Archimandrite Averchie

Archimandrite Averchie
Born	Atanasie Iaciu Buda 1806 or 1818 Avdella, Ottoman Empire (now Greece)
Died	Around February, unknown year Grizano, Ottoman Empire (now Greece)
Nationality	Ottoman
Occupation(s)	Monk, schoolteacher

Archimandrite Averchie or Averkios (1806/1818 – ?; Romanian: Arhimandritul Averchie, also Averhie or Averkie; Aromanian: Arhimandrit Averchi; Greek: Αρχιμανδρίτης Αβέρκιος, romanized: Archimandrítis Avérkios), born Atanasie Iaciu Buda (Greek: Αθανάσιος Γιάτσου Μπούντας, romanized: Athanásios Giátsou Boúntas), was an Aromanian monk and schoolteacher. Born in Avdella, he became hegumen and archimandrite in Mount Athos, where he was known as "Averchie the Vlach" (Greek: Αβέρκιος ο βλάχος, romanized: Avérkios o Vláchos).

Averchie was sent to Romania in 1860, where he established contact with several intellectual and political figures. He was the head teacher of a school in Bucharest for Aromanian children whom he and Ioan D. Caragiani had recruited and taken to Romania in 1865 to be educated and become teachers of the first Romanian schools for Aromanians. Averchie is considered a relevant figure of the early Romanian-backed Aromanian national movement.