Bucharest retains the memory of Saint Antimos of Iberia due to the All Saints Monastery, his own foundation, known by most of the believers as the Antim Monastery. In the case of this saint, we`re uncertain whether we should first treasure his ascetic life, his martyrish death or his immense contribution to the Romanian culture.

Despite that he lived at the end of the 17^th century, Saint Antimos of Iberia is still in our attention due to a few facts that are worth mentioning: the printing of the 63 books (a very important fact for that time); the promotion of the Romanian language in churches; and his foundation, the Antim Monastery. With the use of a few mystical symbols (Jacob`s shell; the snail hidden in its own coiled shell; the Star of David), Antimos of Iberia managed to reach perfection at an architectonic level. Looking and looking again at the sanctuary, we notice, this time without being amazed, that the anachorite managed to leave to posterity successive images of the hesychastic prayer.

Keywords: monastery, Antim, hesychasm, symbol, snail, culture

CAMELIA SURUIANU