Saint Kosmas the Aitolos and the New Martyrs

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

(Homily Delivered in Thermo on August 24, 2018)

 

Your Excellency the President of the Hellenic Republic,

Reverend Hierarchs,

Beloved brethren,

Historic Thermo, and Aitoloakarnania in general, boasts that it is the place where Saint Kosmas the Aitolos was born, grew up and worked. This place was seen with his own eyes, here he saw the creation of God, he came to know traditional piety and from these places he began his missionary journeys. Since then, many places claim him, and people brag about where he passed, where there is evidence or information that he taught, where temples were rebuilt in his name, where he was martyred.

Thus, today he has become an ecumenical man, an apostle, who made a great revolution in his time, a man with the zeal of God, in difficult circumstances. Because the revolution cannot be interpreted and defined only with weapons and bombs, but with ideas, mainly, however, with the words that come from an inner rebirth and fullfillment of people.

Holy New Venerable Martyrs Nikodemos of Meteora (+ 1551) and Daniel of Meteora

 Verses

"What of you Nikodemos?" He said during his passion,
"I am being put to death for the love of the Lord."

We are told by Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite, who wrote the verses above, that the "Holy New Venerable Martyr Nikodemos from Meteora was martyred for his piety in the year 1551." Besides this, we have no other information about this Saint or what led to his martyrdom, other than the fact that he lived at the Great Meteoron Monastery and was martyred on August 16th.

Holy New Martyr Christos from Preveza, A Once Forgotten Saint

 

By Spyros Symeon

Saint Christos is one of the holy new martyrs of our Church that bears the name of the Savior and Risen Christ. This name is only found among martyrs since unfortunately it is not given to monks and clergy because it is customary there to give "monastic" names, and unfortunately although many lay people receive it they do not honor it in memory of a Saint but on the feast of the One who on that day is celebrated by all of Christianity.

When I was young I had heard an elder in a small monastery who told us that those who have names that celebrate them on some Despotic Feast should be catechized and urged to move their name day feast to a day in memory of a Saint who bore their name.

Holy New Martyr Athanasios of Lemnos (+ 1846)

He was from the village of Repanidi on the island Lemnos and after receiving an education he went to become a monk on Mount Athos, at the Great Lavra Monastery.

During the Greek Revolution of 1821 he was captured and sent to Egypt. There they sold him as a slave to a Hagarene lord, who converted him to Islam, circumcised him, and married him to a Christian captive woman. He became a wealthy aga and lived a secluded life with his wife on a large property.

Photos of the Home and Parish Church of the Holy Neomartyr Michael Paknanas the Gardner

The first photo above is the residence of the Holy Neomartyr Michael Paknanas in the old quarter of Vlassaros (Vrisaki) in the ancient Agora near the Church of Saint Philip and the adjacent Church of Panagia Vlassaros (first photo below), which ware also located in the archaeological site of the ancient Agora and where the Neomartyr worshiped. All the original buildings have now been demolished.

 

Five Reasons God Allowed New Martyrs To Be Revealed During the Turkish Occupation

 

 By Archimandrite George Kapsanis,
Abbot of Gregoriou Monastery on Mount Athos

Why did God reveal the holy New Martyrs during the years of the Turkish occupation?

According to the lover of martyrs Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite, there are five reasons that God allowed to be revealed the holy New Martyrs of modern times. These reasons show the great importance of the confession of the New Martyrs.

Holy New Martyrs Ambrosios, Neophytos and Makarios of Vatopaidi (+ 1821)

Sts. Ambrosios, Neophytos and Makarios of Vatopaidi (Feast Day - June 22)

In 1820 the Hieromonks Neophytos and Ambrosios, the Hierodeacon Parthenios and the monks Dionysios and Dorotheos and later Makarios were sent to Crete, by invitation, with sacred relics, in order to expel the terrible disease of the plague, which infected the locals there. These relics were a portion of the Holy Zoni of the Panagia which was a gift to the monastery of the emperor John Kantakouzinos, a piece of Holy Wood from the True Cross, and the skull of Saint Andrew of Crete.

The Skull of a 15 Year Old Neomartyr, Saint Niketas of Nisyros

The memory of the Holy New Martyr Niketas of Nisyros (+ 1732) is celebrated by the Church June 21st.

He was beheaded by the Turks at the age of 15 for becoming a Christian after being raised a Muslim.

Today his sacred skull is kept in Iveron Monastery at Mount Athos.

Holy New Hieromartyr John of Petra in Pieria (+ 1822)

There are several Saints who are not widely known in Greece. One of them is Saint John from Petra in Pieria who celebrates on April 28.

On the 27th of the month, in the Monastery of Panagia in Petra, a Solemn Vespers was celebrated in honor of the Saint. The following is a brief description of the life of the Saint:

For the holy new martyr John we do not have information about the exact date of his birth (which is probably around the end of the 18th century) and his origin.

