Simon of Zographou

Holy Venerable Martyr Simon of Zographou was a monk of the Zographou Monastery on the Holy Mountain and died by fire, with Abbot Thomas and twenty-⁠four other brethren, on 10 October, between the years 1274 and 1284.

In 1274 Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos concluded a union with Rome, but most Athonite monasteries would not betray Orthodoxy and reproached those who had left it. For this the Holy Mountain was attacked by Latin troops, who tormented many monks. Zographou, a monastery of the Bulgarians, was more exposed, since the emperor did not wish to turn the Greeks against him. Abbot Thomas learned in a wondrous way of the approach of the soldiers and told the brotherhood that whoever wished to escape must flee, and whoever desired martyrdom must stay. Twenty-⁠six stayed, among them the monk Simon, and shut themselves in the monastery tower. The Latin soldiers set fire to the tower, and those inside sang psalms and the akathist to the Mother of God until they gave up their souls to God.

He is commemorated on 4 July, a movable date, in the Synaxis of the Athonite Venerable Fathers, in the new style.