Anthony the New of Veria

Venerable Anthony the New of Veria lived in the ninth century, born to devout and wealthy parents. While still young he became a monk in a skete near Veria, in the valley of the river Haliacmon, and struggled there for twenty years. With the blessing of the skete's abbot he then withdrew into a cave, where he lived another fifty-⁠four years of ascetic labour. The Church called him the New to distinguish him from Saint Anthony the Great.

He ate only once a week, from the few herbs that grew around the cave, and fought temptation with fasting and humility, for the devil appeared to him sometimes to frighten him and sometimes to praise him and draw him into pride. His fame spread and crowds came to receive his blessing. Longing for quiet, he withdrew to a desolate place by the river, but worn down by his labours he returned to the cave.

He reposed in peace at the age of ninety-⁠four, on 1 January, after receiving the Holy Mysteries. His body remained sixteen days in the cave, watched over by a wondrous light, until hunters from Veria found it whole and full of fragrance. The townspeople placed the relics on a cart drawn by oxen, so that the saint might show where he wished to be buried; the cart passed through the surrounding villages and stopped in the courtyard of the church of the Mother of God Kamariotissa in Veria, where the saint's family home had stood. There he was buried.

He is commemorated on 17 January.