Hieromartyr Anastasius II, patriarch of Antioch
Saint Anastasius II was patriarch of Antioch from 599 to 609, in succession to Saint Anastasius I the Sinaite. A learned man of Greek culture, he was a friend of Saint Gregory the Great, pope of Rome, and translated into Greek the latter's Pastoral Rule, a work of profound influence in the eastern Church. His patriarchate fell in a turbulent period, as the eastern Roman empire reeled under the early Persian invasions and as the religious tensions between Chalcedonians and the followers of Severus continued to trouble Syria. About the year 609, during a furious uprising of the Jews of Antioch under the misrule of the emperor Phocas, Anastasius was seized by the rioters in his cathedral, dragged through the streets, mutilated and slain in hatred of the faith. Together with him many other Christians were martyred in the same tumult. The Church has ever since honoured Anastasius II among the hieromartyrs, both for his confession of the truth, and for the gentle pastoral wisdom by which he had governed his flock. His memory in some calendars is kept on this day, in others on 20 April, together with that of his namesake Anastasius I and Gregory of Antioch.
Hieromartyr Januarius and those with him
305
These martyrs gave glorious witness to Christ during the persecutions of Diocletian. St Januarius, Bishop of Benevento in Italy, was arrested and cast into a burning furnace, but he stood in the midst of the flames, singing praises to God, and emerged unharmed. After other cruel tortures, he was bound and cast in prison in Pozzuoli, along with his deacon Faustus and his reader Desiderius. With them in prison were two deacons from Pozzuoli, Proclus and Sossus, and two laymen, Eutychius and Acutius. All seven were cast to wild beasts; but when the animals came near the Saints, they fell affectionately at their feet and refused to harm them. Finally, all seven Christians were beheaded. Some Christians from Naples secretly took the body of Januarius and buried it in their church. Countless wonders have been worked at his grave, including the restoration of a dead man to life.
Hieromartyr Januarius, bishop of Benevento, and his companions
Saint Januarius was bishop of Benevento in southern Italy at the close of the third century. During the persecution unleashed by the emperor Diocletian (284 to 305) the deacon Sosius of Misenum was arrested for his confession of Christ. Hearing of his imprisonment, Januarius went to visit and encourage him, taking with him his deacon Festus and the reader Desiderius. As they entered the prison they too were seized and brought before Timothy, the governor of Campania, at his court in Nola. Januarius confessed his faith without hesitation, refusing to offer sacrifice to the idols, and so was cast into a burning furnace; but, like the three holy youths in Babylon, he came out unharmed, and many soldiers and pagans, beholding the miracle, believed in Christ. The governor, accusing the Christians of sorcery, ordered them to be exposed in the amphitheatre to the wild beasts; but the beasts would not touch them. Then the governor, suddenly struck blind, was healed only by the prayer of the holy bishop, but in his obstinacy he persisted in the persecution. Januarius, the deacons Sosius, Proculus and Festus, the reader Desiderius and the laymen Eutychius and Acutius were all beheaded together before the walls of Pozzuoli about the year 305. The blood of Saint Januarius was gathered up by a faithful woman; preserved in vials, it has from the fifteenth century been seen to liquify each year on his feasts, a wonder confessed before the world. He is the chief patron of the city of Naples, where his relics are kept in the cathedral, and the people have many times invoked him against the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius.
Holy martyr Theodore at Perge in Pamphylia, with his mother Philippa
The holy martyrs Theodore, his mother Philippa, the soldiers Dioscorus, Socrates and Dionysius suffered for Christ at Perge in Pamphylia during the reign of the emperor Antoninus Pius (138 to 161). Saint Philippa had received from God before her son was born a revelation that he was destined to be crucified for the name of Christ, and she raised him in the faith with this knowledge. When the youth Theodore came of age he was conscripted into the Roman army; but he refused to take part in the customary sacrifice to the idols and openly confessed himself a Christian. The military commander Theodotus had him stretched on a red-hot iron plate and poured liquid pitch over his body. At that moment a great earthquake shook the place and a stream of water gushed up from the earth, putting out the fire, while Theodore was found unharmed and giving glory to God. Theodotus then ordered him bound to wild horses to be torn apart, but the horses ran only as far as the city walls and there fell down dead, leaving the saint unhurt. The soldiers Socrates and Dionysius beheld a chariot of fire descending from heaven and bearing the martyr up; in astonishment they cried out, "Great is the God of the Christians!" and they too were arrested and beheaded. The pagan priest Dioscorus, witnessing the wonders, also confessed Christ and was cast into the same furnace prepared for Theodore, in which he gave up his soul to God. Lastly Theodore was crucified, fulfilling the prophecy made to his mother before his birth. Saint Philippa, having seen her son perfected in martyrdom, was herself beheaded with the sword.
Saint Maximian, patriarch of Constantinople
Saint Maximian was patriarch of Constantinople from 25 October 431 to his repose in April 434. A native of Rome and a man of holy life, he had retired to Constantinople, where he lived as a simple priest devoted to prayer and almsgiving. He was renowned for using his own resources to provide tombs for the poor and for the strangers who died in the city, regarding the burial of the dead as a chief work of mercy. After the deposition of the heretical Nestorius at the Third Ecumenical Council held at Ephesus in 431, the emperor Theodosius II and the assembled bishops chose Maximian as the new archbishop of the imperial city, the heir to a see that had been wracked by the disputes over the divine motherhood of the Theotokos. He governed the Church of Constantinople for two and a half years with quiet wisdom, healing the divisions which Nestorius had left and labouring for the restoration of communion among the eastern hierarchs. He was a faithful supporter of Saint Cyril of Alexandria in the defence of the union of the divine and human natures in the one person of Christ. He reposed peacefully on the eve of Holy Pascha 434 and was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles. The Greek Church keeps his memory on this day.