Paul of Peloponnesos

Holy New Martyr Paul of the Peloponnese was born in the village of Sopotos near Kalavryta in the Peloponnese and received the crown of martyrdom at Tripolis on 22 May 1818. The Church commemorates him on 22 May (4 June by the new calendar). The Serbian source also calls him venerable, since he became a monk.

His parents were poor and pious and raised him in the Christian faith. At baptism he was named Panagiotis. While still young he went to Patras, where he learned the trade of shoemaker. The Greek source says that he worked there as a shoemaker for fourteen years; the Serbian source says that he stayed there fourteen years, then returned to Kalavryta and opened a workshop. According to the Serbian source, the Ottoman authorities demanded that he renounce his faith, and when he refused he was thrown into prison. Under pressure he yielded, but he soon repented.

For this reason he went to the Holy Mountain and resolved to live in fasting and prayer in the Lavra of Saint Athanasius. After some time he was tonsured there and received the name Paul. Together with the monk Timothy he moved to the Russian monastery of Saint Panteleimon, where they spent three years in obediences and ascetic labours. From there he went to the skete of Saint Anne and told the elder Ananias of his desire to suffer. Having received his blessing, he set out on the road of martyrdom.

He first came to the Monastery of Megaspileon near Kalavryta, where he spent forty more days in fasting and prayer. He then went to Nafplion, where a relative of his, who had also renounced the Christian faith, was living. Together they went to Tripolis and boldly confessed the Christian faith before the Turkish judge, denouncing the falsehood and error of Islam. Their confession was heard by many Christians present. The judge ordered them to be arrested and beaten until they recanted, and since they remained steadfast, he ordered them put to death.

Paul was beheaded on 22 May 1818 at Tripolis. His relics were taken from the place of burial and secretly laid in the monastery of Saint Nicholas near Tripolis. His martyrdom was described by Hieromonk Jacob Vernaia of the Russian monastery on Athos. He is the patron of the Association of Arcadians of Patras and is commemorated together with New Martyr Demetrius of the Peloponnese, who suffered at Tripolis in the same circumstances in 1803. In 1997 a great church dedicated to the saint was built at his birthplace, at the expense of a foundation.