7th century
Saint Anastasius the Persian
Persian soldier who became a Christian monk and was martyred in 628.
Biography
Anastasius was born in Persia as Magundat, the son of a Zoroastrian priest. He served as a soldier in the army of King Khosrow II and was in Jerusalem when the Persians captured the city in 614 and carried off the True Cross. His contact with Christianity there led him to convert; he was baptised and became a monk at a monastery in Jerusalem, taking the name Anastasius.
He later went to Caesarea in Palestine, where he openly professed his faith and clashed with Zoroastrian priests. He was arrested by the local governor, tortured for refusing to renounce Christianity, and finally beheaded in 628 along with other confessors. His relics were later carried, according to different traditions, to Constantinople and to Rome.