Bishop Athanasius (Yevtich) is the retired bishop of Zahumlje and Herzegovina (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and retired patristics and Church history professor and a former dean of the Orthodox theological faculty, Belgrade University (Serbia).
Born in 1938 in the town of Brdarica in western Serbia, he studied theology at Saint Sava's Seminary in Belgrade, the Theological Faculty of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade, the Theological Seminary in Halki, and the Theological Faculty of the University of Athens, where he was awarded a doctoral degree in 1967 for his thesis entitled “The Ecclesiology of the Apostle Paul According to Saint John Chrysostom.” He has taught at the Saint Serge Institute in Paris (1969-72) and the Theological Faculty in Belgrade (1972-1993), of which he has also served as Dean, and has lectured internationally. He was one of the founders of the Theological Faculty of Saint Basil of Ostrog in Foča (Bosnia and Hercegovina), of which he was elected Rector in 1994. He was a close and trusted spiritual son of the Blessed Archimandrite Justin (Popović), by whom he was tonsured in 1960. Consecrated a Bishop in 1991, he retired in 1996 due to his failing health. He has been an outspoken advocate of the rights of persecuted Serbs in Kosovo for many years.
The author of a multitude of books and of over four hundred articles in a variety of languages, three collections of his writings have recently been published in English by Sebastian Press: Christ—The Alpha and Omega (2007), Emmanuel: The Only Begotten and Firstborn Among Many Brethren (2008), Jesus Christ Is The Same Yesterday Today And Unto the Ages (2010), Holy Emperor Constantine and the Edict of Milan (2013) and Contemporary Ecclesiological Reminder on the Diaspora (2014).
Saint Vladimir’s Seminary in New York conferred upon Bishop Atanasije a Doctorate of Divinity honoris causa, in recognition of his contribution to the academic study of Eastern Orthodox theology and spirituality.
Bishop Athanasius (Yevtich) is one of the most outstanding contemporary Orthodox theologians.