Venerable Martyr Euthymius

Life

Born in the village of Dimitsana on the Peloponnese. As a boy he lived as a Christian, but later went to Romania and there gave himself over to great dissoluteness. In that dissoluteness the evil spirit led him to convert to Islam. But as soon as he had done so, he began to repent bitterly. He returned once more to the faith of Christ and became a monk on the Holy Mountain. After several years spent in severe fasting and prayer, he resolved to die for Christ. With the blessing of his spiritual father he went to Constantinople, where he somehow managed to appear before the Grand Vizier. Before the Vizier he began to make the sign of the Cross, to glorify Christ, and to revile Muhammad. After lengthy torments he was condemned to death and beheaded on March 22, 1814, on Palm Sunday. Many miraculous healings of the sick occurred from his relics. His venerable head is kept in the Russian monastery of Saint Panteleimon on the Holy Mountain. And thus this twenty-year-old youth first died to Christ and then for Christ.