Theodore of Mytilene

Saint Theodore of Mytilene was a new martyr from the island of Lesbos, in the eighteenth century, hanged by the Turks in 1784. He was called "Hadji Theodore", because he had made a pilgrimage to the Holy Places. He is commemorated on 30 January.

At one time in his life he changed his faith. Later he repented and went to the Holy Mountain, to regain his peace and to avoid contact with those of another faith. When, after years, he returned to Mytilene, he was hanged by the Turks in 1784.

According to information from the Russian calendar, the Christians buried the body of the holy martyr Theodore in the church of Saint John the Baptist, and his feast falls on 14 June (in the Synaxis of the Athonite saints). His life and geography are very similar to those of another saint called "Theodore the New Martyr the Byzantine", also from Mytilene. Only the date of his death differs by ten years, the monastery is not on Athos but on Chios, and the place of burial is in a different church in Mytilene. The Greek source does not make clear whether it is one saint or two.