In 1530s-1540s, Athanasius served as a priest in Pereslavl-Zalessky. In 1549-1550, he was appointed archpriest of the Cathedral of the Annunciation in the Moscow Kremlin and became Ivan the Terrible's personal confessor. Athanasius accompanied the tsar during his military campaign against Kazan in 1552 and held a service during the laying of the foundation stone of the Annunciation Cathedral in that city. Athanasius participated in the church sobors of 1553 and 1554 as a witness with regards to the restoration of icons and frescos in the Kremlin cathedrals after the fire of 1547. In 1555-1556, Athanasius was engaged in restoring the Icon of Nikolai Velikoretsky together with Metropolitan Macarius. In 1567, he participated in the restoration of the Icon of Our Lady of Vladimir. It is believ