Our Holy Mother, the Martyr Anastasia the Roman

“I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me, and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. “You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. You shall labor six days, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

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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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