THE HOLY FEMALE MARTYR ANTHUSA AND OTHERS WITH HER

August 22

From the Prologue

Anthusa was the daughter of wealthy but pagan parents from Seleucia in Syria. Learning about Christ, Anthusa believed in Him with all her heart and secretly went to Bishop Athanasius who baptized her. At the time of her baptism, angels of God appeared to her. After that, Anthusa set out for the wilderness to live a life of asceticism for she was afraid to return to her parents. Anthusa lived a life of asceticism in the wilderness for twenty-three years. While praying to God, she gave up her soul kneeling on a stone under which, according to her last testament, she wished to be buried. Bishop Athanasius and two of Anthusa's servants, Charismus and Neophytus, were slain after that because of their faith in Christ at the time of Emperor Valerian about the year 257 A.D. They all died honorably and were crowned with wreaths.

HYMN OF PRAISE

THE HOLY FEMALE MARTYR EULALIA

God's white dove,

And martyr of Christ,

Eulalia, torture desires,

That by torture, to whiten the spirit.

What is the body? A potter's weak clay,

When, from it, the soul breaks forth,

To its own dust, dust returns,

The soul, to the angelic world.

Eulalia bears Christ.

Without sighing, tortures she endures,

Tortures endures, prays to God,

The torturer, to withstand.

And, the dove withstood,

And the martyr conquered.

Her body wounded,

By white snow is covered,

The soul a dove from within her, flies,

To her Creator, it flies,

On her lifeless face,

By white snow covered,

Behold, the smile of the victor,

Behold, the smile of the avenger!

With a smile, she found

And a new life proclaimed.

By the prayers of Eulalia

That God also have mercy on us!




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