Benedict the New

Holy Venerable Martyr Benedict the New was a priest and monk of the Konstamonitou Monastery on Mount Athos and was beheaded at Thessalonica on 12 June 1821, with many monks and elders of the surrounding villages.

He was born in the village of Ezova (today Dafni, in the Visaltia region of Serres) or in Amourmei (today Kastanochori), the exact place being uncertain because between the two villages there was a dependency of Konstamonitou. As a teenager he went with his father to the Holy Mountain, to Konstamonitou. His father became a novice, then a monk, and young Benedict was sent to Polygyros to study. After his studies he returned to the monastery to become a monk; the tonsure took place during Great Lent. In the monastery he worked for years in all obediences, and in advanced age he was ordained a priest. He was sent with other fathers, for the monastery's needs, to the dependency near Kalamaria in Thessalonica. The Revolution of 1821 brought terrible reprisals from the Turkish authorities, and the monks had to abandon the dependency. Benedict was seized by the men of Rubut Pasha and taken in chains to Thessalonica, with many monks from the nearby dependencies. On 12 June 1821, after terrible tortures, he was beheaded with many monks and elders of the villages around Thessalonica.

According to the narrative of his life, on the night after the martyrdom a luminous cross was seen over the unburied relics of the martyrs. The soldiers guarding them, seeing the wonder, were frightened and told the Christians. On the occasion of this miracle, the authorities gave permission for the relics of the saints to be buried. He is commemorated on 12 June, according to the calendar of the Church of Greece (new style).