Anastasius the Teacher of Moldovita

Anastasius was a hieroschemamonk, abbot of Moldovița Monastery from 1462 to 1490, teacher and calligrapher, its best-⁠known abbot of the second half of the fifteenth century. He fell asleep in 1490. He is named in the Romanian Paterikon and venerated by the faithful, without synodal canonization; the sources available to us give no day of commemoration.

He came from the Suceava region and became a monk in youth at Moldovița. From the monks and teachers of the monastery he learned letters and the copying of manuscripts and, above all, ascetic struggle, fasting, vigil, contemplation of divine things and unceasing prayer. He received priesthood and became spiritual father of many monks and believers in the area.

From 1462 to 1490 he was abbot of Moldovița, the foundation of Alexander the Good dating from 1402. He was so skilled a guide that many hermits and young men from the villages gathered around him. Some learned from him the Jesus Prayer, silence and humble thinking, others read the writings of the Fathers, others learned to translate from Greek and Slavonic and to copy service books. Stephen the Great counted him among his first intercessors and gave him gifts for the monks' food.

Anastasius was also a calligrapher, the earliest known at Moldovița. He trained several calligrapher disciples and organized there one of the best-⁠known schools of calligraphers in Moldavia, alongside those of Neamț and Putna. He fell asleep in the year 1490, leaving a numerous community at Moldovița.