Venerable (Monastic)9th century

Saints Anna and her Son John of Constantinople

died 826

Also known as Anna · Euthymianus · John

A widow of Constantinople who, taking the name Euthymianus, lived in a monastery in the guise of a man, and with her son John shared a hidden life of ascetic struggle.

June 13New Calendar

Feast Day

June 26Old Calendar

Suggest a correction Contribute

Icon galleryBrowse icons and imagery elsewhere

Life

Saints Anna and her son John of Constantinople were a ninth-century mother and son commemorated together for a shared life of hidden ascetic struggle. Anna was the daughter of a deacon attached to the church of Blachernae in Constantinople, and after the death of her husband she adopted men's clothing and took the name Euthymianus.

Under this assumed male identity she and her son John withdrew to a monastic community in the Bithynian region near Mount Olympus, where the two pursued the ascetic life together. Anna died in Constantinople in 826. She and John are venerated as monastic saints, and the Orthodox Church keeps their memory on two dates, June 13 and October 29.

Troparion1 hymnReadHide

TroparionTone 8

By a flood of tears you made the desert fertile,
and your longing for God brought forth fruits in abundance.
By the radiance of miracles you illumined the whole universe!
O holy Anna and John, pray to Christ our God to save our souls!

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

Timeline2 momentsReadHide

c. 450The Blachernae church is foundedConstruction of the church of St. Mary of Blachernae in Constantinople begins under the Empress Pulcheria; later emperors expand and renovate it, and by the seventh century it becomes the city's principal Marian shrine. Anna's father would later serve there as a deacon.
826Repose of Saint AnnaAnna, who had taken the name Euthymianus and lived in the guise of a man together with her son John in a monastic community near Mount Olympus in Bithynia, dies in Constantinople.

Contributions & Legacy

2 contributionsReadHide

Life and Ascetic Struggle

According to the synaxarion, Anna was the daughter of a deacon who served at the church of Blachernae in Constantinople. After she was widowed, she set aside her former life and gave herself to monastic discipline. To enter and remain within a male monastic community, she dressed in men's clothing and took the name Euthymianus.

Together with her son John, she pursued the ascetic life in a monastic community situated in the Bithynian region near Mount Olympus, a major center of Byzantine monasticism. The two shared this concealed manner of life until Anna's death in Constantinople in 826.

Historical Context

The church of Blachernae, where Anna's father served as deacon, stood in the northwestern section of Constantinople. Construction began around 450 under the Empress Pulcheria, with later expansions under the Emperor Leo I (reigned 457-474) and renovations attributed to the Emperor Justinian I. By 627, under the Emperor Heraclius, it had become the principal Marian shrine of the city and the second-most important church in Constantinople after Hagia Sophia.

The shrine remained an active center of devotion in the ninth century: the Emperor Theophilus (reigned 829-842) is recorded as having visited it during the very period in which Anna's father served there as a deacon.

Related SaintsShowHide

Browse other saints who share their calling and place.

More Greece370 More Byzantine Saints1282 More Monastics1353

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints