Life and Ministry
By tradition, Anastasia was born around 281 into a prominent Roman family. Her father, Praetextatus, is described as a Roman of illustrious rank, while her mother — named Fausta — is remembered as a secret Christian who raised her daughter in the faith. She received spiritual instruction from the educated Saint Chrysogonus, who is honored as her teacher.
She was married to a pagan named Publius Patricius, who is said to have mistreated her and confined her within the household. He drowned early in the marriage, leaving Anastasia a young widow; she did not remarry. Freed from this constraint, she secretly devoted her time and means to the poor and to those held in prison, attending to them daily — tending wounds and offering comfort to the imprisoned and suffering.
The synaxarion relates that her ministry extended across the region, with accounts describing her travelling from Aquileia to Sirmium to visit and care for the faithful during the Diocletianic persecution. It was through this work, and through the healings ascribed to her intercession, that she became widely known and eventually drew the attention of the persecuting authorities.
Martyrdom
During Diocletian's persecution Anastasia was arrested and subjected to many torments. The traditional accounts of her death differ: some relate that she was beheaded on the island of Palmaria, while others say she was put to death by fire. The traditional date of her martyrdom is 304.
After her death her remains were interred in the house of a woman named Apollonia, which was afterward converted into a basilica in her honor.
Relics & Shrines
In the fifth century her relics were translated to Constantinople, where a church was built in her honor.
Later, her head and one of her hands were transferred to the Monastery of St. Anastasia the Pharmakolytria in Chalkidiki, Greece, near Mount Athos. Relics associated with the saint are also kept at Zadar Cathedral in Croatia, at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Demetrius in Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia (since 1976), and at Benediktbeuern Abbey in Bavaria, Germany.
Veneration and Legacy
In the Eastern Orthodox Church Anastasia is commemorated on December 22, where she is honored together with the Martyr Chrysogonus and others. In the Western tradition her feast falls on December 25, and her name was inserted into the Roman Canon of the Mass toward the end of the fifth century, making her one of seven women — besides the Virgin Mary — named in that canon.
Historical scholarship treats the detailed narrative of her life as legendary, resting on little firm historical foundation; the secure historical kernel is the memory of a martyr named Anastasia who died at Sirmium and whose veneration was preserved there before spreading widely across both East and West.
