The life of St Anastasius of Persia
Witnessing the reverence the captured Cross was given and the wonders reported of it stirred in him a desire to know more about the Christian faith, and in time, while stationed at Chalcedon, he came to believe in Christ.
He left the army, was baptized taking the name Anastasius, and became a monk near Jerusalem, giving himself for seven years to prayer and ascetic labor. Later, in Caesarea, he openly denounced the Zoroastrian priests and their religion, and for this he was arrested by the local governor and taken into custody. He was beaten, confined, and set to labor in a quarry, and was offered high honors in the king's service if he would deny Christ, which he steadfastly refused to do. By order of King Khosrow, he was strangled and then beheaded, together with a number of companions, in the year 628. His relics were later carried out of Persia to Palestine, then to Constantinople, and finally to Rome, venerated for centuries after in each of those places.
