Saint Anisia

Description

Saint Anisia was born and lived in those difficult years of persecution against the Christians during the time of the brutal persecutor, Maximian, in the same period as the patron Saint of Thessaloniki, Dimitrios Myroblytis.She distributed her wealth to the poor.At a young age she was orphaned by her father and mother, who were prominent and wealthy rulers of Thessaloniki.They embraced the true faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, with which they nurtured their daughter from an early age.Her desire was to meet the Heavenly Bridegroom Christ, rejecting the pleasures and material goods of this vain world and seeking the eternal, heavenly and imperishable goods of Paradise.That’s why she distributed all her riches to the poor. She lived dedicated to Christ and constantly prayed, observing the fasts of our Church. She sold all her possessions and distributed her wealth to the poor, while she herself lived by the labor of her hands.One day this holy virgin had gone out to go to church. On that day the pagans celebrated the festival of the sun.On the way, she met a soldier, who forced her to sacrifice to the idols “do not worship the sun, because, convinced of the injustice, enduring slaughter, doomed to blood”.However, the Saint’s faith was firm and unwavering in the One and True Christ. So she renounced the idols and spat in his face. The soldier drew his sword and thrust it under her side.This is how the earthly life of Saint Anisia came to a martyr’s end, in the year 298, and she deserved to receive the amaranth crown of glory “shining with the lamp of witness, and adorned with the crown of incorruption, joyfully appear, Christ your Bridegroom”.The Christians buried her with all the honors. Later, a church was built in honor of Saint Anisia, over her tomb.
The memory of Saint and Holy Martyr Anisias of Thessaloniki is commemorated today, December 30.