From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On the Wedding Garment   
      
   Then the king said to the waiters: Bind his hands and feet, and cast   
   him into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of   
   teeth.   
      
   The man without a wedding garment is a figure of the unrepentent   
   sinner in mortal sin who stands before God without the wedding garment   
   of sanctifying grace. The binding of his hands and feet and casting   
   into the exterior darkness represents God punishing the sinner and   
   condemning him to hell. [St. Matt 22: 13]   
      
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   December 25th - St. Anastasia   
   4th v.   
      
   Roman by birth, suffered for Christ at the time of Diocletian's   
   persecution of Christians. Her father was a pagan, but her mother was   
   secretly a Christian. St. Anastasia's teacher in her youth was an   
   educated and pious Christian named Chrysogonus. After the death of her   
   mother, her father gave St. Anastasia in marriage to a pagan named   
   Publius, but feigning illness, she preserved her virginity.   
      
   Clothing herself in the garb of a beggar, and accompanied by only one   
   servant, she visited the prisons. She fed, doctored and often ransomed   
   captives who were suffering for their faith in Christ. When her   
   servant told Publius about everything, he subjected his wife to a   
   beating and locked her up at home. St. Anastasia then began to   
   correspond secretly with Chrysogonus, who told the saint to be   
   patient, to cleave to the Cross of Christ, and to accept the Lord's   
   will. He also foretold the impending death of Publius in the sea.   
   After a certain while Publius did indeed drown, as he was setting out   
   with a delegation to Persia. After the death of her husband, St.   
   Anastasia began to distribute her property to the poor and suffering.   
      
   Diocletian was informed that the Christians who filled the prisons of   
   Rome stoically endured tortures. He gave orders to kill them all in a   
   single night, and for Chrysogonus to be sent to him at Aquileia. St.   
   Anastasia followed her teacher at a distance.   
      
   The emperor interrogated Chrysogonus personally, but could not make   
   him renounce his faith. Therefore, he commanded that he be beheaded   
   and thrown into the sea. The body and severed head of the holy martyr   
   were carried to shore by the waves. There by divine Providence, the   
   relics were found by a presbyter named Zoilus who placed them in a   
   coffer, and concealed them at his home.   
      
   St. Chrysogonus appeared to Zoilus and informed him that martyrdom was   
   at hand for Agape, Chione and Irene (April 16), three sisters who   
   lived nearby. He told him to send St. Anastasia to them to encourage   
   them. St. Chrysogonus foretold that Zoilus would also die on the same   
   day. Nine days later, the words of St. Chrysogonus were fulfilled.   
   Zoilus fell asleep in the Lord, and St. Anastasia visited the three   
   maidens before their tortures. When these three martyrs gave up their   
   souls to the Lord, she buried them.   
      
   Having carried out her teacher's request, the saint went from city to   
   city ministering to Christian prisoners. Proficient in the medical   
   arts of the time, she zealously cared for captives far and wide,   
   healing their wounds and relieving their suffering. Because of her   
   labors, St. Anastasia received the name Deliverer from Potions   
   (Pharmakolytria), since by her intercessions she has healed many from   
   the effects of potions, poisons, and other harmful substances.   
      
   She made the acquaintance of the pious young widow Theodota, finding   
   in her a faithful helper. Theodota was taken for questioning when it   
   was learned that she was a Christian. Meanwhile, St. Anastasia was   
   arrested in Illyricum. This occurred just after all the Christian   
   captives there had been murdered in a single night by order of   
   Diocletian. St. Anastasia had come to one of the prisons, and finding   
   no one there, she began to weep loudly. The jailers realized that she   
   was a Christian and took her to the prefect of the district, who tried   
   to persuade her to deny Christ by threatening her with torture. After   
   his unsuccessful attempts to persuade St. Anastasia to offer sacrifice   
   to idols, he handed her over to the pagan priest Ulpian in Rome.   
      
   The cunning pagan offered St. Anastasia the choice between luxury and   
   riches, or grievous sufferings. He set before her gold, precious   
   stones and fine clothing, and also fearsome instruments of torture.   
   The crafty man was put to shame by the bride of Christ. St. Anastasia   
   refused the riches and chose the tools of torture.   
      
   But the Lord prolonged the earthly life of the saint, and Ulpian gave   
   her three days to reconsider. Charmed by Anastasia's beauty, the pagan   
   priest decided to defile her purity. However, when he tried to touch   
   her he suddenly became blind. His head began to ache so severely that   
   he screamed like a madman. He asked to be taken to a pagan temple to   
   appeal to the idols for help, but on the way he fell down and died.   
      
   St. Anastasia was set free and she and Theodota again devoted   
   themselves to the care of imprisoned Christians. Before long, St.   
   Theodota and her three sons accepted a martyrdom. Her eldest son,   
   Evodus, stood bravely before the judge and endured beatings without   
   protest. After lengthy torture, they were all thrown into a red-hot   
   oven.   
      
   St. Anastasia was caught again and condemned to death by starvation.   
   She remained in prison without food for sixty days. St. Theodota   
   appeared to the martyr every night and gave her courage. Seeing that   
   hunger caused St. Anastasia no harm whatsoever, the judge sentenced   
   her to drowning together with other prisoners. Among them was   
   Eutychianus, who was condemned for his Christian faith.   
      
   The prisoners were put into a boat which went out into the open sea.   
   The soldiers bored holes in the boat and got into a galley. St.   
   Theodota appeared to the captives and steered the ship to shore. When   
   they reached dry land, 120 men believed in Christ and were baptized by   
   Sts Anastasia and Eutychianus. All were captured and received a   
   martyr's crown. St. Anastasia was stretched between four pillars and   
   burned alive. A certain pious woman named Apollinaria buried her body,   
   which was unharmed by the fire, in the garden outside her house.   
      
   In the fifth century the relics of St. Anastasia were transferred to   
   Constantinople, where a church was built and dedicated to her. Later   
   the head and a hand of the Great Martyr were transferred to the   
   monastery of St. Anastasia [Deliverer from Potions], near Mount Athos.   
      
   Answer quickly, O Virgin. Reply in haste to the angel, or rather   
   through the angel to the Lord. Answer with a word, receive the Word of   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)