An erudite philosophical scholar and skillful translator, Athanasius was born at Balad on the right bank of the Tigris in a city which no longer survives. At Qinneshrin he studied sciences, Syriac and Greek under Mor Severus Sabukht. He became a monk and moved to the great Monastery of Beth Malke near Antioch, not the small Monastery of Mar Malke in Tur Abdin as has erroneously been thought by most Orientalists. At this monastery, he pursued the sciences of philosophy diligently, following his thorough and learned master.

In January 645, he translated the Isagoge of Porphyry, and another anonymous Isagoge, the first of which was published by Freimann in Berlin in 1897. Later he was ordained a priest and resided in Nisibin. At Nisibin he translated into Syriac in 669 selections from the letters of Severus of Antioch at the request of Matai, metropolitan of Aleppo, and Daniel, metropolitan of Edessa. This translation made Baumstark believe that there was another translator by the name of Athanasius of Nisibin. We have found no evidence by him (Baumstark) to substantiate his opinion, which is more of a conjecture; nay the ancient Zafaran manuscript states that this priest was the patriarch Athanasius himself. Athanasius also translated the second discourse of his (Severus') book against Nephalius, and a group of the homilies of Gregory Nazianzen. Also, he translated in the year 666/7, nine treatises of the Book of the Six Days by Basil of Caesarea, as suggested by the two formerly mentioned metropolitans above and by the priest and syncellus Severus, as is mentioned in the vocalization of the Holy Bible and the writings of the Doctors which are at the Zafaran library. It is also evident from the three letters of the Catholicos Timothy which he wrote to the monk Sergius, the Doctor, around the year 800, that he (Athanasius) also translated pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. This translation became widespread. Timothy wrote, "Proceed to the Monastery of Mor Matai and transcribe the translation of the book pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite by Athanasius or by Phocas of Edessa ".

Athanasius' translations were of sound taste, masterful style and intrinsic eloquence. In commenting on the translation of the said book, Phocas of Edessa said that Mar Athanasius and Jacob of Edessa perfected the art of translation from Greek into Syriac. He meant that these two lifted translation from an artless to a scientific level.

At the end of the year 683, Athanasius became a patriarch and wrote a ten page proclamation to the company of the bishops, mentioning the names of seven teen of them. He also issued a public letter on how the Christians should conduct themselves among the Muslims. He also prohibited them from eating the meat of sacrificial animals. In addition, he composed supplicatory prayers, three to be used at the celebration of the Eucharist. The first begins thus: "Thanks to the Good Shepherd by whose body the flock is fed;" the second begins "0 Lord by whom exists and lives every thing;" and the third one begins: "0 God the Word and most high." Besides these, he composed prayers for the dead. To him, john of Alexandria wrote a Synodical letter in nine pages on the twenty-fourth of June 686, beginning thus: "May the verses of the Holy Bible be the opening of my speech." At the end of this year he died.

(History of Syriac Literature and Sciences, Patriarch Ignatius Ephrem I Barsoum, Presseggiata Press, p 110)