ΝΕΚΡΟΣ ΓΙΑ ΤΟΝ ΚΟΣΜΟ: Two Saints, new martyrs from Islam to Orthodox Christianity

Τρίτη 2 Ιουνίου 2015

Two Saints, new martyrs from Islam to Orthodox Christianity

Holy New Martyr Constantine the Former Hagarene from Mytilene († 1819)

Constantine, whose Muslim name we do not know, was born to Muslim parents, on the island of Mytilene, in the village of Psilometopon. His father died when he was quite young. His mother therefore saw to his Muslim upbringing.

At the age of fifteen, Constantine was afflicted with smallpox, which caused him to go blind. Taking pity on him, a pious Orthodox Christian woman asked Constantine's mother for permission to take him to a nearby Orthodox shrine with Holy Water. The woman washed Constantine in the sacred font and he was cured.

Shortly afterwards, his mother remarried and moved to the city of Magnesia in Asia Minor. His stepfather, despite being a Muslim, proved to be a drunk and beat him regularly. Consequently, Constantine left home with his three brothers. His and his oldest brother moved to the city of Smyrna, where they opened a vegetable store.

Constantine assisted his brother and was engaged in delivering vegetables. This duty often took him to the headquarters of Metropolitan Kallinikos II, where he would often stop and listen to religious readings. Slowly but surely his love for the Christian message he heard grew. In addition, he made friends with two Christian young men with whom he grew very close.

At that time plague was rampant in Smyrna. All three young men went to the Church of Saint George and lit candles, praying for deliverance. But a strange thing then happened. Saved from the plague, Constantine nevertheless turned and began living a very dissolute life. But he soon came to his senses and left for the Holy Mountain.

Constantine first stopped at New Skete. His arrival on the Holy Mountain caused quite a stir because he was a Muslim. The fathers of the Monastery of Saint Paul were reluctant to accept him, fearing repercussions from the Muslim authorities, and passed him on to the Monastery of the Great Lavra where he was also refused admission. From there Constantine went on to the Skete of Saint Anna where he met and spoke with Father Chrysanthos. Leaving Saint Anna, Constantine headed back to the Great Lavra, but on the way he changed his mind and went instead to the fathers at Kavsokalyva.

There a certain monk named Gabriel advised him to return to Great Lavra. But the fathers of Great Lavra were still afraid to allow him to stay with them. So Constantine was forced to return to Kavsokalyva. There he met Patriarch Gregory V, who retired to the Holy Mountain between his three tenures as patriarch.

Patriarch Gregory spoke with Constantine to test his sincerity in wishing to become a Christian. The patriarch said to him: "Why did you, young man, come to us, the despised ones? What do you seek from us who have nothing, as you can see? Are we not the lowliest of nations, whereas you have the kingdom and the glory and enjoy all the world? Why are you not satisfied when so many desire to enjoy the temporary life which you seem to despise? Come to your senses."

These words caused Constantine to break out in tears. Seeing this, the patriarch realized his sincerity. So he said to him, "Soon I will come to Kavsokalyva and I will baptize you, only prepare yourself, keep yourself pure and, above all, tell no one."

Constantine returned to Kavsokalyva and waited. But he soon became unhappy over the delay in his baptism. His elder, seeing him in this condition, was convinced of his sincerity and readiness and baptized him, giving him the name of Constantine.

After a short time, Constantine went to Iveron Monastery to venerate the miraculous icon of Panagia Portaitissa (Keeper of the Portal) and then went on the the Skete of Saint John the Forerunner where he heard there was an experienced elder who had prepared many for martyrdom. In addition there were in the Skete newly arrived relics of Neomartyrs. Constantine spent time with the elder and returned with a downcast face to his own elder at Kavsokalyva. When asked why he appeared so, Constantine replied, "There is no other reason for my downcast look except that I reverenced the relics of the Neomartyrs, and my soul became completely attached to them. My mind became captive as you see me now, and the desire to imitate their deeds occupied my spirit."

Hearing this, the elder glorified God and said, "Blessed be God, my son, if this is to your liking; only God the omnipotent will initiate and end what you will do."

