Saint Demetrius the Neomartyr ( el, Άγιος Δημήτριος Νεομάρτυρας, or Άγιος Δημήτριος Ο Νέος) (1779-1803) is an

Orthodox Christian Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Churche ...

saint, commemorated on 14 April in the

Church of Greece The Church of Greece ( el, Ἐκκλησία τῆς Ἑλλάδος, Ekklēsía tē̂s Helládos, ), part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, is one of the autocephalous churches which make up the communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Its ...

Early life

Demetrius was a Greek Orthodox Christian boy born in Floka and raised in Ligouditsa, both in the region of

Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...

, near the regional capital of

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

. As with most of Greece at the time, the region was ruled by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. His mother died when he was very young, and his father, Elias, remarried. Due to ill-treatment by his stepmother, Demetrius left home and went to seek work in Tripoli, where he was apprenticed to a builder. He converted to Islam but later repented.John Sanidopoulos webesite, profile page
/ref> He worked for a time as a barber, before the abbot of the Monastery of the Precious Forerunner recommended him to a monastery on the island of

Chios Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of mastic ...

where he stayed for a time.

Public confession and martyrdom

Demetrius fell into a deep depression when the weight of his sin fully weighed in and decided that to expiate his mistake, he must perform a great penance: returning to Tripoli to confess publicly that he was recanting his conversion to Islam. His abbot tried to dissuade him, to no avail, and Demetrius returned to Tripoli and publicly confessed his re-conversion to Christianity several times. This included him going to his former barber boss and asking him to slit his throat right there, which neither the boss nor the other barbers did. When this didn't work, he went up to the guards of a nearby leader and told them he had apostatized, which got him detained. Demetrius was taken to the presence of a Turkish judge, judged for apostasy from Islam, convicted and sentenced to die in 1803, despite the attempted intercession of a Turkish friend, who tried to cover up for him by altering the records of Demetrius' confession; Demetrius noticed this and demanded to be executed anyway, also ignoring the judge's own desire to let him go. Finally, Demetrius was taken to the local market (reportedly, he cheerfully sang Christian hymns in his way), and publicly executed by

beheading Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...

; despite orders to be burned, his severed head and body were hidden and preserved by local Christians as

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Demetrius the Neomartyr 18th-century births 1803 deaths Year of birth unknown Saints of Ottoman Greece People from Arcadia, Peloponnese Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Islam People executed by the Ottoman Empire by decapitation Executed Greek people Greeks from the Ottoman Empire Greek saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church