HISTORY

TODAY ARE OCI AND SAINT ANASTASIA: Children should “tie up” their fathers, and women should pray to the great protectress!

by Serbian Times4. January 2026.4. January 2026.

The Serbian Orthodox Church today marks Oci, or Fathers, a holiday celebrated on the first Sunday before Christmas and indicated in the church calendar in bold type.

Just as children are tied on Detinjci, and mothers on Materice, so early in the morning youngsters hurry to tie the hands or feet of their fathers or other married men from their surroundings. They are then “untied” by giving gifts that they have prepared in advance.

In anticipation of Christmas, over the three weeks preceding this holiday, the Serbian people and the Church celebrate earthly families, “churches in miniature and images of God’s love in the Holy Trinity.” Thus Detinjci, Materice, and Oci are a typically Serbian celebration, just as the family patron saint’s day (krsna slava) is a typically Serbian feast.

In addition to the family holiday, today we also celebrate Saint Anastasia; her fate was difficult, but her faith remained unshakable.

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Born in Rome into a wealthy family to a pagan father and a Christian mother, Anastasia showed immeasurable love for the Lord from an early age.

Her life was marked by trials; although her father forced her into marriage with a pagan, she decided to remain a virgin, justifying it with women’s illnesses in order to preserve her purity. Even torture by hunger and imprisonment did not shake her faith. Her true suffering began when her husband discovered that she secretly visited Christian prisoners and helped them. Nevertheless, after his death in Persia, Anastasia, as a free woman, distributed all her property to the poor and set out for Macedonia.

On her path of helping persecuted Christians, Anastasia was often brought before judges. It is recorded that one of the officials attempted to assault her, but was struck by divine punishment and suddenly went blind and died. Despite all the miracles, the saint was sentenced to death by starvation. Although she spent 30 days in prison sustaining herself only on tears and prayer, and survived an attempt to drown her on a boat, she received her martyr’s crown in 304 in Sirmium (today’s Sremska Mitrovica), where she was bound to four stakes over a fire.

Christian belief holds that Saint Anastasia helps women in distress and protects them from evil forces and illness. Those who feel “stuck” in bad life circumstances and trapped in a vicious circle from which they see no way out especially pray to her.

Today, believers should go to church and light a candle to this great saint, whose relics are kept in a monastery located 30 kilometers from Thessaloniki.