He then invited a spiritual father to begin Constantine's preparation for his martyrdom. Constantine began fasting for forty days, eating only once a day.

A short time later, Constantine decided to return to Magnesia in Asia Minor where he intended to visit his sister whom he hoped to convince to share his faith in Jesus Christ by having her baptized. Meanwhile Constantine went to his spiritual father for confession and was then given permission to fulfill his desire to become martyr.

Secretly carrying letters of recommendation from Patriarch Gregory V, Constantine sailed to Kydonies. But there were no ships sailing immediately for Smyrna, his destination. In the interval, in order to live, Constantine sold raisins and other dry fruit on the streets until a ship could be found.

One day a servant of the aga recognized him and asked an Orthodox Christian standing nearby, "Who is that man?"

"I don't know," was the answer. "He recently came here, and I don't know from where."

That night the Orthodox Christian sought out Constantine and told him, "I heard this Muslim saying that he knows you, and you are a Muslim. Is it true, or is he trying to undermine you?"

"God forbid," was Constantine's reply. "I am an Orthodox Christian."

That night, unable to sleep, Constantine decided to leave in the morning. He found a ship which was sailing to Smyrna and boarded it, but he was observed by the same Muslim who had recognized him and had him put off the ship and taken to the aga. The latter asked Constantine who he was and how he got there. To this Constantine replied, "I have come from afar and I am on my way to Anatolia. I am an Orthodox Christian and my name is Constantine."

The aga replied, "You are lying to me. What would you say if someone can be fund who knows you as a Muslim, what will you say?"

At that moment, the Muslim appeared and said to Constantine, "Don't I know that you are a brother of a Muslim with whom you were in the vegetable business in Smyrna? How can you lie to us?"

To this Constantine responded boldly and in a loud voice, "I was a Muslim, like you impious and lawless ones, but because I was enlightened by God and was informed that the Muslim faith is transient and only the Orthodox faith is true and pure, and because I recognized my own interest, I became an Orthodox Christian to gain eternal life."

Upon hearing this, the aga ordered Constantine beaten and imprisoned until he came to his senses. he then wrote to the aga of Moschonesia, asking him to come immediately because he was needed. When the aga arrived a few days later, he was told of Constantine who was brought before him. Questioned once more and urged to return to Islam, Constantine refused and was beaten severely and thrown back into prison, where many Christians visited him in secret. Constantine asked them to pray for him, so he would die a faithful death.

Meanwhile, a torturer who had tortured Neomartyr George began applying the same painful measures to Constantine. he devised an iron hat which was heated then placed on Constantine's head. Then lead balls wrapped in a band were pressed up against his temples almost causing his eyes to pop out of his head.

A few days later, Constantine was brought before the vali and was asked if he had changed his mind. He answered, "You are truly tyrants, wild animals, and not rational human beings. But untie me and I will show you who I am."

Constantine was untied, and immediately he made the sign of the Cross and said in a loud voice, "Did you see who I am? So please don't think that I will change my mind and become like you."

Whereupon the aga of Moschonesia became very angry, took out his knife, and cut Constantine cross-wise on his chest. At that moment Constantine's clothes tore and a gold Cross appeared on his chest. This infuriated the Muslims present even more. They fell upon him and beat him. They then enclosed his feet in stocks and bound him with chains. At night he was suspended from the ceiling.

The aga finally realized that Constantine could not be forced or persuaded to deny his Orthodox Christian faith. He decided to send him to Constantinople, to the Admiral of the Fleet, who questioned Constantine when he arrived. But Constantine remained steadfast and was sentenced by the Admiral to be incarcerated in a bath house. There he was visited by a spiritual father who said to him, "To witness is a good thing, Constantine, but think well on how painful the tortures of the infidel Muslims are. Perhaps you will weaken later. If you wish we can see to your release."

