Anastasius of Persia | |
|---|---|
 The burial of Anastasius in the Menologion of Basil II | |
| Saint & Martyr | |
| Born | 6th Century Ray |
| Died | 22 January 628 Euphrates Valley |
| Venerated in | Orthodox Churches, Eastern Catholic Churches, Roman Catholic Church |
| Canonized | pre-congregation |
| Feast | 22 January |
Saint Anastasius of Persia, also known by his native name Magundat, was a Zoroastrian soldier in the Sasanian army who later became a convert to Christianity and was martyred in 628.
Anastasius was born in the city of Ray. He was the son of a magus named Bau. He had a brother whose name is unknown. He was a cavalryman in the army of Khosrow II (r. 590–628) and participated in the 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 (Mar Saba) in Jerusalem [ dubious ]. He was baptized by Modestus, receiving the Christian name Anastasius to honor the resurrection of Jesus Christ ("Anástasis" in Greek).
After seven years of monastic observance, he was moved by the Holy Ghost to 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 local marzban , [1] taken prisoner, cruelly tortured to make him abjure, and finally carried down near the Euphrates, to a place called Barsaloe (or Bethsaloe according to the Bollandists), where his tortures were continued while at the same time the highest honors in the service of King Khosrow II as a magus were promised him if he would renounce Christianity.
Finally, after refusing to abjure, with seventy others, he was strangled to death and decapitated on January 22, 628.
His body, which was thrown to the dogs but left untouched by them, was carried from the place of his martyrdom to Palestine, then to Constantinople, and finally to Rome where the relics were venerated at the Tre Fontane Abbey.
A Passio [2] 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 historian Bede, who criticized 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. [3]
His feast day is 22 January.
Khosrow I, traditionally known by his epithet of Anushirvan, was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 531 to 579. He was the son and successor of Kavad I.
Kavad I was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 488 to 531, with a two or three-year interruption. A son of Peroz I, he was crowned by the nobles to replace his deposed and unpopular uncle Balash.
Kavad II was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran briefly in 628.
Khosrow II, also known as Khosrow Parviz, is considered to be the last great Sasanian king (shah) of Iran, ruling from 590 to 628, with an interruption of one year.
Hormizd IV was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 579 to 590. He was the son and successor of Khosrow I and his mother was a Khazar princess.
Yazdegerd I was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 399 to 420. A son of Shapur III, he succeeded his brother Bahram IV after the latter's assassination.
Yazdegerd III was the last Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 632 to 651. His father was Shahriyar and his grandfather was Khosrow II.
Shahrbaraz, was shah (king) of the Sasanian Empire from 27 April 630 to 9 June 630. He usurped the throne from Ardashir III, and was killed by Iranian nobles after forty days. Before usurping the Sasanian throne he was a spahbed (general) under Khosrow II (590–628). He is furthermore noted for his important role during the climactic Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, and the events that followed afterwards.
Shirin was a Christian wife of the Sasanian King of Kings (shahanshah) Khosrow II. In the revolution after the death of Khosrow's father Hormizd IV, the General Bahram Chobin took power over the Persian empire. Shirin fled with Khosrow to Syria, where they lived under the protection of Byzantine emperor Maurice. In 591, Khosrow returned to Persia to take control of the empire and Shirin was made queen. She used her new influence to support the Christian minority in Iran, but the political situation demanded that she do so discreetly. Initially she belonged to the Church of the East, the so-called Nestorians, but later she joined the miaphysite church of Antioch, now known as the Syriac Orthodox Church. After conquering Jerusalem in 614, amidst the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, the Persians captured the True Cross of Jesus and brought it to their capital Ctesiphon, where Shirin took the cross in her palace.
The SasanianEmpire, officially known as Eranshahr, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th–8th centuries AD. Named after the House of Sasan, it endured for over four centuries, from 224 to 651 AD, making it the longest-lived Persian imperial dynasty. The Sasanian Empire succeeded the Parthian Empire, and re-established the Persians as a major power in late antiquity alongside its neighbouring arch-rival, the Roman Empire. The empired ended with the Arab conquest of Iran.
Anōshazād, known in the Shahnameh as Nōshzād, was a Sasanian prince who was the leader of a revolt in southwestern province of Khuzistan in the 540s. He was the oldest son of king Khosrow I, while his mother was a Christian and the daughter of the judge (dadwar) of Ray.
Gabriel of Sinjar was a court physician (drustbed) of the Sasanian shah Khosrow II. He played a major role in inter-Christian rivalries in the Sasanian empire.
George of Izla was an East Syriac martyr, theologian and interpreter. He was mainly remembered for his role in a royal disputation which eventually led to his execution.
The Sasanian civil war of 628–632, also known as the Sasanian Interregnum was a conflict that broke out after the execution of the Sasanian king Khosrow II between the nobles of different factions, notably the Parthian (Pahlav) faction, the Persian (Parsig) faction, the Nimruzi faction, and the faction of general Shahrbaraz. Rapid turnover of rulers and increasing provincial landholder power further diminished the empire. Over a period of four years and 14 successive kings, the Sasanian Empire weakened considerably, and the power of the central authority passed into the hands of its generals, contributing to its fall.
Yazdin was an influential Iranian aristocrat, who served as the financial minister of the Sasanian king Khosrow II.
The Sassanid Empire or Sassanian Dynasty is the name used for the Persian dynasty which lasted from 224 to 651 AD.
Gregory the Commander was a Sasanian military leader from the House of Mihran, who denounced Zoroastrianism and converted to Christianity, but was later as a result executed between 555-562.
Adur Gushnasp was the name of a Zoroastrian sacred fire of the highest grade, which served as one of the three most sacred fires of pre-Islamic Iran; the two others being the Adur Farnbag and Adur Burzen-mihr. Out of the three, Adur Gushnasp is the only fire whose temple structure has been discovered and "for which archaeological, sigillographical, and textual evidence are all available."
Ishoʿsabran, born Mahanosh, was a Persian Zoroastrian convert to Christianity who was martyred in the Sasanian Empire in 620 or 621. He is commemorated as a saint in the East Syriac churches on the third Friday after Annunciation.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Campbell, Thomas Joseph (1907). "St. Anastasius (2)". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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