Peter the Athonite
Peter the Athonite is reputed to have been the first hermit to settle upon the Mount Athos. Peter is known to history primarily through unattributable legend. It is recorded that Peter was once a soldier who, through the miraculous aid of St. Nicholas and St. Simeon the Righteous, was freed from a Muslim military prison. From prison St. Peter traveled to New Rome to fulfill a promise to God that he would take the monastic habit. It is held that Peter received his habit from the Pope himself who also formed the saint in monastic discipline. Receiving a vision of the Blessed Virgin and Theotokos Mary, Peter traveled to Mt. Athos and there lived for some fifty years.
A hagiography devoted to Saint Peter the Athonite was written at Hilandar by Genadius the Athonite.
Saint Peter of Mount Athos is commemorated on 12 June in Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholic and Roman Catholic Churches.
