Theodore of Byzantium

Saint Theodore of Byzantium, New Martyr (born 1774 near Constantinople), was a young Greek who, after a fall from the faith, repented, confessed Christ at Mytilene and was hanged by the Turks on 17 February 1795 (according to other sources, 1792). He is the patron saint of the city of Mytilene, on the island of Lesbos. He is commemorated on 17 February, and the translation of the relics on the Sunday of the Paralytic. The Russian Orthodox Church does not have him in today's calendar.

Life

He was born in 1774 at Neochori near Constantinople, whence the nickname Byzantios. His parents were named Anastasios and Smaragda, and his brothers were Antonios and George, later Metropolitan of Adrianople with the name Gregory. From youth he was apprenticed to a Christian painter who worked at the sultan's palace. There, tempted and, according to one source, ill, he denied the faith and became a Muslim. After three years, when plague raged in Constantinople, he repented and tried to flee the palace by leaping over the wall, but was seen and from then on was kept under guard. His decision was made. With the help of a friend, a furrier by trade, he obtained sailor's clothes and, pretending to carry jugs, went out through the gate. He went to the shore and by boat to the house of an aunt, confessed after a few days to a priest and was anointed again with holy chrism.

Disguised, hidden from the Turks who sought him, he fled to Chios, where he found shelter in a monastery near Vrontados, with the former Bishop of Corinth, Macarius Notaras, and the monk Neophytus, called Kollyvades. Every day he read the martyrdoms of the saints and spiritual and service books, and his desire for martyrdom grew. Asked by Neophytus not to hurry, he decided to go to Mytilene and confess to the Turkish authorities that he had become a Christian again. He received communion, put on Turkish clothes, knowing what awaited him, and parted with tears from Neophytus, who accompanied him. He presented himself to the judge of the city and renounced Islam, throwing off his clothes and Ottoman turban. He was arrested on the spot.

Martyrdom

He was thrown into prison, tortured and beaten. His feet were tied to a tree, a heavy chain was put on his neck, his head was bound with a rope, with two bricks at the temples, then squeezed with a stick so hard that his eyes started from their sockets. The soldier of Christ cried: I am a Christian, a Christian, I am a Christian. On Saturday morning he asked a Christian servant for a squid and wrote to the bishop to send him Holy Communion. After receiving the Most Pure Mysteries he was led to the place of execution, where he ran with great zeal. He was offered gifts to change his resolve, but remained faithful. He was hanged on 17 February 1795.

Three days later the Christians received his relics and buried them in the south part of the church of Panagia Chrysomallousa. From 1798 the relics were found and lie in the cathedral of Saint Athanasius in Mytilene. His life is very like that of another saint, Theodore the New Martyr of Mytilene, which shows that the sources may be mixed.