Michael Baknanas

Holy New Martyr Michael Baknanas, also called Michael the Gardener, was a gardener of Athens, born in 1753 near Thission and put to death by beheading on 9 July 1771, in the time of Ottoman rule. He is remembered on 30 June and on 9 July. His life is preserved in the Chronicle of Athens and in the New Martyrologion of Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite. In 2003 he was declared patron of nutritionists and dieticians.

Life

He was born in 1753 near Thission, to poor and pious parents. He was illiterate and became a gardener, selling his produce in the neighbourhood of Attica; by some accounts he first gathered manure from gardens and took it on his little donkey to the peasants. The young man fell victim to a slander: it was said that he supported with shipments of food the rebels at Salamis or, according to others, that he brought gunpowder to the klephts of the mountains of Attica. The charge was never proved, but he was condemned to death. The executioner led him about the streets of Athens and asked him to change his faith in order to escape, but he would not accept, and cried out: "Strike for the faith".

According to the Serbian account, for thirty days the Turks tortured him in prison, trying to coax or force him to accept their faith. Then they brought him before the captain, who offered him various gifts, money, clothes and property, if he would change his faith. Michael stood firm in his faith and said only: "I do not turn Turk". The captain then sent him to the pasha, who promised him much more and showed him the dreadful torments awaiting him. Nothing moved the young martyr. The pasha handed him to the judge, who tried the same, in vain, and at last pronounced the sentence: that his head be cut off. The servants led him to the place of execution, and he, without a trace of fear, went with joy and said to the Christians he met on the way: "Forgive me, brothers, and may God forgive you".

Death and remembrance

He was put to death by beheading on 9 July 1771, and his death caused a great stir in the society of Athens. A street in Athens, in Neos Kosmos, bears his name today, with the neighbouring tram stop. On a column of the temple of Olympian Zeus there is a carved inscription: "1771, 9 July, Paknanas Michalis was beheaded".