Feast today: The memory of St. Anastasios, of Sinai, April 21, our Church – St. Anastasios lived in the 7th century AD. and came from a noble family. But he quickly abandoned the world and the things of life and became a monk.
He went to Jerusalem and after worshiping the Holy Places, he ended up at Mount Sinai, at the monastery of Agia Catherine, of which he was abbot. There he found ascetic monks and stayed with them as their subordinate and servant. Because he was very humble, he received from God the gift of knowledge and much wisdom, with which he wrote biographies of the Holy Fathers and composed spiritual discourses. After reaching a ripe old age, he passed away peacefully in the early 8th century AD.
Some works of Saint Anastasios are the following:
a) “Driver”. This work consists of 24 chapters and was so named because it was intended to serve as a guide in support of Orthodoxy against Monophysitism,
b) “Questions and answers about various funds and various persons”. In this work Saint Anastasios, following the method of Saint Maximus the Confessor, of questions and answers, resolves various doctrinal, practical and ecclesiastical issues,
c) “Speech about the holy assembly and about not judging and holding grudges”, where it refers to the Eucharist,
d) “Theories reducible to the six-day period”. The entire work consists of a total of twelve books,
e) “By image”. Two reasons about the creation of man in the image of God,
f) “Useless uses of some disrespectful Arians, you disobey the self-willed divinity of the Son of God and build the Creator of the answers.” This book contains excerpts from a collection of passages of Fathers against heretics.
Finally, it is worth quoting a passage from a collection of St. Anastasios, who, using the words of Jesus Christ “judge not lest ye be judged”, writes: “And when you see your brother sinning, then do not judge him and indeed when he is a priest. Remember that there is one judge, God, who will render to each one according to his works. You have indeed seen your brother’s sin, but do you also know all his good deeds? It is even possible that this sin, which you saw, he washed away all of it with the tears of his repentance”.