Venerable Anthusa the Abbess (VIII)

The Venerable Anthusa lived in Asia Minor, in Mantineon in Paphlagonia, in the eighth century. She withdrew early from the vanity of the world and laboured in the mountains in complete solitude. Later the holy hieromonk Sisinius tonsured her a nun and appointed her superior of a women’s monastery. In the time of the Emperor Constantine Copronymus (741–775) the Venerable Anthusa was seized and required to renounce the veneration of icons: the blessed mother refused to obey the order, for which terrible torments were brought upon her. The holy confessor foretold to the emperor’s wife, who was present at the torture, the birth of a son and a daughter. When what she had foretold came true, the blessed mother was set free. She returned to her monastery, where she laboured until deep old age. The daughter born to the emperor’s wife was named Anthusa in her honour. The blessed mother passed her earthly life in a manner pleasing to God and joined the company of the saints.