Saint Theophano the Empress and the Founding of the Monastery of Saint Anastasia the Pharmakolytria in Thessaloniki

According to tradition, the Chapel of the Dormition of the Theotokos pre-existed the Sacred Monastery of Saint Anastasia the Pharmakolytria, having been established in 803 AD, and a brotherhood of monks lived in monasticism in the historic chapel of the Panagia who especially honored Saint Anastasia the Pharmakolytria. The Chapel of the Dormition was built within the Royal Estate of Empress Theophano Augusta, wife of Emperor Leo VI the Wise.

Theophano lived in Byzantium with her husband Leo VI the Wise during the reign of Emperor Basil the Macedonian (867-886). A misunderstanding between her father-in-law and her husband resulted in Emperor Basil the Macedonian ordering the exile of Theophano and her husband Leo VI the Wise to the Royal Estates, a dowry of Theophano which was the area where the Monastery of Saint Anastasia the Pharmakolytria is now built, in Vasilika of Thessaloniki.

Holy Sisters and Virgin Martyrs Agape, Irene and Chionia of Thessaloniki

Sts. Agape, Irene and Chionia (Feast Day - April 16)

Verses

To Agape and Chonia.

The fire was as if snow to Chonia,

Which she partook of with her beloved Agape.

To Irene.

An arrow was dispatched to that peaceful place,
Intoxicated by your blood Irene.

Chionia and Agape were burnt on the sixteenth.

The Holy Martyrs Agape, Irene, and Chionia were sisters who lived during the reign of Emperor Diocletian (284-305). They hailed from Thessaloniki and were left orphaned at an early age. When a persecution against the Christians broke out, they left their homeland and went to a mountain near a lake in the area of Nicaea, where they lived in a hermitage with a priest named Zoilos (Dec. 22).

Saint Anastasia the Pharmakolytria Resource Page

St. Anastasia the Pharmakolytria (Feast Day - December 22)

Verses

Anastasia had as medicine great faith,
With all this medicine she was bound and burned.
Anastasia was violently burned in the fire on the twenty-second.

   

Synaxaria for Saints Anastasia the Pharmakolytria, Chrysogonos, Zoilos, Theodoti and Her Three Children 

 

Holy Great Martyr Anastasia the Pharmakolytria

 

December: Day 22: Teaching 1: Holy Great Martyr Anastasia the Deliverer from Bonds

 

December: Day 22: Teaching 2: Holy Great Martyr Anastasia the Deliverer from Bonds 

 

Saint Anastasia the Pharmakolytria in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

 

Holy Martyr Chrysygonos at Aquileia 

 

Holy Martyr Theodoti and her Three Children 

 

Holy Sisters and Virgin Martyrs Agape, Irene and Chionia of Thessaloniki

April: Day 16: Holy Martyrs Agape, Irene and Chionia

 

Why is Saint Anastasia Known as the "Deliverer From Potions" (Pharmakolytria)?

 

Church of the Holy Martyr Anastasia in Novgorod, Built in One Day To Protect the People From the Deadly Plague of 1417

 

Saint Theophano the Empress and the Founding of the Monastery of Saint Anastasia the Pharmakolytria in Thessaloniki 

 

The Holy Skull of St. Anastasia the Pharmakolytria To Be Brought To Ukraine 

 

Relics of St. Anastasia Pharmakolytria Stolen 

 

A Call To Return the Holy Relics of Saint Anastasia 

 

My Grandfather and Saint Anastasia Pharmakolytria

 

Relics of St. Anastasia Pharmakolytria Stolen

The relics of St. Anastasia Pharmakolytria are in the hands of bandits after the burglary of the Patriarchal and Stavropegic Monastery of the same Saint in Thessaloniki.

The robbery took place, as estimated by police, on the evening of April 22 towards April 23, most likely in the morning on the feast of St. George.

According to preliminary information the burglary took place at night some time from 10pm until 5:40 the morning of April 23, and the robbers had to "open" five doors to get inside the Katholikon of the Monastery and to commit the unholy act of grabbing their sacred "prey".

The reliquary with the skull of St. Anastasia, the shrine with the feet of the Saint, a reliquary with fragment relics of St. Anastasia, St. Paraskevi and St. Modestos, and a modern art blessing cross was on the Holy Altar and an empty reliquary is now in the hands of robbers.

