Nicetas Albansky

Holy Hieromartyr Nicetas Albansky was of Albanian origin, a hieromonk, and struggled on the Holy Mountain of Athos. He received the crown of martyrdom at Serres on Great Saturday of the year 1808. He is commemorated on 4 April.

The source preserves nothing about his parents or his life in the world. On Athos he first served at the Russian Monastery of Saint Panteleimon, then withdrew to stillness in the Skete of Saint Anne. Out of love for Christ he longed to shed his blood for Him. He set out for Serres, arriving on Great Monday, 30 March 1808, at the metochion of the Panteleimon monastery, confessed his resolve to the superior, received Communion and went out into the town. Near a mosque he advised a lame young man to believe in Christ for healing; denounced, he was taken before the town's authorities. Before them he confessed that Christ is the only true God and that Muhammad is a deceiver, asking to be put to death or allowed to celebrate the Resurrection.

He was kept in prison, tortured with an iron band around his head, needles under his nails, hanging upside down and burning. Towards the evening of Great Saturday he was sentenced to hanging, in the Cherah bazaar square. The story of his martyrdom was sent to the Monastery of Saint Panteleimon in a letter from the superior of the metochion in Serres.