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Greek Name Days

18th century

New Martyr Kyranna of Thessaloniki

A young Christian woman from Avyssoka (today Ossa) near Thessaloniki who was tortured in prison in Thessaloniki for refusing to convert and marry an Ottoman official, and died in 1751.

28 February

Biography

Kyranna was born in 1731 in Avyssoka (today Ossa), near Thessaloniki, to devout parents. Her beauty attracted the attention of a Janissary tax collector, who tried flattery, gifts and threats to make her convert and marry him; when she refused, he dragged her before the judge of Thessaloniki on a false charge.

Imprisoned, she was repeatedly tortured by the Janissary and the jailer, until she died from the torture on 28 February 1751, at only 20 years old. Her life was recorded by Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite; in 2011 part of her relics were found in the Church of the Archangels in Ossa.

Sources and further reading