Kallinikos

Kallinikos, Bishop of Kydonia, that is of Chania, in Crete, died a martyr in 1821 after severe torments, in the Turkish persecution that followed the outbreak of the Revolution. The Ecumenical Patriarchate numbered him among the saints in the year 2000 as a hieromartyr, and the Church commemorates him on 23 June with the other martyrs of Crete of that year.

The sources say nothing about his early life. It is known that the Turks arrested, imprisoned and tortured many clergy of the island, holding them to be instigators of the uprising. Kallinikos, according to the account of the Church of Crete, was subjected to terrible torments, and under them gave up his soul to the Lord. Local sources differ on the details: some say he was imprisoned in Chania, and his name is sometimes given with the surname Sarpakis, but our sources do not confirm this. He should not be confused with Kallinikos of Diopolis, who was killed in Heraklion.

The Metropolis of Kydonia and Apokoronas remembers him among its saints.