Name day is a special day. As St. John of Kronstadt said, we celebrate the day of the angel so that our heavenly patrons will remember us and pray to the Lord for the health of our soul and body.
Name day is the most important day of the year when you should direct all your thoughts to God and thank him for everything. It will be good if the day of the angel Anastasia is held in the church. This is the best time to think about the eternal and the passing. It is worth thinking about what is good for the soul, and what is not very good.
John of Kronstadt said many wise things regarding prayer, a righteous life, and love of God. He advises everyone who seeks help from their patron saints to think more about eternity and try to lead a modest lifestyle, one might even say ascetic. Let the day of Angel Anastasia pass in thought about this. We should not forget about helping others. John recommends that we all learn from our patrons sincere love for the Almighty, estrangement from worldly vanity, proper prayer, fasting, and selflessness. You should also pay attention to how the saints experienced illness, misfortune and grief: they did not complain about their hard life, but with dignity came out of difficult situations.
When is Anastasia's birthday?
Angel Anastasia's Day falls on January 4, April 28, March 23, November 11 and 12.
Name days are celebrated on the day that follows shortly after the birthday.
Saint Anastasia the Pattern-Maker
Saints set an example for us, show how to live. Let's remember the martyr Anastasia the Lawbreaker, whom the church honors on January 4.
This great woman was born in Rome. Her father worshiped pagan gods, and her mother believed in Christ, but did not tell anyone about it - in those days it was dangerous to spread about it. The girl's teacher in her youth was the righteous and rational Chrysogon, who professed Christianity.
When Anastasia's mother died, her father made the unfortunate woman marry Pomplius. He was a pagan, and the girl was very bitter that she was forced to live with him.
Pious deeds
Anastasia had deep compassion for the prisoners who were convicted of their faith in Jesus. She often put on rags so that everyone would take her for a beggar, and penetrated her dungeons with her maid. If you bear the name of this saint, think about what you are ready to do for the sake of your neighbors. By the way, we already know when Anastasia celebrates angel's day. What date is this holiday, we discussed above. The girl brought food to prisoners, treated them, and often bought them for considerable sums of money. When her husband learned all this from a servant, he beat her and forbade her to leave the house. But the girl found consolation in correspondence with her teacher, who asked her not to lose heart and more often recall the suffering that Christ accepted on the cross. This was to give her strength. The teacher wrote to Anastasia that her husband would die while traveling by sea. Soon Pomplius went to Persia, but never arrived at his destination - he drowned. Freed from the tyranny of her husband, Anastasia began to give away to the poor everything that she had.
The saint began to wander around the world. Shortly before that, she acquired some medical knowledge, and then put it into practice, helping prisoners. It was not without reason that the saint was called the Concealer - she made great efforts to rid many Christians in distress from the bonds. On Angel Day, Anastasia (the date, as we recall, is determined by her birthday) must pray that the heavenly patroness will save her from misfortunes.
Arrest and imprisonment
After some time, Anastasia met with the young and righteous Theodotia, whose husband also recently died. The girl began to help the saint in her good deeds. But in those days there was persecution of Christians, they began to be persecuted. Anastasia was captured when she was in Illyria. Once the guards decided to take her to the governor of the region. Of course, he invited her to renounce the faith and began to describe in paints what suffering awaited her if she did not. But all was limited only to words, and soon the governor of the region sent her to Ulpian, who was at that time the Capitol priest. He was a very cruel man; mocking people was a joy to him. He put the saint before a choice: in the case of renunciation of Christ - a luxurious life, wealth, countless treasures, the best outfits, and otherwise - terrible torment and terrible torture. But he failed to persuade Anastasia to betray her faith - she preferred suffering.
On the day of Angel Anastasia, one should reflect on the courage of this girl. And what would you do in her place? But the saint was not destined to die so early - an incident occurred that prolonged her life. The priest was impressed by the beauty of the girl and decided to rape her, but he did not even manage to touch her - in a flash he lost his sight. A terrible pain in his eyes made him scream out of the house, he headed towards the pagan temple, begging the gods to heal him, but suddenly he fell to the ground and died. Anastasia and Theodotius, thus, escaped captivity.
Martyrdom
Not long the saint was at large, soon she was again captured and decided to drown in the sea. But again a miracle happened: people managed to escape, they went ashore. However, shortly after this, the unfortunate one was destined to die. Saint Anastasia was also executed: four pillars were driven into the ground, a fire was fired between them, and the unfortunate woman was pulled over a fire.
As during the life of the saint helped the suffering people, so now she continues this good work. Remember to pray on January 4th if you bear her name. Also on the
day of the angel (name day) Anastasia should set the festive table and invite everyone who is dear to her.