Argyrios of Epanomi

Holy New Martyr Argyrios of Epanomi was born in the settlement of Epanomi (Apanomi), near Thessaloniki, under Ottoman rule, and received martyrdom at Thessaloniki on 11 May 1806. The Church commemorates him on 11 May by the old calendar, which is 24 May by the new.

His parents, according to one source, were named Asterios and Vasiliki Doyoudis. As a young man he went to Thessaloniki and worked for a tailor, as a journeyman. At that time a Christian from Sochos, near Thessaloniki, had been imprisoned for some offence in the Turkish prison. He had no money to ransom himself, and he was told that he would be hanged. Seized with fear, he promised to turn Turk. The Turks at once took him out of the prison and led him to a coffeehouse to teach him their law.

Seeing this denial, the young Argyrios came to the coffeehouse and said boldly to him before the janissaries: What evil have you done, brother, that you deny Christ our Saviour? What great evil are you doing, wretched man, giving your soul to eternal death in order to escape a passing one. Come to yourself, brother, repent and confess Christ again. If they wish to kill you, then gladly shed your blood for Christ, for he too offered himself out of love for us.

Hearing these words, the janissaries grew furious, beat Argyrios and ill-⁠treated him. Under threat of death they demanded that he too turn Turk and promised him various honours and gifts, but they could not shake him, and they threw him into prison. According to the Bulgarian source, he was then brought before the kadi, who, also with threats and with promises of gifts and office, tried to make him accept Islam. Argyrios refused again. The kadi sought to set him free, but the angry Turks forced him to pass a sentence of hanging. Argyrios was hanged on Friday, 11 May 1806, in the central square of the city, called Kapani (in the Serbian source, Kampan).

He was numbered among the saints and is the protector of his native town. His skull is kept at the Monastery of Saint Menas in Attica.