He organized the failed Himara Revolt against the Ottoman Empire.
In 1596 Athanasius sought to end Ottoman rule and contacted the Venetians, meeting with Angelo Basadonna, the provveditore of Corfu, in Butrint.
[4] In 1596, a source stated that there were 10,000 fighters in red costumes in Himara.
He then visited the Pope in Rome, where he asked for aid in the organization of an uprising in Macedonia.
[6] Athanasius went back to Albania in the summer of 1596, and stayed in Himara.