Constantine, however, replied, "Holy Father, look at me." He then pushed aside his tunic and revealed his secret parts and thighs. From the many tortures he had undergone, there were huge lacerations on both sides of his legs, both in front of his body and behind, which must have caused him unimaginable pain. Seeing this, the spiritual father reverenced Constantine who said to him, "See that no one dares give any money to free me because in a few days my struggle end as the Theotokos has revealed to me. But please give His All Holiness, Lord Gregory (the Patriarch) my greetings - he knows who I am - and ask him to pray for me."

The next morning Constantine was interrogated again, but remained faithful to Jesus Christ and was beaten once more. At the third questioning, the approach was different. Constantine was offered a high position and riches, but to this he said, "Aga, if you too were to come to recognize the interest of your soul, you would be an Orthodox Christian."

In response, the aga hit Constantine on the chin, ordered him out of the room, and immediately sentenced him to death. His ordeal had lasted forty long days.

After he was hanged, Constantine was buried in a Muslim graveyard because he had been circumcised, but more importantly, the Muslims did it so that he would be inaccessible to Orthodox Christians who would wish to recover his body and honor him.

Thus Constantine the Hagarene from Psilometopon, Mytilene sacrified his life in the city of Constantinople for the love of Jesus Christ on June 2, in the year 1819.

From Witnesses For Christ: Orthodox Christian Neomartyrs of the Ottoman Period 1437-1860, by Nomikos Michael Vaporis, pp. 224-228.

(A manuscript of a Service dedicated to St. Constantine is in the Hut of Saint John the Theologian in Kavsokalyva and in the Monastery of Saint Panteleimon in Mount Athos.)

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone

A light-bearer has risen in the Church of Christ, the memory of your contests has filled her with light, seal of the Martyrs, glorious Constantine; release from deceit the offspring of Hagar, and richly illumine the souls of the faithful, those who celebrate your memory, ever-blessed one.

Holy New Martyr Alexander the Dervish from Thessaloniki († 1794)

St. Alexander the Dervish (Feast Day - May 26)

MYSTAGOGY

Verses

Give your head O straight-forward Alexander,

And receive a crown from the hand of the Lord.

Alexander was a young Orthodox Christian from Thessaloniki who was sent to Smyrna by his parents who sought in this way to protect their son from the local Muslims. Unfortunately, however, Alexander did come under the influence of the Muslim faith and accepted Islam. Moreover, he later made a pilgrimage to Mecca and even became a dervish, that is, a member of a Muslim monastic order.

It was not long, however, before his conscience began to trouble him. He found he could not tolerate the position he was in, that is, he could not stand by silently while Orthodox Christians, to whom he still felt related, were persecuted. To lighten the burden of his conscience, he began to feign insanity. While playing the role of a madman, Alexander tirelessly rebuked the Muslims for the injustices they committed against the Christians.

Later, while in Egypt, some Muslims from the island of Crete plotted to murder him because, as time went by, he sounded more and more like a Christian and less like a Muslim. Before their evil plans could be carried out, Alexander left Egypt and returned to Thessaloniki.

Later he went on to the island of Chios where, still dressed as a dervish, he began to attend Orthodox services, and he continued to preach to the Muslims in Chios, beseeching them to act with justice towards the Orthodox.

From Chios, Alexander returned to Smyrna, the city where he had first abandoned his Orthodox Christian faith. The time had now come for him to witness for Jesus Christ. Voluntarily he appeared before the kadi of the city and told him his story. He said:

"Mulla! I was an orthodox Christian and because of my foolishness I denied my faith and became a Muslim. Later i realized my fomer faith was light, which I lost, while your faith, as I have come to know it, is darkness. So I have come before you to confess I have made a mistake by denying the light and accepting the darkness. I was born an Orthodox Christian! I want to die an Orthodox Christian! Behold, you have heard my decision, mulla, now do to me whatever you wish, for I am ready to endure every torture and to even spill my blood for the love of my Jesus Christ, whom I wrongly denied."

After these words were spoken, Alexander took off his Muslim head covering and replaced it with a Christian one. Those present in the courtroom could not believe their ears. In fact they thought they must be listening to a madman.

