The 40 Martyrs of Sebaste: Confession through martyrdom
Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi A troparion of the liturgical Service in honour of the Forty Martyrs says: ‘Suffering with bravery at present, we are rejoicing at what we are anticipating, said the martyrs’. There was evident readiness from the very beginning to employ the confessionary approach to Christianity. What...
Saint Dimitrios The Myrrh-Yielder – 2
James W. Lillie Another point of interest is that the church of Saint Dimitrios, for 60 years (1430-1490) remained as part of the local Church, when almost all the other churches in Thessaloniki had been turned into mosques after the fall of the city to the Turks in 1430. This...
Saint Dimitrios The Myrrh-Yielder – 1
James W. Lillie Saint Dimitrios is the protector and patron saint of Thessaloniki, a saint from whose relics myrrh flows and also a Great Martyr. There are actually conflicting accounts in the sources, but the overwhelming view is that he was born and bred in Thessaloniki. As a young man,...
The Holy New Martyr Christodoulos from Kassandra – 27 July
Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite The new martyr and servant of Christ Christodoulos was from Kassandra, the first leg of Halkidiki, from a village called Valta. When he was still young, he left his home and went to Thessaloniki and, when he’d learned how to make thick woollen cloth and...
The Holy Victorious Martyr Marina – 17 July
Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite Saint Marina was from a village in Pisidia, the daughter and only child of a certain Aidesios, a pagan priest, and lived in the reign of Emperor Claudius II. When she was twelve, her mother died and she was given into the charge of another...
The New Blessed Martyr Nektarios (Skete of Saint Ann) from Vryoulla in Asia Minor
He was born in Vryoulla or Vourla in Asia Minor. As a seventeen-year-old, he and six other Christians were deceived and converted to Islam. When he appeared before his mother in Turkish clothing, she threw him out, saying: “I gave birth to a Christian, not a Turk”. He left, greatly...
The Recently-Revealed New Martyr, Saint Efraim
Hieromonk Makarios Simonopetrites We knew nothing about this New Martyr Saint until January 3 1950, when he revealed the location of his burial, at the ancient Monastery of the Annunciation, in Pendelis, in Nea Makri, Attica. Since 1965, the Saint has appeared often to nuns in the monastery or...
The New Martyr Nannos (Ioannis) the Thessalonian (+1802)
Thanasis Hatzimitakos The new martyr Nannos/Ioannis belongs to the Macedonian new martyrs. He was martyred in Smyrna in 1802 when he was only 17 years old. He was born in Thessaloniki of Macedonian parents. His father came from the village of Avret-Issar, nowadays old Yinaikokastro in the prefecture of...
The presbyters from Nicomedia martyrised at sea, under Valens
The Emperor Valens , leaving Constantinople, again set out towards Antioch; but on his arrival at Nicomedia, a city of Bithynia, his progress was arrested by the following circumstances. Eudoxius the bishop of the Arian church who has been in possession of the seat of the Constantinopolitan church for nineteen...
Praying in All Weather: Honoring the Saints and the 40 Holy Martyrs of Sebaste
I’ll be honest: I dislike winter. I weary of gunmetal gray skies. The cold exhausts me. No matter how many layers I wear, I can’t seem to get warm. Getting out of bed in the morning is a struggle. As I wait on the bus stop, the wind bites into...
