Neophytos

Holy Hieromartyr Neophytos, bishop of Knossos in Crete, suffered martyrdom in Crete in 1821, during the Greek Revolution. He belongs to the group of ten hierarch-⁠martyrs of Crete of the years 1821-1822: Gerasimos of Crete, Neophytos of Knossos, Joachim of Chersonisos, Hierotheos of Lampi, Zacharias of Sitia, Joachim of Petra, Gerasimos of Rethymno, Kallinikos of Kydonia, Melchizedek of Kisamos and Kallinikos of Diopolis, together with the clergy and faithful who suffered with them.

On 23 June 1821 a synod was held at the Metropolis of Crete, in the church of Saint Minas in Heraklion; the bishop of Crete had begun to read a letter sent by the vizier. The enemies, lying in wait, burst into the church and killed the hierarchs, seventeen priests, and five Athonite fathers from Vatopaidi, who had brought to the Great Castle holy relics and the Belt of the Mother of God to drive away the plague epidemic. About three hundred Christians present were also killed. Then, scattering through the city, they hunted the remaining Christians and killed without mercy those they met in the streets. Among the Vatopaidi monks killed that day were, according to another account, the hieromonks Neophytos and Ambrosios and the monk Makarios.

The holy hierarchs were glorified by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the year 2000; the first official commemoration took place on 11 November 2000, in the cathedral of Saint Minas in Heraklion. They are commemorated on 23 June, according to the calendar of the Church of Greece (new style).