Nicholas Pantopolos of Constantinople

Holy Martyr Nicholas Pantopolos of Constantinople, called the Grocer, was a youth of not yet fifteen, beheaded by the Turks in the year 1672 for not renouncing Christ.

He was the son of a grocer who had moved with his family to Constantinople. To learn Turkish, his father gave him to a friend, a barber and a Muslim. The latter wished to make him a Muslim by cunning: in one lesson he made Nicholas read aloud the salavat, the Muslim confession of faith, then said that since he had spoken it before witnesses, he had become a Muslim. Astonished at the teacher's craftiness, the youth firmly confessed himself a Christian and explained that he had only read the lesson diligently, suspecting no trap. Nevertheless he was brought before the vizier, who ruled that, if he did not renounce Christ, he would be put to death as an apostate. But neither torments nor promises shook his firm confession. Then he was condemned to be put to the sword. Divine grace filled the martyr's relics, so that for three nights a light was seen everywhere descending upon them from heaven.

His memory is kept on 6 October, according to the Greek calendar.