Anastasius of Persia

Description

Saint Anastasios lived in the 7th century AD. in the years of the Persian king Chosroes II (590-628 AD) and the emperor of Constantinople Heraklion and was Persian. He was born in the village of Razih in the province of Rasnuni and was the son of the magician Vav and was originally called Magundat.
When in 614 AD the Persians conquered Jerusalem and took the Holy Cross with them. Because of the many miracles performed in Persia by the Holy Cross, many Persians were interested in learning about the new religion, among them Magundat. That is why he went to Jerusalem, where he was baptized and became a monk in the Abba Justinou Monastery and was renamed Anastasios.
He then visited Caesarea, where the commander Marzavanas was informed that he was a Christian and, failing to convince him, ordered his torture. After much torture the pagans beheaded him. His martyrdom took place in 628 AD. with 70 other Christian Martyrs. The Saint’s Synagogue was held in his Martyrdom, which was inside Agios Philemonos, in Stratigio. The collection of the relics of Saint Anastasios is celebrated on January 24. Regarding the Relics of Saint Anastasios, three traditions prevail.
According to the first, which is also accepted by the English historiographer Osios Vedas the Reverend (see May 27), the Relics were brought to Rome during the reign of Heraclius and deposited in the Greek Monastery of the Three Fountains (“Tre Fontane”). The second accepts the transfer of the relics to Istanbul,also during the reign of Heraklion, from where the Kara was transferred to Rome during the days of the Greek-born and possibly Jerusalemite Pope Theodore I (642 – 649 AD) (see May 18). The third tradition (Venetian) accepts that the relics were transported to Constantinople by Heraklion, from where in 1204 AD. they were removed by Doge Henry Dandolos and deposited in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Venice.Today, the relics kept in the Roman Catholic Church of St. Francis of the Vine are in the form of a headless body, assembled in the uniform of the time. Sophronios Efstratiadis, Metropolitan pr. of Leontopolis, accepts that a Roman Bishop transported the Relics to Caesarea in Palestine (they were then transferred to Constantinople) and the Cara to Rome (where it is still kept today).