The Oldest Surviving Depiction of the Holy Neomartyr Kyranna of Thessaloniki

The oldest surviving depiction of the Holy Neomartyr Kyranna is found in a fresco of the second half of the 18th century (1765-circa 1800), in the kyriakon church of the Skete of Kavsokalyva of Mount Athos.

The depiction is particularly important, since its painting is placed in the first decades after the martyrdom of the Saint, which took place in 1751. Saint Kyranna is depicted as a bust at the north window, together with Saint Michael Mavroudis from Granitsa, Agrafa.

Holy New Hieromartyr Deacon Who Is Anonymous

Holy New Hieromartyr Deacon Who Is Anonymous (Feast Day - February 16)

 

Verses

You mocked the Immaculate Mysteries, Deacon of Vitsa,
As a Martyr you entered the heavens.

The glorious, new hieromartyr of Christ, and anonymous Deacon, was a teacher of sacred letters, who came from Vitsa of Zagori. He served as a Deacon in the Church of Saint Marina in Ioannina, in the neighborhood of Kalou Cesme (Kaloutsiani). Having been deceived by the devil, he apostatized from the Orthodox faith and embraced Islam.

Holy New Martyr Damian the Monk (+ 1568)

St. Damian the New (Feast Day - February 14)

 

 By St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite

Verses
 

Having received the fruit of the Gospel, blessed one,
You received your end through hanging O Damian.

This new athlete of Christ, Damian, came from a village called Myriochovos located north of Agrafa (northern Greece). He was born of pious parents and when still young he longed for the monastic life. Leaving behind the world and worldly things, he made his way to Mount Athos, to the Sacred Monastery of Philotheou. There he became a monk. Having stayed a little while in the monastery, he then set off to become an hesychast, so that he could strive even more for the virtues. He went to a wonderworking ascetic named Dometios, who had retreated off to a quiet place. He stayed with him for almost three years and practiced all the virtues with such great willingness and accuracy that he was found worthy to hear a divine voice tell him: “Damian, you must not seek your own interest only, but that of others as well.” Afterward, he immediately left Mount Athos and went to Mount Olympus, where he preached God's word to the villages there in a brilliant voice, teaching and inciting Christians to repent and abstain from all injustices and all other evils and to keep God's commandments, doing works that are good and pleasing to God.

Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate Canonizes Two Former Ecumenical Patriarchs: Cyril I Loukaris of Crete and Cyril VI of Thrace

On the 11th of January 2022, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate decided to include in its official list of Saints two former Ecumenical Patriarchs, who suffered and died martyrically under the Ottomans and had their bodies cast into the sea.

Saint Cyril I Loukaris of Crete was born in 1572 and was martyred on the 27th of June 1638. The Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Alexandria on 6 October 2009 had previously canonized him, and he is commemorated on the 27th of June.

Saint Cyril VI of Thrace was born in 1769 and was martyred on the 18th of April 1821. He was recognized as a Saint in 1993 by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece and he is commemorated on the 18th of April, or it is carried to Thomas Sunday depending if it falls during Great Lent or Holy Week.

For further reading, see:

Saint Cyril Loukaris Resource Page

 

Saint Cyril VI, Patriarch of Constantinople (+ April 18, 1821)

 

The Mystery of the Missing Relics of Saint Cyril VI, Patriarch of Constantinople (+ 1821)

  

Three Recent Miracles of Saint Cyril VI, Patriarch of Constantinople

 

Holy New Martyr Mark of Kleisoura (+ 1598)

Holy New Martyr Mark Markoulis was from Kleisoura in Kastoria and lived in the 16th century. Sources for his life do not exist and the only information we have about him comes from a manuscript of a priest from Kastoria named Papa-Argyris, the original of which is now lost. There we are informed that his father's name was Peter and we are told about his martyrdom.

He was arrested by the Ottomans and brought to Argos Orestiko, where he endured torture for refusing to deny his faith in Christ and become a Muslim. Finally, he was executed by hanging and his lifeless body was cast into the Haliacmon River in 1598. According to a local tradition, the execution of the Saint took place on the plane tree which is next to the Church of Saint Paraskevi in Argos Orestiko.

A church in Kastoria dedicated to Saint Mark the Evangelist is believed to have been built in honor of this New Martyr after his martyrdom, but was named after the Evangelist in order to not incur the wrath of the Turks.

The first celebration of his memory took place locally in 2012 and it was established at that time that his annual commemoration would take place on November 12th. He was officially canonized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate on February 12, 2020.

 

 

 

 

Holy New Hieromartyr Haralambos Michailides of Louroujina in Cyprus (+ 1924)

St. Haralambos of Louroujina (Feast Day - September 24)

The difficult living conditions of the years of Ottoman rule contributed to the fact that many Greek residents of Cyprus converted to Islam in order to survive. In many cases this accession was fictitious and the neophyte Muslims, while declaring publicly faith in Muhammad, secretly remained Christians.

