Athanasius of Tarsus

Saint Athanasius of Tarsus, Hieromartyr, was bishop of the city of Tarsus in Cilicia at the end of the third century. He is commemorated on 4 September, together with the venerable Anthusa and the martyrs Charisimus and Neophytus. The source available to us does not tell his own life or how he suffered, but shows him in his role as pastor of the venerable Anthusa.

Anthusa, a native of the city of Seleucia in Syria, was the daughter of noble pagans. Learning the teaching of Christ, she went, under the pretext of visiting her nurse, to Athanasius, the hierarch of Tarsus, and received baptism from him. Her parents were angry with their daughter for becoming a Christian. Then the saint received monastic tonsure from Bishop Athanasius and withdrew into the desert, where she spent twenty-⁠three years in ascetic labours and reposed in peace toward the end of the third century.

Charisimus and Neophytus, who were baptized at the same time as she, were her servants and died for Christ.