Demetrios of Chios

Demetrios of Chios was a young man from the island of Chios who, after a fall into Islam and a burning repentance, received a martyr's death by beheading at Constantinople on 29 January 1802. He is honoured as a new martyr and is commemorated on 29 January. He has no known canonization.

He was born in 1780 into a devout family on Chios; his father was called Apostolos and his mother Maroulou. While still young he went to Constantinople, where his elder brother Zannis worked as a merchant. At about twenty or twenty-⁠two he became engaged without his brother's consent, having written first to his father. His brother and his brother's employer put him out of the house. Hungry and homeless, Demetrios went to the estate of a Turkish client of his brother, on the pretext of collecting a debt, but really meaning to use the money himself. The Turk was not at home and his daughter received him; she knew him by sight and had grown fond of him. By guile she kept him in the house and brought him to deny his faith and promise to become a Muslim in order to marry her. He soon repented, but for two months he stayed in the house as a prisoner under watch, because the other Turks had noticed his sorrow.

Repentance

One night in Ramadan he escaped while the Turks slept and took refuge in the house of a Christian he knew. Weeping, he confessed his sin to his brother and his confessor. He said that he wished only to wash away his fault in the blood of martyrdom, and wrote to his parents asking for their blessing to go and confess Christ. He spent his time in prayer, often reading the Akathist to the Mother of God. One night, on the eve of the feast of St Nicholas, he saw in a dream a radiant Woman with an Infant in her arms in the middle of a beautiful plain, and far off an executioner. The Woman told him that if he did not fall into the executioner's hands he would not inherit that plain. On waking he understood that it was God's will that he die a martyr.

His confessor, Fr Agathangelos, fearing that the desire might be mere ardour and that he might fall at the hour of trial, put him under a severe rule of fasting and prayer. For twenty days and nights, with almost no food or sleep, Demetrios read spiritual books, confessed daily and wept without ceasing. He even kept vigil for five days barely clothed. On the fifth night, after a luminous vision that assured him martyrdom was God's will, he received the confessor's blessing, communed, and presented himself before the Islamic court in Constantinople. He told of his denial, confessed his faith in Christ, threw his turban to the ground and said he was ready to suffer anything.

Confession and death

Kept many days in stocks in a dark, damp cell which his prayer turned into a bridal chamber, he was brought out for interrogations followed by beatings, once receiving seven hundred blows with rods, which only strengthened his resolve. The girl came to see him in prison and tried everything to win him back, but in vain. The Christians of Chios living in Constantinople, afraid that he would give way under torture, raised money to secure his temporary release. He rebuked them and asked that the money be given to the churches of the City, and that prayers be offered for him at the hour of his martyrdom.

He received the death sentence with joy. On 29 January 1802, at the place called Baloum Bazaar, he refused to be blindfolded, knelt calmly at the block and bent his neck beneath the sword, repeating three times: "Remember me, Lord, in Your Kingdom." After he was beheaded, many Christians rushed forward despite being beaten by the Turks and soaked cloths in his blood, and others took a piece of his clothing or hair. One cleric paid twenty-⁠five grosia to the executioner for the towel with which he had wiped his sword. When he unfolded it, an unseen hand had drawn many crosses upon it in the martyr's blood, to the astonishment of all.

The relics

His relics were buried three days later on the island of Prote, outside Constantinople, in a monastery there. Many came from the city, among them the executioner. His life and service were composed by Saint Athanasios of Paros, who taught on Chios, partly from the martyr's own written testimony.