December 19
The saints and feasts remembered on December 19, each with a short life, a Bible passage and a prayer.
Adam and Eve
The first man and woman of Genesis, whose story begins the human story
Adam and Eve are the first man and woman in the opening chapters of Genesis. No date or place is given beyond a garden “in Eden, in the east.” Christians read their story in different ways — some as history, others as a story that reveals deep truths — but all see in it who we are before God.
Genesis says God made them in his own image and gave them the world to tend. Tempted to become like God on their own terms, they ate the forbidden fruit and hid; Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent. They lost the garden and faced hard work, pain and death. Yet God first made them clothes of skin. Their sons included Cain, Abel and Seth.
Many Christians remember them before Christmas because Genesis 3:15, about the woman’s offspring and the serpent, came to be read as a first hint of the Gospel. Paul calls Christ “the last Adam,” and Eastern icons of Easter show Christ pulling Adam and Eve from their graves.
For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
1 Corinthians 15:21–22 · BSB
A prayer
God our Creator, you formed Adam and Eve in your image, and even when they turned from you, you clothed them and promised a Saviour. When we hide from you in shame, call us out again, and give us a share in the new life Christ brings to every child of Adam. Amen.
Saint Anastasius I
Pope for two brief years who worked to keep a quarrelling Church united
Anastasius was a Roman, the son of a man named Maximus, and he became bishop of Rome in late 399. He led the Church for only about two years, dying in December 401, at a time when the Western Empire was growing weak and anxious.
His short time as pope was busy. Christians were arguing bitterly over the writings of Origen, a brilliant third-century teacher, and Anastasius joined other bishops in condemning ideas from those books that he judged harmful to the faith. He also wrote to the bishops of North Africa, encouraging them in their long effort to heal the Donatist split. Jerome, a scholar famous for his sharp tongue, admired him, and Paulinus of Nola remembered how warmly the new pope welcomed him to Rome.
Little more is known about his life. Christians remember Anastasius as a pastor who, in a brief and troubled time, tried to keep the Church faithful to its teaching and at peace with itself.
Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching you have heard from me, with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
2 Timothy 1:13–14 · BSB
A prayer
Faithful God, you gave your servant Anastasius the care of your Church for a short and troubled season, and he spent it guarding the faith and seeking unity. Help us to hold fast to the truth of the Gospel, to speak it with love, and to work for peace among your people. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The lives are written with AI help from public-domain histories and checked before publishing; the prayers are ours. Bible quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), in the public domain. How we write.