Athonite Monks Martyred at Thessaloniki

The Athonite Monks Martyred at Thessaloniki were monks of the monasteries and cells of the Holy Mountain, put to death at Thessaloniki after the outbreak of the Greek uprising of 1821, between 1821 and 1822. They are venerated by the faithful, though not all are formally canonized.

After the uprising began in March 1821, the Porte launched harsh reprisals that took the form of a religious persecution. The pasha of Thessaloniki, Mehmet Emin, nicknamed Abu Lubut, an apostate Christian, a priest's son and brother of an Athonite monk, occupied Athos in November 1821, plundered the monasteries and quartered soldiers in them, then ordered that nearly all the monks found in the monasteries and metochia be arrested and imprisoned at Thessaloniki. Many were held by the hundred in the cellars of the White Tower, then called the Tower of Blood, their feet in stocks and their necks in iron collars, hungry, thirsty and beaten daily. Those who refused to renounce their faith stayed in prison; one monk yielded and was freed.

Eighty-⁠two of them received the crown of martyrdom, while others stayed in prison until August 1823. History has preserved the names of thirty-⁠three martyrs of the Great Lavra, thirteen of Gregoriou and five of Konstamonitou, and the others were from Xenophontos, Simonopetra, Stavronikita and other monasteries and sketes. The first, Chrysanthos of Xenophontos, was hanged at Constantinople on 10 April 1821; Timothy of Konstamonitou died at Thessaloniki on 4 June 1822, and Savvas the Simple of the same monastery on 10 June, the rest on other days and in other circumstances. With them, Meletios, bishop of Kitros, locum tenens of the metropolitan of Thessaloniki, was killed in the city square on 21 July 1821. The inhabitants of the city witnessed a slaughter in which few renounced their faith.