17th century
Saint Theodore the New Martyr of the Dardanelles
A neomartyr from the Hellespont region, beheaded at the Dardanelles in 1690 for refusing to convert.
Biography
Theodore was born in a village near the Hellespont and raised by devout parents. As a young man he settled in the Dardanelles, working as a sesame processor; his evident virtue caught the eye of a wealthy Turk, who tried unsuccessfully to convert him to Islam and marry him to his own daughter.
When Theodore refused, the man falsely accused him of having promised to convert. Before the judge the young man declared he was born a Christian and wished to die one; he was tortured and beheaded on 2 August 1690. His skull was later brought to Nicaea, where it is still kept.