Dometian of Zograf

Holy Venerable Martyr Dometian of Zograf was a monk of the Zograf Monastery on the Holy Mountain of Athos and is counted among the twenty-⁠six Zograf martyrs, killed by the Latins between 1274 and 1284.

In 1274 the Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos entered into union with Rome, but most of the monasteries of Athos firmly refused to abandon Orthodoxy and rebuked those who had betrayed it. For this the Holy Mountain was attacked by Latin troops and mercenaries, who tortured and killed many monks. The Zograf Monastery, inhabited by Bulgarians, was especially vulnerable, because the emperor did not wish to turn the Greeks away and vented his anger on monasteries of other peoples.

Its abbot, Thomas, learned in a wondrous way that the soldiers were approaching and told the brotherhood that whoever wished to survive should flee the monastery, and whoever desired martyrdom should stay. Twenty-⁠six remained: Abbot Thomas, the monks Barsanuphius, Cyril, Michael, Simon, Hilarion, James, another James, Job, Cyprian, Sabbas, Martinian, Cosmas, Sergius, Menas, Joasaph, Joannicius, Paul, Anthony, Euthymius, Dometian and Parthenius, and four lay workers whose names are unknown. They shut themselves in the monastery tower.

On arriving, the Latin soldiers set fire to the tower. While it burned, the martyrs of Christ sang psalms and the akathist to the Mother of God and so gave their souls to God on 10 October, between 1274 and 1284. They are honoured in the Synaxis of all the venerable fathers of Athos.