Isidore, Irene and George

Isidore, Irene and George are a priest and his two children, martyrs whose relics were found in 1953 in the village of Vali in Crete, after appearances in dreams. They are honoured as newly revealed martyrs and are commemorated on 18 October. They have no known canonization.

In the spring of 1953 a priest began to appear in sleep to the villagers of Vali. Among them was Demetrios, a grocer and chanter. The priest told him to dig at a certain place on the grounds of the old primary school, to "remove" him from there. He said that he was a priest and that, with his two children Irene and George, he had been slain by Saracens in the first Turkish raids on the island, before the 1650s. His name was Papa-⁠Tsiteris, and Demetrios wrote it on a shoe box. The priest appeared again, saying: "Wake up and do what I told you." Demetrios went to the place and dug. A skeleton came to light, then two more, one of an adult and two of children. Further revelations to the villagers told more of the life and martyrdom. The priest had been beheaded with his children in the church where he served, while celebrating the Divine Liturgy. Christians had gathered their relics and buried them with the heads placed at the feet; the skeletons were found in exactly that position.

On 18 October 1953 the relics of the newly revealed martyrs were moved to the church of St Demetrios in Vali. In honour of the hieromartyr Tsiteris the people of Vali built a church in September 2003, named at the metropolitan's direction "Saint Isidore the New Martyr". Only portions of the relics remain today, because a nun stole the greater part of them. The memory of Saints Isidore, Irene and George is kept on 18 October.