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Venerable (Monastic)8th century

Venerable Anthusa of Constantinople

c. 750 – c. 801

Also known as Anthousa · Anthusa

A daughter of the Iconoclast emperor Constantine Copronymus who renounced royal life to become a nun, enduring her father's hostility while remaining steadfast in venerating the holy icons.

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Commemorated as

Our Venerable Mother Anthusa of Constantinople

Life

Anthusa of Constantinople was an eighth-century Byzantine nun, a daughter of the iconoclast emperor Constantine V Copronymus. Born into the imperial household during one of the most intense phases of the Iconoclast controversy, she rejected the marriages her father arranged and instead embraced monastic life, becoming associated with the veneration of the holy icons that the emperor sought to suppress.

After her father's death she gave away her personal wealth in support of the poor and founded a monastery in Constantinople. The accounts of her life preserve a pointed contrast between the imperial policy of her father and the icon-venerating piety she adopted, and she is commemorated in the Orthodox Church on April 12.

Troparion1 hymnReadHide
TroparionTone 8

By a flood of tears you made the desert fertile,
and your longing for God brought forth fruits in abundance.
By the radiance of miracles you illumined the whole universe!
O our holy mother Anthusa, pray to Christ our God to save our souls!

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

Timeline4 momentsReadHide
  1. c. 750Birth in the imperial householdAccording to the tradition, Anthusa was born around 750 as a daughter of Emperor Constantine V (reigned 741–775), said to be the twin of her brother, the future emperor Leo IV the Khazar. The sources give her mother as Eudokia (or, on an alternative dating, Tzitzak). She is said to have been named after Anthusa of Mantinea, an abbess whom Constantine V had tortured for venerating icons and who, by tradition, foretold the safe delivery of the twins.
  2. after 775Renunciation of imperial lifeAnthusa is said to have refused her father's wishes that she marry. After the death of Constantine V she distributed her personal property to relieve the poor and orphaned, and, according to the accounts, declined an offer from Empress Irene to serve as co-regent during the minority of Constantine VI.
  3. late 8th centuryMonastic tonsure and foundationShe received the monastic tonsure from Patriarch Tarasius of Constantinople and entered the monastery of Saint Euthymia. She subsequently founded the Omonia (Concord, or Charity) monastery in Constantinople, which was known for its strict rule.
  4. c. 801ReposeBy the principal account she reposed in 801 at the age of fifty-two; an alternative tradition places her death in 808 at the age of fifty-seven.

Contributions & Legacy

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Monastic life and works

In her monastic life Anthusa is described as taking part in manual labor, serving the other nuns at meals, and maintaining a strict discipline. Her care extended beyond the cloister to the poor, to orphans, and to widows, and the Omonia monastery she founded carried in its name (rendered as Concord or Charity) the charitable character ascribed to her work.

The narratives of her life set her piety against the iconoclast policy of her father Constantine V. Where the emperor is remembered for his hostility to the holy icons, his daughter is remembered for venerating them and for embracing the monastic life that the iconoclast establishment often opposed.

Veneration

Anthusa is commemorated in the Orthodox Church on April 12, with April 18 also recorded as a feast. As a pre-schism saint she is venerated in both the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions; in the latter she is associated with convents and abbeys and her feast is kept on April 18.

Companions1 figureShowHide
Patriarch who gave Anthusa the monastic tonsure, after which she entered the monastery of Saint Euthymia.
Saint TarasiusPatriarch of Constantinople
Related Saints2 saintsShowHide

Saints connected to her life, mission, and place in Orthodox tradition.

Namesake abbess and confessor whom Constantine V tortured for venerating icons and who, by tradition, foretold the safe birth of Anthusa and her twin brother.
Venerable AnthusaAbbess of Mantineon
A distinct namesake, daughter of the emperor Constantine V, commemorated April 12.
Venerable Anthousathe Confessor

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Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints