Paul the Russian

Holy New Martyr Paul the Russian was a Russian from Rus (present-⁠day Ukraine) who received the crown of martyrdom at Constantinople on Great Friday of 1683. As a child he was taken by the Tatars to the Crimea, then sold at Constantinople, where a Christian bought him and set him free. There he married a Russian woman who had also been a captive, and lived a righteous, God-⁠fearing life.

Paul suffered from epilepsy. Once, during a seizure, his neighbours were leading him to the church of the Mother of God at Mouchliou, where the sick like him were healed. Meeting some Turks on the way, he began to ask them for help and to cry that he was a Hagarene. The Turks reported this, and the vizier ordered the arrest of Paul and of the priests of the church. When he recovered from his illness he was brought before the official, who asked him to confess Islam formally, promising riches and honours and threatening torture and death. Strengthened also by his wife, Paul confessed the name of Christ boldly. They threw him into prison and tortured him.

After he confessed his faith again before the vizier, on Great Friday of 1683 he was led in chains to the Atmeidan hippodrome and beheaded. His wife was also tortured but was ransomed from prison. His martyrdom was written by John Karyophyllis. He is commemorated on 3 April by the calendar of the Church of Greece (new style); in the Ukrainian tradition he is recalled on 6 April, the day of his martyrdom.