Venerable Martyr Anastasius the Persian

Anastasius was born Magundat, the son of a Persian magus, and served as a soldier of King Khosrow II, whose armies took Jerusalem in 614 and carried off the relic of the Cross. Hearing about the Cross and the Christians, he left the army, learned the goldsmith's trade from a Christian, and in Jerusalem was baptized with the name Anastasius. He then became a monk in a monastery near the city and lived there for seven years.

Going to Caesarea in Palestine, which was then under Persian rule, he openly confessed Christ and was arrested. He was sent to Persia, imprisoned and beaten, and refused all offers of freedom. In January 628, near the town of Bethsaloe, he was strangled with other Christian prisoners and then beheaded. His Life was written soon afterwards by a monk of his monastery.