Unfortunately, over time the descendants of many of the Islamized were Turkified and lost permanently their Hellenism. However, many Linobambaki Christians, as the Crypto-Christians were called in Cyprus, resembling a fabric that has two sides, one of linen and one of cotton, continued to experience the tragic situations created by their dual religious status, until the first years of British rule, when the free exercise of the religious rights of the inhabitants was allowed and many identified themselves as Christians. Faced with this development, the Turkish minority of the island reacted and sought to assimilate the Linobambaki by establishing schools and building mosques in the Crypto-Christian villages.

Holy New Martyr George of Kastoria who was formerly a Hagarene (+ 1809 or 1815)

St. George of Kastoria (Feast Day - August 18)

The glorious Neomartyr George, who was formerly a Hagarene, that is, a Muslim, was born in Kastoria in the late 18th century. He went to Ioannina to find work and there he was an eye-witness to the martyric contest of Saint Demetrios of Samarina, who suffered for his faith in Christ at the hands of Muslims. This inspired him to abandon the Islamic faith of his forefathers and embrace the Orthodox Christianity of the Holy New Martyr Demetrios. Upon Holy Baptism he received the name George.

Holy New Martyr Kassandra of Trebizond (+ 1677)

Trebizond, the capital of Pontus in Asia Minor, was the last bastion of Romiosini after the Fall of Constantinople, when it also fell to the Ottomans in 1461. By the 1600's, while under Ottoman slavery, there existed in Trebizond two powerful Greek families - the Mourouzi family and the Ypsilantis family. These two families had privileges from the Ottomans, which led them to the highest steps of the State administration, and the acquisition of titles, among other things. Yet under Sultan Mehmet IV, the Greeks of Pontus of the 17th century faced incidents of violent persecution with forced Islamization.

At the age of 16, the noblewoman Kassandra Mourouzi married John Ypsilantis. One day John was at the port when he clashed with two Ottoman soldiers who tried to kidnap two six year old Christian girls from their grandfather who was taking them to Constantinople. The old man fought to protect his granddaughters, but he was unable to protect the girls. When John got involved, he killed the two Ottoman soldiers and helped the old man escape with his granddaughters on a ship bound for Constantinople.

Holy New Hieromartyr Parthenios Pagkostas of Patmos (+ 1629)

St. Parthenios of Patmos (Feast Day - June 17)

Verses

You were called, Parthenios, to confess Christ,
Courageously you contested, boast of Patmos.

Saint Parthenios, who was known as Panagiotis Pagkostas in the world, came from a noble family on the island of Patmos, and was a ship captain by trade. Commercial reasons often forced him to travel to various ports in Europe, even to those in the distant Netherlands. At some point he no longer desired worldly pursuits and decided to devote his life fully to Christ by becoming a monk at the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian in Patmos.

In the year 1606 Parthenios signed as Abbot of the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian a letter he sent to the governor of the Venetian Republic of Crete. In 1607, the year of the foundation of the Monastery of Zoodochos Pege, he is still the Abbot of the Monastery. This is confirmed by the wall plaque which is the founding inscription on the lintel of the main entrance of the katholikon of Zoodochos Pege: "Parthenios the Hieromonk and Abbot of Patmos...."

Translation of the Sacred Relics of the Holy New Martyr George of Cyprus

Translation of the Relics of St. George of Cyprus (Feast Day - April 13)

The Holy New Martyr George was originally from Cyprus and later moved to work in Ptolemais in Palestine, which today is known as Acre. There he was martyred as a Christian by the Turks in 1752 by being shot and stabbed multiple times. The Christians of that city then buried his relic with honors, and for three nights a pillar of light shined over his grave. To commemorate this miracle, the Christians of Ptolemais would gather every Friday night at his grave for decades and offer prayers, candles and incense, and many miracles were reported to have taken place, according to his biography by Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite. His feast day was established for April 23rd.

The Location of the Martyrdom of Saint Parthenios in Didymoteicho

 

Hieromonk Parthenios Partheniades was a member of the Kollyvades movement, and when he was forced to leave Mount Athos he went to the Monastery of the Annunciation in Icarus. In 1798 Parthenios arrived at the island of Patmos, accompanied by several other monks, and established what is today known as the Kathisma of Parthenios. 

 

Needing further resources to complete construction of the monastery, Parthenios went to Thrace to raise the funds. In Didymoteicho, Thrace he served as a priest. Until 1804 the public market had been open on Saturday, but the Turks transferred it to Sunday, moving the Greeks to protest. Parthenios, who was staying at the Monastery of Zoodochos Pege, reacted strongly against this unjust and hypocritical decision of the Turkish governor, by denouncing it publicly in the church, causing the Muslims to take notice.