Saint Antim Ivirean the Metropolitan of Romania

St. Antim was born in Iberiain 1650. He was taken prisoner by Ottoman troops and sold in the slave market at Constantinople. He was trained as an artisan, learning wood sculpting, painting, embroidery, and calligraphy. At some point he was ransomed by the Patriarch of Constantinople. He became a monk, while living on the compounds of the Patriarchate. In 1689 he was asked to settle in Wallachia and in 1691 was given charge of the printing press in Bucharest. In 1693 he published the Gospels in Romania. In 1695 he was appointed Egumen of the Snagov Monastery and established a printing office at the new location. In 1702 he returned to Bucharest. In 1705 he became Bishop of Ramnic and in 1708 Metropolitan of Wallachia. In 1709 he established a printing press in Tbilisi, Georgia. Antim's overt opposition to Ottoman tutelage over Wallachia made him an adversary of the Phanariote regime. The new Prince imprisoned him and exiled him to Mount Sinai. He was captured by the Ottomans while making the trip and assassinated in Bulgaria. His feast day is on September 27.