St. Anastasius II. of Antioch

Faithfulness to Christ when it cost everything.

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December 18 · Bishop, Martyr

St. Anastasius II. of…

St. Anastasius II. of Antioch

Faithfulness to Christ when it cost everything.

Traditional feast

December 18
1914 / pre-1969 calendar, per Baring-Gould (1897)

Current feast

April 20 (also listed: December 21)
Secondary source · Wikipedia

Represents

Bishop
Martyr

Early life

The book says little or nothing about early life. This is how the account begins.

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 0 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

What they represent

How they teach us to live

Drawn from themes in the original account

Learn from the kind of life it was. Faithfulness to Christ when it cost everything.

Keep their day. Remember them on December 18 with a short prayer, and ask for their help.

Read more

The full original · 0 words

Read Baring-Gould’s full account

Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman Martyrology. Authorities: — The letters of S. Gregory the Great, and Theophanes.] Anastasius II. was patriarch of Antioch, in Syria, after the death of Anastasius I., in 599. S. Gregory the Great wrote to him in May of that year, on reception of his statement of faith, to say that he was well satisfied with it, and to exhort him, as the first-fruits of his priesthood, to purge the churches under him of simony. Anastasius was killed in a riot of the Jews against the Christians, who had been oppressing them, and had goaded them to violence. The Jews killed several other Christians, whom they regarded as their chief tormentors, and burned their bodies. Phocas sent Bonosus, count of the East, and Cotto, general of the army, to chastise the Jews. Massacre, mutilation, and plunder revenged the murder of Anastasius.

Feast days

Feast: April 20
Traditional: December 18

Nine days · Free

Pray the novena
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One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from St. Anastasius II. of…'s story, and a nudge to keep going.

Also on December 18
Sts. Rufus and Zosimus

Sts. Rufus and Zosimus

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M

St. Moyses

December 18 · Martyr
B

St. Bodagisl

December 18 · Confessor
← All 1726 saints in the library
Sources & notes

Feast-day sources

Sources

Credits

Image: Martyrion Agiou Anastasiou Dionysiou.jpg · Theophanes the Cretan · Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain.

Image: Theophanes the Cretan, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.