Anna of Bithynia

Venerable Anna of Bithynia (Euphimianus), a Byzantine ascetic of the eighth and ninth centuries, took the male monastic habit under the name Euphimianus. She was a wonderworker, was unjustly accused of sin and vindicated when her true name was discovered, and ended her life in the wilderness. She is commemorated on 26 June and 11 November. According to a short synaxarion, she reposed in the year 826.

Early life

She was born in Byzantium; her father was a deacon at the church of the Mother of God at Blachernae. Early losing her father, she remained a young orphan in her grandmother's care. When she came of age, her grandmother took care to marry her, although the girl did not wish it. Married, the pious wife went to her uncle, who laboured on Olympus. This ascetic, by order of Leo the Iconoclast, had his tongue cut out and yet could speak freely, without stammering. Seeing Anna, he was sorry that the young servant of God had been given in marriage: "Why have you joined to a husband one destined for divine labours?" he said, and, blessing her, went away.

Widowhood

After many years the lawless emperor Leo died, and in his place the pious and Orthodox Constantine and Irene came to the throne. They wished to see the ascetic of Olympus for instruction and counsel. During his stay in Byzantium he saw his niece again and said to her: "Take courage and be strong, child, for you will endure many sorrows; know also that your husband will soon die, but after a child is born to you." The saint's prediction was fulfilled: a boy was born to Anna, and when he was still very small, her husband fell ill. Anna was then expecting another child; after the sixth month of the pregnancy, her husband died. After mourning and burying him, Anna gave her son, born before his death, into the care of a relative, and gave herself to great labours, praying now in one church, now in another. While leading this life she bore another child. Then she saw again the ascetic of Olympus, who had come from Olympus to Byzantium, threw herself on the ground before him and, embracing his feet, asked his blessing. Blessing her, the old man asked: "Where is your child, woman?" She answered: "The child of whom you foretold is with your brother, my benefactor; and see, I have another child." Weeping, she complained of the heaviness of her life: "Pray, honoured father, for my children." The old man said to her: "Did I not tell you that the righteous have many sorrows to endure? You must take courage and endure, for if we do not endure these sorrows we shall not receive vindication. Do not worry about your children, for the Lord will take them to Himself."

The monastic habit

Soon the prediction was fulfilled: Anna's children fell asleep in the Lord. Distributing all her property to the poor, Anna went round all the churches and holy places of Constantinople, praying zealously. Then, meeting a good old monk who also laboured on Olympus, in a hidden place she received monastic tonsure from him and put on male monastic clothing, laying aside her women's. So clothed, hiding her womanhood, Anna came to Olympus, to a community monastery, and asked the abbot to receive her among the brothers. Asked her name, she answered: "My name is Euphimianus; I was a eunuch at the imperial court." The abbot received her, and Anna laboured diligently in all virtues, especially humility, as a model for all the monks of the monastery. Meanwhile her former servant, who had been charged with putting her household affairs in order, set out to seek her. Learning from the monk who had tonsured her where she was, they went together to the monastery, begged her to settle with them in the Lavra on Olympus, and she moved there, where she spent a long time labouring without ceasing.

Wonders and trials

God glorified the holy ascetic with the gift of working wonders. The report of her wonders reached distant lands and crowds of people came to the monk Euphimianus, so that the monastery could not hold them all. The abbot of the Lavra informed Patriarch Tarasius of Constantinople, who summoned Saint Anna to the capital for conversations and then gave the monks a roomier place, with the command to build a great Lavra. When the new Lavra was built, Anna settled in it for new labours, for the salvation of many. But even in her glory the blessed one did not escape troubles. A false monk, who proved to be a robber, violated a girl and spread it about that the sin had been done by Euphimianus. Saint Anna was not upset and took no account of the slander, bearing it without complaint. But a God-⁠loving woman took her part. In the end, by God's will, it was discovered that under the guise of the monk Euphimianus a woman was labouring. So the falsehood of the false monk's slander was shown, and the evildoer was hanged. The saint, not wishing her secret to be known to many, fled with two monks, Eustathius and Neophytus, to a wilderness, where she found an abandoned church with a spring and a garden, and settled there. From there she passed to the lands of the Isygmatic, where she laboured, giving healing to all and working wonders, until she was called by God to the heavenly dwellings.