“I will die peacefully to save my nation.”
Commemoration of Hieromartyr Gregory V (+1821), Patriarch of Constantinople. The Greeks call him “Ethnomartiras” – “national martyr”.
The Russian ambassador warned the Patriarch of the danger, to which the primate replied: “Only a mercenary leaves the flock in a moment of danger, while a good shepherd is always ready to gladly lay down his life for the sheep.”
On Easter, April 10, 1821, during the national uprising of the Greeks, the Turks hanged the Hieromartyr Gregory at the gate of the Patriarchate, and then threw the body into the sea. It was found by sailors, the body of the saint was transferred to Odessa, where it was buried in the Trinity Church. Half a century later, the honorable relics were solemnly transferred to the saint’s homeland and found peace in Greek Athens.
Memory of Hieromartyr Gregory is an occasion to recall the good old ties between Constantinople and Russia.