Anthony Rawh al-⁠Qurashi

Holy Martyr Anthony Rawh al-⁠Qurashi was an Arab nobleman of Damascus, born Muslim, who became a Christian and received the crown of martyrdom at Raqqa on 25 December 799, under the caliph Harun al-⁠Rashid.

He descended from the tribe of Quraysh, the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad. He lived near the abandoned monastery of Dayr Murran, dedicated to Saint Theodore, on Mount Qasioun, where a working church stood beside it. Rawh would sneak into the church, take the Eucharist, tear the crosses from their places, rip the altar cloths and harass the priest. One day, finding the church empty, he shot an arrow at an icon of Saint Theodore; the arrow turned back and pierced his left hand, and he fell unconscious. A few days later he saw the consecrated Host transform into a lamb during the liturgy. That night Saint Theodore appeared to him in a dream, rebuked him and ordered him to repent and embrace Christ. The next day he set off for Jerusalem to be baptized. Patriarch Elias II, afraid of angering the Muslim authorities, sent him to be baptized in the Jordan by a group of monks, who immersed him, gave him the monastic cowl and the name Anthony.

Returning to Damascus, his family mocked his coarse dress and handed him to the Muslim judge after failing to bring him back to his religion. The judge sent him to Raqqa, the seat of the caliph. Harun al-⁠Rashid also mocked his monk's clothing and, failing to turn him back, ordered his execution. Anthony welcomed the sentence, explaining that it would free him from his three greatest sins: having gone on pilgrimage to Mecca, having sacrificed at the feast of Eid al-⁠Adha, and having killed Christians in raids against the Byzantines. He was beheaded on Christmas Day 799. Theodore Abu Qurrah mentioned him in his own time as a well-⁠known martyr, who told all he met that he came to believe in Christ because of a miracle connected with the icon of Saint Theodore.