Six Virgin Martyrs of Chalcis

The Six Virgin Martyrs of Chalcis were six young women of Geroplatanos, in the Chalkidiki peninsula, burned alive by the Turks in April 1854 because they would not renounce Christ.

In April 1854 a revolution led by Captain Tsamis Karatasos broke out in Chalkidiki. It failed, and on 22 April thirty notables of Polygyros were slaughtered. The destruction and slaughter spread to the rest of the region. At Geroplatanos, seven girls were shut up in Tsamis's mill. The Turks surrounded it and demanded that they change their faith. Six stood unshaken and confessed Christ. The Turks set fire to the mill and burned them alive. According to the sources, the seventh girl married a Turk, but lived and died a Christian.

The six are counted among the new martyrs. They are honoured especially by the parish of the church of Saint Demetrius at Geroplatanos, on the first Sunday of May (the Sunday between 1 and 7 May). The hymns of the service call them a six-⁠branched lamp: like a candle that gives light as it melts, they melted in the furnace of fire and give light to us.