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Today the Bulgarian Orthodox Church celebrates St. Anastasius Strumishki, a new martyr from the 18th century. In the Greek church the saint is known as Anastasius the Bulgarian.
He was born around 1774 in the town of Radovish in the Strumica diocese. At the age of 20 he started working in Thessaloniki as an assistant to a master tufekchiya. One day, disguised as a Turk, he tried to smuggle goods through the city’s customs. However, customs officials asked him to say an Islamic prayer to prove he was a Muslim.
Anastasius refused, and so the Ottomans, realizing that he was a Christian. He was tortured and promised to convert to Islam.
Then Anastasius was sent to the kadi, who, after also failing to persuade him to apostasy, and therefore ordered the Bulgarian to be beaten and imprisoned.
After three days of torture and exhortation, Anastasius was sent to the mullah, who also failed to convert him to Islam and ordered him hanged outside the walls, to the New Gate of Thessaloniki, for edification.
Anastasius died of his wounds on his way to the execution site in 1794.
The life of Anastasius the Bulgarian is preserved by the Venerable Nicodemus of Mount Athos. Archbishop Filaret Chernigovski in his book “Saints of the Southern Slavs” gives the date August 29, as the memory of the saint is revered in the Bulgarian Orthodox calendar.
Today, name day can be celebrated by Anastas, Anastasia, Tasko, Asya. The name Anastasius comes from Greek and means resurrected.
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