Panagiotis of Jerusalem

Holy New Martyr Panagiotis of Jerusalem was a young Greek from the Peloponnese who suffered at Jerusalem on 5 April 1820. According to the account of the English missionary Joseph Wolff, written in 1839, he served a Turkish nobleman, Osman Effendi. When his master entered the Mosque of Omar in Jerusalem, Panagiotis followed him inside.

Fanatical Turks held that his entering had defiled the mosque and accused him before the pasha of Damascus. The pasha asked the young man, to escape death, to accept Islam. Panagiotis cried out boldly, before a crowd of Muslims: "Christ is the Son of the living God; kill me, I am not afraid. Christ is risen." He was beheaded. The Greek monastery of Jerusalem bought his holy relics from the Turks for five thousand piastres and buried them with honour. He is commemorated on 5 April, by the church calendar of the Church of Greece.