The divine Baptist, the Prophet born of a Prophet, the seal of all the Prophets and beginning of the Apostles, the mediator between the Old and New Covenants, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, the God-sent Messenger of the incarnate Messiah, the forerunner of Christ's coming into the world (Esaias 40: 3; Mal. 3: 1); who by many miracles was both conceived and born; who was filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb; who came forth like another Elias the Zealot, whose life in the wilderness and divine zeal for God's Law he imitated: this divine Prophet, after he had preached the baptism of repentance according to God's command; had taught men of low rank and high how they must order their lives; had admonished those whom he baptized and had filled them with the fear of God, teaching them that no one is able to escape the wrath to come if he do not works worthy of repentance; had, through such preaching, prepared their hearts to receive the evangelical teachings of the Savior; and finally, after he had pointed out to the people the very Savior, and said, "Behold the Lamb of God, Which taketh away the sin of the world" (Luke 3:2-18; John 1: 29-36), after all this, John sealed with his own blood the truth of his words and was made a sacred victim for the divine Law at the hands of a transgressor.

This was Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Galilee, the son of Herod the Great. This man had a lawful wife, the daughter of Arethas (or Aretas), the King of Arabia (that is, Arabia Petraea, which had the famous Nabatean stone city of Petra as its capital. This is the Aretas mentioned by Saint Paul in II Cor. 11:32). Without any cause, and against every commandment of the Law, he put her away and took to himself Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, to whom Herodias had borne a daughter, Salome. He would not desist from this unlawful union even when John, the preacher of repentance, the bold and austere accuser of the lawless, censured him and told him, "It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife" (Mark 6: 18). Thus Herod, besides his other unholy acts, added yet this, that he apprehended John and shut him in prison; and perhaps he would have killed him straightway, had he not feared the people, who had extreme reverence for John. Certainly, in the beginning, he himself had great reverence for this just and holy man. But finally, being pierced with the sting of a mad lust for the woman Herodias, he laid his defiled hands on the teacher of purity on the very day he was celebrating his birthday. When Salome, Herodias' daughter, had danced in order to please him and those who were supping with him, he promised her -- with an oath more foolish than any foolishness -- that he would give her anything she asked, even unto the half of his kingdom. And she, consulting with her mother, straightway asked for the head of John the Baptist in a charger. Hence this transgressor of the Law, preferring his lawless oath above the precepts of the Law, fulfilled this godless promise and filled his loathsome banquet with the blood of the Prophet. So it was that that all-venerable head, revered by the Angels, was given as a prize for an abominable dance, and became the plaything of the dissolute daughter of a debauched mother. As for the body of the divine Baptist, it was taken up by his disciples and placed in a tomb (Mark 6: 21 - 29). Concerning the finding of his holy head, see February 24 and May 25.

The New Martyr Anastasius, a Bulgarian, was born in 1774 in the Strumnitsk diocese, in the village of Radovicha. His parents gave him over to military studies. When the youth was twenty years old, he happened to be with his teacher in Thessalonica. The master wanted to sell some Turkish clothes without paying the customary duty. He told his disciple to dress himself as a Turk and go into the city. The collectors of the duty stopped him and demanded the written receipt of duty payment. The youth answered that he was a Turk. Then the collectors demanded that he recite the salutation with the Moslem prayer. The youth became confused and quiet. They ordered him to appear before the commander, who in interrogating the martyr suggested that he become a Moslem. The youth refused, and they led him away to the chief tax-collector.

The official tried at first to flatter, then to threaten the martyr, who admitted his civil guilt, but would not agree to betray the holy Faith. The tax-collector made this known to the mufti, who in turn answered, “You have in one hand the sword, in the other the law, use what you wish.”

He knew that by law the tax-collector ought to collect the tax from the youth, but then by judgment of the mufti he would not be a follower of Mohammed, armed with a sword. When he had received such an answer, the commander of the haraje sent the youth to the local mullah together with five Turks, who were obliged to testify that the Christian had blasphemed the Moslem religion.

To the accusations of blasphemy against Mohammed by these witnesses, the youth honestly answered that he did not blaspheme him, but he would allow having shown disrespect to Moslem customs. They subjected him to torture and condemned him to hanging. Along the way, they continued to urge the martyr to renounce his faith, but bleeding and exhausted, he fell upon the wayside and died on August 29, 1794.

