New Martyr Argyrus

Martyrdom

The accounts of his life relate that Argyrios confronted a former Christian who had renounced his faith and embraced Islam, urging him to return to the Orthodox Church. Janissaries who overheard the exchange attacked him and attempted to compel him to convert through threats and beatings.

He was brought before the local Kadi, the Muslim judge, who by these accounts initially found that his advocacy of his faith was not a punishable crime. The Janissaries insisted that his words against Islam warranted death. Pressed during interrogation to deny Christ, Argyrios declared that he had been born a Christian and would die a Christian. He was executed by hanging on Friday, May 11, 1806, in the Kapani marketplace of Thessaloniki, at approximately eighteen years of age.

Relics & Shrines

By tradition his relic was preserved by the Brenda family and later transferred to the Monastery of Saint Menas in Anthousa, Attica. Accounts further relate that Metropolitan Pavlos brought a portion of the relic to New York. He is honored liturgically with an Apolytikion, Kontakion, and Megalynarion.

Veneration

Argyrios is numbered among the New Martyrs of the Ottoman period and is commemorated on May 11. Some liturgical calendars list him together with the New Martyr Dioscorus of Thessalonica on the same day, and his name appears with variant spellings including Argyrus and Argyres.