Michael

Holy Venerable Martyr Michael was a monk of the Lavra of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified, who suffered in the ninth century at Jerusalem. After the death of his parents, he distributed all his property to the poor and went to venerate the Holy Places in Jerusalem. Then he entered the community of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified, where he became a monk. He fasted much. At that time Jerusalem was ruled by the Arabs. One day his spiritual father sent him into the city to sell handiwork. In the street an eunuch of the Arab queen met him and led him to the queen to show her the handiwork. Seeing the monk, the queen proposed to him to commit adultery with her. When Michael refused and began to flee, the angry queen ordered him beaten with sticks and then taken to the king with the accusation that he had blasphemed the faith of Mohammed.

The king proposed that he accept the faith of Mohammed, but he refused. According to Christian tradition, they then gave him a strong poison to kill him, but he drank it and nothing happened to him. Then the king ordered him cut down with the sword in the middle of Jerusalem. The monks found his body and carried it to the monastery of Saint Sabbas, where they buried it with honour. The Serbian Church commemorates him on 23 May by the old calendar (5 June by the new).