Note that these shrines are dated after 1830, ie after the burning of the Monastery. They also broke the Candle Stands and removed an unknown amount of the offerings of the faithful as well as items for sale from the showroom of the Monastery.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

The Holy Skull of St. Anastasia the Pharmakolytria To Be Brought To Ukraine

Following the paschal celebrations, the Holy Skull of the Great Martyr Saint Anastasia the Pharmokolitria will be escorted throughout Ukraine in various churches for a blessing to the people. This is being done with the blessing of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, under whose jurisdiction is the Monastery of St. Anastasia the Pharmakolytria in Chalkidiki of Greece. For the Ukrainians, this will be a major event and will be very much welcomed and celebrated.

St. Anastasia was tortured and endured many torments and was eventually put to death by fire in the year 290 in Rome. In the fifth century the relics of the saint were transferred to Constantinople, where a church was built and dedicated to her. This was the church where St. Andrew the Fool-for-Christ was brought to be cured from his foolishness, and there St. Anastasia appeared to him in a dream and encouraged him to continue his ascetic feat. Later her head and one of her hands were transferred to the Monastery of St. Anastasia the Pharmokolitria in Chalkidiki of Greece.

The Monastery of St. Anastasia the Pharmakolytria is under the jurisdiction of the Church of Constantinople and is located near the village of Vassilika of Thessaloniki (Chalkidiki of Greece), at the base of one of Mount Hortiatis' summits, Adrianos. The monastery is said to have been founded by Leon sometime in the 6th Century but this has not been verified by any historian. It is more likely that it was built in 1522 by St. Theonas, who later became the Metropolitan bishop of Thessaloniki. During the Turkish occupation, the monastery owned many acres of land but the buildings were destroyed by the Turks during the Greek War of Independence of 1821 and were rebuilt in 1830.

The heirlooms of the monastery include the whole-body relic of St. Theona and the head of St. Anastasia the Healer. The monastery honors St. Anastasia on December 22.

Holy Great Martyr Anastasia the Pharmakolytria

St. Anastasia the Deliverer From Potions and Bonds (Feast Day - December 22)

                                                             By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

This glorious heroine of the Christian Faith was born in Rome into a wealthy senatorial family of a pagan father and a Christian mother. From her early youth, she clung in love to the Lord Jesus, guided in the teaching of Christ by a devout teacher, Chrysogonus.

Anastasia was forced by her father to enter into marriage with a pagan landowner, Publius. Excusing herself on the basis of a female illness, she in no way wished to enter into physical relations with him. For this, her husband tortured her harshly by confinement and starvation. He inflicted even more tortures upon her when he learned of her secret visits to the prisons of the Christian martyrs: bringing them provisions, ministering to them, bathing their wounds and loosening their bonds. But by God's providence she was freed from her wicked husband. Publius was sent to Persia by the emperor, and while sailing on the sea he was drowned. St. Anastasia then began to minister freely to the tortured Christian martyrs and to comfort the poor, giving them alms from her great inheritance.

At one time the Emperor Diocletian was in the town of Aquileia and ordered that Chrysogonus, the confessor of Christ, be brought to him. St. Anastasia accompanied him on the way. Holy Chrysogonus was beheaded by order of the emperor, and then three sisters - Agape, Chionia and Irene - also suffered (April 16): the first two were cast into fire and the third was shot through with arrows. St. Anastasia took their bodies, wrapped them in white linen, anointed them with many aromatic spices, and honorably buried them.

Following this, Anastasia went to Macedonia, where she helped the sufferers for Christ. There she became well known as a Christian, for which she was seized and brought before various judges for interrogation and torture. Desiring to die for her beloved Christ, Anastasia constantly longed for Him in her heart. A certain chief of the pagan priests, Ulpianus, lustfully tried to touch St. Anastasia's body, but he was suddenly blinded and breathed his last.

Condemned to death by starvation, St. Anastasia lingered in prison for thirty days without food, nourishing herself only on tears and prayer. Then she was placed in a boat with several other Christians to be drowned, but God delivered her even from this death. She was finally tied by the feet and hands to four wheels over a fire, and she gave up her holy soul to God. She suffered and took up her habitation in the Kingdom of Christ in the year 304 [or 290].

A Reflection From Her Life

The merciful God often sends comfort to those pleasing to Him on earth from the other world through his saints. St. Theodota suffered for Christ before St. Anastasia. Anastasia was then cast into a confined and dark prison to die of hunger, according to the judgment of the torturers. During the thirty days of her imprisonment, St. Theodota appeared to Anastasia every night from the other world and strengthened her in her suffering.

Anastasia spoke of many things with St. Theodota and asked numerous questions. One night she asked her how she was able to come to her after her death. Theodota replied that the souls of the martyrs are given special grace from God, so that after departing this world they may return to speak to whomever they desire for the imparting of instruction and comfort.

