Saint Stamatios the New Martyr

Stamatios came from Agios Georgios near Volos. When an agha collecting taxes treated the local Christians unjustly, the villagers sent a delegation to Constantinople to protest, and Stamatios was among them.

Because the Vizier was a friend of the tax collector, the delegation was driven off by force, and some Turkish officials falsely accused Stamatios of having converted to Islam and now posing as a Christian. Questioned before both a judge and the Vizier, he firmly denied the charge, refusing every offer of honours and rank, and enduring torture, rather than deny Christ.

The Vizier finally handed him to the governor, and he was beheaded on 16 August 1680 in front of the palace, near Hagia Sophia. His martyrdom was recorded that same year by the monk Iakovos the Hagiorite.