Our Holy Mother, the Martyr Anastasia the Roman

I tell you, my friends, don't be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom you should fear. Fear him, who after he has killed, has power to cast into Gehenna. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Aren't five sparrows sold for two assaria coins? Not one of them is forgotten by God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore don't be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows. I tell you, everyone who confesses me before men, him will the Son of Man also confess before the angels of God; but he who denies me in the presence of men will be denied in the presence of the angels of God.

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	Our Holy Mother, the Martyr Anastasia the Roman

She was born in Rome of well-born parents and left an orphan at the age of three. As an orphan, she was taken into a women’s monastery near Rome, where the abbess was one Sophia, a nun of a high level of perfection. After seventeen years, Anastasia was known in the whole neighborhood to the Christians as a great ascetic, and to the pagans as a rare beauty. The pagan administrator of the city, Probus, heard of her and sent soldiers to bring her to him. The good Abbess Sophia counseled Anastasia for two hours on how to keep the Faith, how to resist flattering delusion and how to endure torture. Anastasia said to her, "My heart is ready to suffer for Christ; my soul is ready to die for my beloved Jesus." Brought before the governor, Anastasia openly proclaimed her faith in Christ the Lord and when the governor tried to dissuade her from the Faith, first with promises and then with threats, the holy maiden said to him, "I am ready to die for my Lord, not once but - oh, if it were only possible! - a thousand times." When they stripped her naked, to humiliate her, she cried to the judge, "Whip me and cut at me and beat me; my naked body will be hidden by wounds, and my shame will be covered by my blood!" She was whipped and beaten and cut about. She twice felt a great thirst and asked for water, and a Christian, Cyril, gave her a drink, for which he was blessed by the martyr and beheaded by the pagans. Then her breasts and tongue were cut off, and an angel of God appeared to her and upheld her. She was finally beheaded with the sword outside the city. Blessed Sophia found her body and buried it, and Anastasia was crowned with the wreath of martyrdom under the Emperor Decius (249-251).

Troparion, Tone 4:
O holy Virgin Anastasia,/ thou didst redden thy robe of purity/ with the blood of thy martyr’s contest./ Thou dost illumine the world with the grace of healing/ and intercede with Christ our God for our souls.

Kontakion, Tone 3:
Purified by the streams of thy virginity/ and crowned by the blood of martyrdom,/ thou dost grant healing to those in sickness,/ and salvation to those who lovingly pray to thee./ For Christ has given thee strength which flows to us as a stream of grace,/ O Virgin Martyr Anastasia.

Source: http://www.fatheralexander.org

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