The Suffering of the Holy Hieromartyr Eleutherius
 and His Mother Anthia

trans. Isaac Lambertsen


An immediate descendant of the apostles (his mother Anthia was baptized by St. Paul), the holy hieromartyr Eleutherius served in what is now Albania. By his witness he converted and baptized the commander sent to arrest him and bring him to trial. Both set off for Rome, as though to a feast rather than to trial, and there converted the governor Choribus. All three suffered martyrdom, and thereafter also St. Anthia as she kept vigil over their relics. For their steadfastness, and undoubtedly for the Greek meaning of his name (“deliverance”), St. Eleutherius is often invoked as a special friend and protector of women in childbirth.