Habakkuk of Thessalonica

Saint Habakkuk, venerable new martyr, was a monk, probably of the Holy Mountain, and suffered for the faith at Thessaloniki on 6 August 1628. He is venerated as a saint by the Orthodox Church.

His name is found in no synaxarion. He is known from an entry in the cartulary of the Great Lavra, omega 89, folio 155, of the seventeenth century, according to which Habakkuk suffered for the faith on 6 August 1628 in Thessaloniki: “In 1628, month of August 6, the venerable and new martyr Habakkuk suffered in the great city of Thessaloniki, for the glory and pride of Orthodox Christians.” From the word “venerable” it is understood that he was a monk, probably an Athonite.

His name entered hagiology for the first time through Sophronios Eustratiadis, who published the catalogue of the manuscripts of the Great Lavra. Parts of his relics are kept in the monastery of the Nativity of the Mother of God in Acarnania.