Venerable Athanasius the Elder of Vysotsk, Serpukhov

Venerable Athanasius, born Andrew, was born around 1340 and became one of the beloved disciples of Venerable Sergius of Radonezh. In 1374, at the request of Prince Vladimir Andreyevich the Bold, Venerable Sergius founded a monastery in Serpukhov in honor of the Conception of the Most Holy Theotokos (the Vysotsky Monastery) and appointed his disciple Athanasius as its first abbot. He was distinguished by great learning and love of book-copying: he assembled a considerable library and engaged in copying and translating Greek texts. He later left the abbacy and withdrew to Constantinople, where he continued his scholarly labors. He died after 1410. His memory is kept on September 12/25, as well as in the Synaxis of Radonezh Saints.