ANASTASIUS.
ANASTASIUS, Abbot of the Monastery of St. Euthymius in Palestine, flourished about the year 740. St. John Damascene commends him in the beginning of his Treatise of the Trisagion, which he composed, to draw this Abbot out of the Error, which he thought him engaged in about this Point. They attribute to him a Treatise against the Jews, published in Latin in Canistus's Antiquities, and in the Bibliotheca Patrum, [Tom. 13.] but it might be supposed to be made a more modern Author; for the Author of it says, That 800 years ago Christ's Oracles were fulfilled, that the Jews were dispersed, and Jeru∣salem destroyed by Vespas••an: Which makes me think, that he lived to the ninth Century. This Author does not only bring Proofs for the Christian Religion, but he answers the Questions and Objections of the Jews. The Work is imperfect: It is found in Greek in the Vatican Library, and in the Jesuits at Rome. It is written well, and the Reasons he alledges are pretty solid. He observes, That when Christians honour Images, they do not adore the Wood, but their Respect refers to Christ, and his Saints; and that they are so far from adoring Images, that, when they are grown old and spoiled, they burn them, tomake new ones.