Christodoulos Simonis

Saint Christodoulos Simonis, new martyr (also called Christodoulos of Kassandra), was a tailor in Thessaloniki and received the crown of martyrdom in 1777. The Orthodox Church commemorates him on 28 July, the day of his killing.

He was born in the village of Valta in Chalkidiki. As a child he left Valta and settled in Thessaloniki, where he became a tailor. He learned that a Bulgarian in Thessaloniki wished to change his faith and become a Muslim. He took a cross from the church of Saint Athanasius and went to the café where the Bulgarian was to be circumcised. He showed him the cross and tried, without success, to turn him from apostasy.

The Ottomans arrested him and brought him to trial. Because he refused to renounce his faith, he was hanged on 28 July 1777 in front of the church of Saint Menas. His body hung on the gallows for two days, with the cross from Saint Athanasius. Then the Christians ransomed it for six hundred piastres and buried it.