Anthony, John, and Eustathios

Saints Anthony, John and Eustathios of Vilnius
File:Vilenskie mucheniki.jpg Martyrs of Vilnius, medieval icon
Died	1347 Vilnius, Lithuania
Venerated in	Russian Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast	April 14
Patronage	Vilnius

File:Wilno - relikwie meczennikow wilenskich.JPG

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

File:Anthony, John, and Eustathios in Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius-2.jpg

Another view of the relics of the martyrs

Anthony, John, and Eustathius (Eustathios, Eustace; Russian: Антоний, Иоанн and Евстафий) are saints and martyrs (died 1347) of the Russian Orthodox Church. Their feast day is celebrated on April 14 in the horologion.

They were attached to the Muscovite missionaries dispatched to the court of Algirdas, pagan Grand Duke of Lithuania. Algirdas was married to an Orthodox Christian princess, Maria of Vitebsk, and the Orthodox were permitted only to minister to the religious needs of the princess. All outside proselytizing was forbidden.

The three youths were 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. Their bodies were kept in a glass reliquary in a crypt chapel beneath the altar of the cathedral church in the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius, Lithuania, but has since been moved to the main sanctuary of the church. Their relics are said to be incorruptible.

External links

• Anthony, John, and Eustathius of Vilna
• 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