A saint's day
St Anastasia the Deliverer from Potions
St Anastasia, a daughter of a noble Roman family, was taught the faith by the martyr Chrysogonus. She put on beggar's clothes and secretly visited the prisons of Rome, washing and feeding the sick, binding their wounds and ransoming those who suffered for Christ; after her husband's death she gave everything to the poor and went from city to city ministering to Christian prisoners. She was martyred under Diocletian around 304, and by her intercessions she has healed many from the effects of potions and poisons.
The dates
- Kept on
- 22 December (4 January on the Old Calendar)
- Next, New Calendar
- Next, Old Calendar
The New Calendar (the Greek, Antiochian, Romanian and Bulgarian churches, the OCA and most converts) keeps fixed feasts on the church date; the Old Calendar (the Russian, Serbian and Georgian churches, Jerusalem and Mount Athos) keeps them 13 days later. Pascha and the feasts that follow it are kept on the same day by both.
How the day is kept
Slavs call her the Loosener of Bonds and pray to her for prisoners; Greeks call her the Deliverer from Potions and pray to her against poisons and spells.
Families of prisoners pray to her, and in Russian popular custom expectant mothers ask her for a safe delivery.
Name days
These names keep their name day on this feast: