Anastasios of Nafplion was a Greek Christian of the Peloponnese, a painter by trade, who was martyred under Ottoman rule on February 1, 1655. By tradition he was born and raised in Nafplion, and after his death the city came to venerate him as its patron. He is numbered among the New Martyrs of the Ottoman period and is commemorated on February 1.
According to the synaxarial account, Anastasios had been betrothed to the daughter of a local Christian but dissolved the engagement after learning of faults in the woman. Her relatives, described as not firmly grounded in the faith, are said to have resorted to magic in revenge, and Anastasios consequently fell into a state of mental disturbance. Taking advantage of his condition, local Muslims circumcised him, making him a Muslim against his sound judgment. Within a few days his faculties were restored, whereupon he openly reaffirmed his Christian faith.
Brought before a judge who sought by turns to flatter and to threaten him into apostasy, Anastasios refused to deny Christ, declaring that he believed in and worshipped Jesus Christ as his Creator and Savior. After his court appearance an enraged crowd fell upon him with clubs and knives and cut his body to pieces. His relics were later exhumed and translated to the Parish Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos in Nafplion, where an olive tree and a monument are associated with his martyrdom.