St. Theodora of Thessaloniki was born in Aegina, an island in the Saronic Gulf southwest of Athens, in 812. Her father, Antony, was a first rank priest, her brother was a deacon and her sister a nun in the local convent. At birth, Theodora's mother, Chrysanthe, died, prompting her father to place Theodora (her baptismal name Agape, meaning "love" in Greek) under her godmother Anna's watch. It was customary at the time for religion to play an integral, if not sole, part in everyday life. A person was considered nobility if they devoted themselves to the church and worship. Early on it was apparent that Theodora was to follow in her family's footsteps as being pious and true in her faith.

At seven Theodora was betrothed to a man her father deemed worthy of such a fair and good woman. They were married later and Theodora gave birth to three children (of which only one survived). After the death of her brother at the hands of the Arabs, whose raids on Aegina left the islands devastated in the ninth and tenth centuries, she, along with her husband, father and daughter Theopiste, emmigrated to Thessaloniki (thus the origin of her epithet). Near the age of 25 (837 AD), Theodora's husband died. Widowed, she sent her daughter to St. Stephen's convent for tonsure (accepting the vows of the life of a nun), as well as assuming the vows for herself.

Under her superior, Anna, Theodora displayed great obedience, humility and frugality, although at times, it did seem she was being "tested." Once, when a kettle had boiled over onto the floor on which she slept (soaking it), Theodora moved her mat without notifying the superior. As penance for appearing selfish and for disobeying the orderly set-up of her fellow sisters, Theodora was made to spend the night sitting on her heels in the courtyard during a snowstorm. It proved enlightening for, when it was thought she would freeze, she reportedly said she felt warmed by the presence and spirit of God. Another nun, in similarity to the story of the Forty Martyrs (who died in a freezing lake for not denouncing their faith), saw a halo descend from heaven and grace Theodora's head while she knelt outside. Living in the same cenobitic quarters as her daughter, Theodora found it hard to deny her maternal affections for Theopiste. Anna, seeing this and condemning it because it violated holy vows, punished both women to fifteen years of silence between them. They were made to live in the same cell and share in the same chores and duties of the convent.

No miracles happened during Theodora's lifetime. At age 74, she was still maintaining a strong work ethic in the belief that "those who don't work, do not eat." On her deathbed on August 29, 892, Theodora was said to be at peace and even excited to be rejoined by her bridegroom, Christ. The penance of silence recently been nulled, Theodora told Theopiste that for burial, she wanted to be separate and by herself - fortelling the power of miracle working that she would acquire from the Lord. Due to the majority's thoughts, however, she was placed alongside the rest of her departed sisters in keeping with their cenobitic lifestyle. The day of Theodora's funeral, Demetrios (a deacon who had been ailed by intestinal problems for nine months) bestowed upon her forehead a kiss and miraculously, regained his health in full. That same afternoon, an emaciated and sick religious man named John kissed her and also became well once again.

Most of the miracles associated with Saint Theodora come due to healing oils unexplicably emitted from icons, the actual sarcophagus and a specific lamp in the church of Saint Stephen. During translation of her relics, the body of Saint Theodora had not changed in one year's passing of her death. Shortly after this discovery was made, the miracles began. When it was seen one day that the lamp above the altar was low on oil and needed to be refreshed and cleaned, a nun was assigned to the duty. In agreement with the superior, she was allowed to procrastinate due to observance of a holy day. When, in need of something, the nun entered the church that day, she witnessed what was to become the turning point and significant attribute to Theodora's life and memory. The lamp, which should have realistically been empty and extinguished was overflowing with streams of oil. After two years and up until the writing of Theodora's vita by Gregory the Cleric, it still gushed over and lit spontaneously. The symbolism of the "overflowing oil" relates to Theodora's manifestation of merciful disposition towards the needy. 

Within a month of her death,when it was sought that an icon in Theodora's likeness would benefit the church, a painter named John was commissioned. Without knowing any description of Theodora and relying only on the visions he had in a dream, John painted with exactness the image of a young Theodora. Theodora is most commonly portrayed in a youthful way, as we see in the earliest preserved image of her in the Hagia Sophia. To the day of her vita's publication, that imaged emitted sweet scented oil through the right palm that also carried with it healing powers. Saint Theodora's spirit came in other forms. Her sarcophagus and surrounding relics were covered with marble slabs. On the observance of Saint john the Baptist's birthday, these marble slabs popped off, as if pushed from beneath.