Description: It depicts a Byzantine-style fresco of Saint Athanasius the Athonite (Saint Athanasios), a Byzantine monk who founded the Great Lavra Monastery and is considered the father of the monastic community on the Mount Athos peninsula.
Circa: 1963
Condition: Used on Fragment.
Notes:
Issued to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the monastic community of Mount Athos, often called the “Holy Mountain.” This stamp portrays Saint Athanasios, whose monastic reforms laid the foundation for Athonite spirituality and influenced monasticism throughout the Orthodox world. The 1963 series consisted of six designs showing monks, monasteries, and icons from Mount Athos, celebrating a millennium of uninterrupted monastic tradition under autonomy within Greece. It remains one of the most elegant modern Greek religious issues. Mount Athos remains an autonomous monastic republic to this day, preserving over a millennium of uninterrupted Orthodox spiritual tradition.