But one by one, beginning with the mulla, they began in a soft sympathetic voice to tell him he had spoken unheard of things, and perhaps he was not well and should come to his senses. How could he, a dervish, shame his religion and his integrity in such a manner?

To all of these remonstrances, Alexander responded: "It is true, I was out of my mind, but now frankly I have come to my senses and I confess my iniquity. You say, because I am a dervish, how do I say such things? I truly speak the truth, for I have gone to your Mecca, and have examined all of your faith, and I have understood everything about it to be false and abominable."

The Muslims present responded to Alexander's declarations by saying he must be drunk, and as such they had him put in prison. On the following day when more Muslims gathered around the mulla, Alexander was questioned again but with the same results. The Muslims felt embarrassed that one of their best, a dervish, could renounce Islam and therefore tried very hard to persuade him to give up the notion of returning to Christianity.

They began to flatter him with soft soothing words, reminding him of his position, his integrity as a dervish, and the thought that it would be a pity for him to sacrifice his youth, his very life. They offered him money, clothes, anything he might wish, but none of this made an impression on Alexander who was determined to witness for Jesus Christ and suffer any and all consequences.

Alexander turned a deaf ear to the threats of physical torture and death as he had previously to the flattery and promises of material rewards. Nothing could persuade him to give up Jesus Christ for the religion preached by Muhammad. And so he responded:

"O how foolish you are to bring up death. I came here for this purpose, to die for the love of my sweetest Jesus Christ. You are trying in vain to change my unwavering decision with your deceiving threats and your insignificant promises. As for myself, I think of dying for my holy faith which I wrongly denied and to die to this false life and to gain the other, the eternal one. I was born an Orthodox Christian and I wish to die an Orthodox Christian. This is what I desire, this is what I thirst for. So you do whatever you wish. I am ready to suffer everything for my Master Jesus Christ."

Alexander was returned to prison where he stayed until Friday, a Muslim holy day on which it was customary for the important Muslims of the city to gather about the kadi of each city and attend with services at the mosque. On this occasion, Alexander was the topic of their conversation.

When brought before the kadi for the third time, the same flattery, promises and threats were made. To these Alexander replied by simply saying: "I was born an Orthodox Christian, I wish to die an Orthodox Christian. I will not exchange the light for darkness. I worship Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Trinity consubstantial and undivided." Saying this, he made the sign of the cross.

This was the last straw for the kadi and the Muslims present. Alexander was immediately sentenced to death. He was bound and led to the place of execution accompanied by many Muslims who continued to to try to persuade him to change his mind. To their admonitions, Alexander responded, "I am an Orthodox Christian and I die as an Orthodox Christian."

Many people, Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Westerners and Armenians gathered for the execution. Alexander stood in the center. The executioner then placed his sword in front of Alexander's eyes to frighten him. But the Neomartyr remained calm and unaffected.

Alexander was then ordered to kneel, at which point the order came from the mulla for a stay of execution. The stay continued for an hour during which time Alexander prayed. When he gave no sign of changing his mind or of being willing to convert, the execution proceeded and he was beheaded.

Thus Alexander the dervish from Thessaloniki sacrificed his life for the love of Jesus Christ in the city of Smyrna, Asia Minor on May 26, 1794.

From Witnesses For Christ: Orthodox Christian Neomartyrs of the Ottoman Period 1437-1860, by Nomikos Michael Vaporis, pp. 217-219.

Apolytikion in Plagal of the First Tone

In lawful contest Martyr you were valiant, you were wounded after prevailing against the enemy, and you are seen Alexander as a companion of Martyrs. Therefore as its holy offshoot, Thessaloniki honors you, and with longing it proclaims to you: Do not cease interceding for the mercy of those who honor you.

Kontakion in the Third Tone

The city of Thessaloniki celebrates today your holy memory, Alexander Neomartyr; you are its own divine offspring and offshoot; you contested in Smyrna with brave resolve for love of the Lord; therefore entreat Him that He may save us all.

Megalynarion

You contested lawfully for Christ, Alexander Martyr, and destroyed the enemy; therefore Thessaloniki reverences your memory, honoring your struggles and your contests.