Anthony, John, and Eustathius

Saints Anthony, John, and Eustathius of Vilnius
A medieval Orthodox icon of the Martyrs of Vilnius
Martyrs
Died	1347 Vilnius, Lithuania
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church Roman Catholic Church
Feast	14 April
Patronage	Vilnius

Covered bodies of the martyrs on display in the Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius

Another view of the relics of the martyrs

Anthony, John, and Eustathius (Eustathios, Eustace; Russian: Антоний, Иоанн and Евстафий, Lithuanian: Antanas, Jonas ir Eustachijus; Martyrs of Vilnius, Russian: Виленские мученики, Lithuanian: Vilniaus kankiniai) are saints and martyrs (died 1347) of the Russian Orthodox Church. Their feast day is celebrated on 14 April in the horologion.

Life

They were attached to the Grand Duchy of Moscow, and were missionaries dispatched to the court of Algirdas, who was the pagan Grand Duke of Lithuania. Algirdas was wed to the Orthodox princess, Maria of Vitebsk, and the three were permitted to minister only to her and banned from proselytizing.

The youths were later arrested for preaching in public, and were ordered by Algirdas to consume meat in his presence during an Orthodox fasting period. When they refused, they were tortured and executed.

Veneration

Their bodies were in a glass reliquary in the crypt chapel under the altar of the cathedral in the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius, Lithuania. Their relics, said to be incorruptible, have since been moved to the main sanctuary of the cathedral.

They have also been recognised as saints in the Roman Catholic Church, after having been added to the General Roman Calendar by Pope Paul VI in 1969.

Literature

• John Meyendorff, The three Lithuanian martyrs: Byzantium and Lithuania in the fourteenth century // St. Vladimir Theological Quarterly, 26 (1982), 29–44

External links

• Saint of the Day, April 14: Antony (Kukley), Eustace (Nizilon), and John (Milhey)
• Martyr Anthony of Vilnius, Lithuania (April 14) at Orthodox Church in America
• Icon at Orthodox Church in America