaders of the 18th century in Greece and leaders of the "Kollyvades Movement." This is the first English-language life of St. Athanasios, theologian, hymnographer, writer of lives of saints and philosopher. Also contains reviews and selected passages from his writings, and a brief account of the life of St. Macarios of Corinth. 170pp.

External links

• St Athanasius Parios (OCA)
• Saint Athanasios Parios (Mystagogy)