Athanasius the Athonite (Greek: Ἀθανάσιος ὁ Ἀθωνίτης; c. 920 – c. 1003), was a Byzantine monk who is considered the founder of the monastic community on the peninsula of Mount Athos, which has since evolved into the greatest centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism.

By the time Phocas ascended the imperial throne, Abraham, ill at ease with the lax morals of the monks living in the capital, changed his name to Athanasios and joined the monks at Mount Kyminas in Bithynia, in Minor Asia.

Athanasios met with considerable opposition from the hermits already at Mount Athos in the construction of his monasteries.

Upon Nicephoros' death the enemies of Athanasios prevailed and he had to leave Athos for Cyprus, where he lived until the new emperor, John Tzimisces, resumed the patronage of the Great Lavra and bestowed upon the monastery its first charter in 972.

[2] Athanasios, spurred by a divine vision, returned at once to Athos as a hegumen (abbot) and introduced a typicon for cenobites, based on those compiled by Theodore Studites and Basil of Caesarea.