Saint Anastasius of Persia, was originally a Zoroastrian soldier in the Sasanian army. He later became a convert to Christianity and was martyred in 628.
Biography
Anastasius was born in the city ofRay. He was the son of a Magian named Bau. He had a brother whose name is unknown. He was a cavalryman in the army of Khosrau II and participated in capture of the True Cross in Jerusalem, which was carried to the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon. The occasion prompted him to ask for information about the Christian religion. He then experienced a conversion of faith, left the army, became a Christian, and afterwards a monk at the monastery of Saint Savvas in Jerusalem. He was baptized by Modestus, receiving the Christian name Anastasius to honor the resurrection of Jesus Christ. After seven years of the monastic observance, he was moved by the Holy Ghostto go in quest of martyrdom and went to Caesarea, then subject to the Sasanians. There he interrupted and ridiculed the Zoroastrian priests for their religion, and was as a result arrested by the localmarzban, taken prisoner, cruelly tortured to make him abjure, and finally carried down near the Euphrates, to a place called Barsaloe, where his tortures were renewed while at the same time the highest honors in the service of King Khosrau II were promised him if he would renounce Christianity. Finally, with seventy others, he was strangled to death and decapitated on January 22, 628. His body, which was thrown to the dogs, but was left untouched by them, was carried from there to Palestine, afterwards to Constantinople, and finally to Rome. A Passio written in Greek was devoted to the saint. An adapted Latin translation, possibly by Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury, was available to the Anglo-Saxon church historianBede, who criticised the result and took it upon himself to 'improve' it. There are no surviving manuscripts of Bede's revision, though one did survive as late as the 15th century. His feast day is 22 January.
