Martyr
Holy Martyr Anthusa and Others with Her
August 22 Old CalendarSeptember 4 New Calendar
Life
The daughter of wealthy but pagan parents from Seleucia in Syria. Having learned of Christ, Anthusa believed in Him with all her heart, and secretly made her way to Bishop Athanasius, who baptized her. At her baptism the angels of God appeared. After that, Anthusa set out for the desert for ascetic labor, for she dared not even return to her parents. In the desert she practiced asceticism for twenty-three years. In prayer to God she surrendered her soul to God while kneeling upon a stone, beneath which she willed that she be buried.
Bishop Athanasius and two servants of Anthusa, Charisimus and Neophytus, were afterward beheaded for their faith in Christ, in the time of Emperor Valerian, around the year 257. All suffered honorably and were crowned with crowns of glory.
From the Prologue from Ochrid by St. Nikolai Velimirovich, August 22. Translated by Marcian Sakarya, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Also commemorated on August 22
The full reading for August 22 includes the hymn of praise, a reflection, a contemplation and a homily.
Open August 22 in the reader