Christos

Holy Hieromartyr Christos was a priest in Elis in the Peloponnese and died a martyr by beheading on 9 March 1716, together with Holy New Martyr Panagos. He was from Andravida and had a wife and two small children.

His parents had converted to Islam under Turkish pressure, but Christos grew up in the fear of God. He did not love the affairs of the world and wished to be a married priest, so that his mind might not be clouded; he was ordained at Patras. In 1715, after thirty years of Venetian rule, the Peloponnese returned to the Turks.

Seized and kept in irons in prison, he was urged by the judge not to lose his life and his loved ones. Beaten, he stayed unmoved, but his wife begged him so earnestly that he promised the next day to do as she advised. The news pleased the Turks and saddened the Christians. Later, the senior of the imprisoned priests rebuked him harshly, and Christos sighed from the depth of his heart and repented. He spent the night in prayer, psalmody and tears. The next day, before the agha Murat, he thanked Christ for not letting him fall and said: "I was and am a Christian." He was beheaded; his body lay unburied for four days, then was buried in the church of Saint Nicholas at Gastouni, in the same tomb as Panagos. Their service is sung together with that of the Forty Martyrs.