Holy Venerable Martyr Romanus

Life

Romanus was a simple and illiterate peasant from Carpenesion. Learning of the heroism and glory of Christ's martyrs, young Romanus desired martyrdom for himself. He went to Thessalonica where he began on the street to praise the Christian faith, and to call Muhammad a fabulist. The Turks terribly tortured him, then sold him to a certain galley captain. Christians ransomed him from the captain and sent him to the Holy Mountain where Romanus became a monk with the renowned elder Akakios, but he still desired martyrdom for Christ. With the blessing of the elder he went to Constantinople, pretended to be a fool and began to lead a dog through the Turkish streets. When asked what he was doing, Romanus answered that he was feeding that dog just as Christians feed the Turks. The Turks threw him into a dry well where he spent forty days without bread. Then they pulled him out and beheaded him. From his body light shone forth for three days. A certain Englishman took the body and carried it to England. And a certain monk dipped a towel in the martyr's blood. That towel is preserved even today in the monastery of Docheiariou. This glorious soldier of Christ suffered in the year 1694.