Venerable Anastasius, Abbot of Sinai (+695)

The Venerable Anastasius, Abbot of Sinai (+695), was born at the end of the sixth century and received a brilliant secular education, which he completed with the study of theology.

The Venerable Anastasius was tonsured a monk in his youth; then he went to Jerusalem and withdrew into seclusion on Mount Sinai. At that time the abbot of Mount Sinai was the Venerable John Climacus (commemorated 30 March), who was succeeded by his brother George. After George the care of the brotherhood was entrusted to the Venerable Anastasius.

The blessed father laboured much in the struggle against the heresy of the Acephalites, which rejected the teaching on the two natures of Christ established by the Fourth Ecumenical Council (451). The Venerable Anastasius travelled through Egypt, Arabia and Syria preaching Orthodoxy. For the struggle with the Monophysites he left his disciples a handbook in the form of questions and answers, made up of twenty-four chapters, called “The Guide”. The Venerable Anastasius also debated with the Jews. The holy father’s works have come down to us: “Commentary on the Six Days” (twelve books), homilies, instructions, lives of saints, and interpretations of passages of Holy Scripture.

The Venerable Anastasius of Sinai died in deep old age (+c. 695).