When thirty days had passed, the torturer brought St. Anastasia out of prison and was amazed to see her still alive. He then condemned her, along with several others, to be drowned in the sea. The Christians were put into a small boat by the soldiers, who set sail in another. When the Christians were brought out into the deep, the soldiers upset the boat, so that the water would enter and drown the condemned. Then a miraculous vision took place: St. Theodota appeared on the water and guided the boat to shore. Thus, all who were condemned to death were saved with Anastasia. Seeing this miracle of God, one hundred and twenty pagans immediately believed in Christ and were baptized.

HYMN OF PRAISE: 
The Holy Great Martyr Anastasia, 

the Deliverer from Bonds

The holy maiden Anastasia serves God;
She shines before God by faith, hope and deeds.
The maiden leaves husband, honor and riches,
And gladly serves the captives, glorifying God.
She looses the bonds, and washes the wounds of the martyrs;
She looses their bonds, giving gifts and not fetters.
She seeks payment neither from men nor from the earth.
Christ God eases her soul and heart.
Her pains have passed, and Anastasia remains in glory;
She now rejoices with the angels in heaven.

Apolytikion in the Fifth Tone
As a martyr you emulated the deeds of the martyrs, to whom you ministered, and, striving valiantly, you overcame the enemy. You are an abundant and overflowing source of grace for all who come to you, O godly-minded Anastasia!

Kontakion in the Second Tone
When they that are found in trials and adversities flee unto thy church O Anastasia, they receive the august and wondrous gifts of divine grace which doth abide in thee; for at all times, O Saint of God, thou pourest forth streams of healings for the world.

My Grandfather and Saint Anastasia Pharmakolytria

St. Anastasia the Great Martyr and Deliverer from Potions (Feast Day - December 22)

By John Sanidopoulos

Originally my grandfather, John, was from Smyrna in Asia Minor. As a child in the early 20th century he was responsible for going daily to the nearby Church of Saint Anastasia the Great Martyr and Deliverer from Potions in order to light the oil lamps before the holy icons.

At some point he became deathly ill. His parents called for the doctor to come by the house to see what they could do, but all hope for his healing vanished. The doctor informed John's parents one evening that his condition was so bad that he would not see the sun rise the next morning.

As John was laying in bed that evening trying to rest, suddenly he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in" he said.

The door then opened and inside his bedroom walked a woman whom he did not recognize. Seeing John laying on his bed deathly ill, she said to him: "John, why are you lying down? Get up and go to my church to light the oil lamps." She then turned around and walked away.

Immediately John recognized this woman from the icon of St. Anastasia in the church, and that it was she who was asking him to go to her church. He got out of bed, not without difficulty, and secretly made his way to the church. After lighting all the oil lamps he returned home. The next morning, when he awoke, he was completely healed, to the relief and joy of his family.

When the population exchange took place between Turkey and Greece in 1922, my grandfather John settled in Patras, Greece where he met and married my grandmother who happened to be named Anastasia (because she was born on Easter and ironically died on Holy Thursday in 1997). There he became a successful Master Electrician, from whom my father learned the trade and followed in his footsteps of being a Master Electrician to this day.

Because he was one of few Master Electricians in 1940's Greece, during World War 2 he was taken prisoner by the German Nazi's as a hired prisoner to help them with their electrical work at Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany. Of course at that time he didn't know what was really going on at Dachau, but he was there for two years working as an Electrician. Because he was a hired prisoner, he lived away from the rest of the prisoners of the camp and enjoyed a bit more freedom than most and better food (similar to St. Nikolai Velimirovich when he was there, though I don't know if they knew each other). Slowly however he would notice prisoners disappearing and soon understood they were being executed. He would help his fellow, less fortunate, prisoners often by stealing potatoes from the kitchen and bringing it to them. On one occasion he also saved the lives of two Jews by helping them escape under a fence.

Though my grandfather was very successful in his business, he was not very rich. His family lived in a bad part of town (Agio Ioanni Bratsika area) because he would spend his money on food and drink with his friends. He had a reputation of being very generous among his friends, yet with his family he was often cruel. As an alcoholic he was abusive, especially to his wife and two sons. Despite this he was extremely reverential when it came to St. Anastasia. My grandmother told me that despite his alcoholism and blasphemous remarks, whenever he would look at the icon of St. Anastasia, even in his older age, he would take it in his arms and kiss it with tears.

He died Christmas day in 1974 because of complications with diabetes (one of his legs was amputated), after he received Holy Communion. He always wanted a grandson named after him, but I was not born until 1976.