ST ANTHUSA OF SELEUCIA, HERMITESS - 27 AUGUST

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST

Saints celebrated on the 27th of August

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST ANTHUSA OF SELEUCIA, HERMITESS 

(Saint Anthusa the Younger.) Saint Anthusa was ostracised by her pagan family for having become Christian. Originally from Seleucia in modern day Iraq, she had travelled to Tarsus (South Turkey) to secretly receive the sacrament of Baptism from the city’s bishop, St Athanasius. The latter was subsequently martyred as one of the victims of the persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Valerian (253-260).

SHE SETTLED IN A MOUNTAIN CAVE

Because her pagan family did not want to have anything to do with Anthusa since her conversion to Christianity, she journeyed into the wilderness and settled in a mountain cave. Henceforth she lived as a hermitess, spending the remaining years of her life in solitude, praying and doing penance, eating a purely plant based diet consisting mainly of herbs.

A PANTHER LED HER THERE

From time to time she suffered disturbing attacks by demons, but, firm in Christ, she always remained victorious and regained her tranquillity. After twenty-three years in solitude she died a peaceful death. Another hermitess called Polychronia learned of Anthusa’s death when a panther clamped his jaws onto the woman’s mantle and pulled her to the place where Anthusa’s body was resting. Polychronia gave her an honourable burial.