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Peter the Athonite

7th century hermit of Mount Athos From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Peter the Athonite
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Peter the Athonite (d. 9th century), sometimes called Peter of Mount Athos, is reputed to have been the first hermit to settle upon the Mount Athos.[1] He is venerated as a saint and commemorated by the Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholic and Roman Catholic Churches on June 12.[2]

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Biography

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Peter the Athonite is primarily known through hagiographical traditions. According to these accounts, he was a soldier who was captured during a war with the Syrians and imprisoned in a fortress in the city of Samara, on the Euphrates River.[3] He was reportedly freed through miraculous intervention while in captivity, with Saint Nicholas and Saint Simeon the Righteous appearing to assist in his escape from a Muslim prison.[4] In gratitude, he travelled to Constantinople (New Rome) to fulfil a vow to become a monk, where he reportedly received the monastic habit directly from the Pope, who also instructed him in ascetic discipline.[5]

Following a vision of the Blessed Virgin and Theotokos, Peter journeyed to Mount Athos, where he lived as a hermit in a cave for nearly fifty years. [6] According to tradition, he was once discovered by a hunter, who described him as a naked man covered with hair and bearing a long beard. Peter reportedly instructed the hunter to pray for a year and not to speak of their meeting. When the hunter returned a year later with his demon-afflicted brother and other companions, they found that Peter had died. The afflicted man touched the saint's body and was said to be miraculously healed.[3]

After his repose, his relics were discovered by a hunter and taken to the Monastery of Clement, a formerly existing monastery that is now occupied by the Monastery of Iviron.[7]

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Legacy

Some sources place his life in the 7th and 8th centuries, others situate him in the 9th century.[3]

A hagiography devoted to Saint Peter the Athonite was written at Hilandar by Genadius the Athonite.[8]

A vita (BHG 1505) of Peter the Athonite was also written by an Athonite monk named Nicholas sometime around the late 10th or early 11th century.[9] It was translated into Italian in 1999.[10]

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