The Holy Five New Martyrs of Samothrace

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

Icon of the Holy Five Neomartyrs of Samothrace: Sts. Emmanuel, George, Michael, Theodore, and another St. George (taken from: http://christopherklitou.com/icon_6_april_emmanuel_george_michael_theodore_george_newmartyrs_of_samothrace_1821.htm)
   

   On the Sunday after Pascha (the Sunday of St. Thomas), we celebrate the memory of the Holy Five Neomartyrs of Samothrace: Sts. Manuel, Theodore, George, George the younger, and Michael. The text is translated (preliminarily) and summarized from: http://www.synaxaristis.googlepages.com/6απριλιου.

  

The return of some Holy Relics and Implements of Martyrdom of the Holy Neomartys of Samothrace (returned by a family who moved back to the island after living in the United States, who gave the Relics to the church of St. Anastasia in Makri) (taken from: http://www.imalex.gr/6D5E7FE0.el.aspx)
  

These New Martyrs were from Samothrace, with the exception of St. Michael who was from Cyprus. During the Greek Revolution of 1821, the island of Samothrace was occupied by the Turks, who came from Avydo and Tenedos and murdered the Christians inhabitants, while many women and children were taken as slaves to the East and Egypt. Then afterwards, the four martyrs along with St. Michael (who denied his faith and converted out of fear), were sold throughout various places in Turkey. When Greece was liberated, the Five New Martyrs returned to Samothraki and followed the Christian life.
  

At the time, the one appointed to the position of kadi in Makri was a tough man named Aptourrachman, who was inhuman and a zealot for Islam. In the year 1836, he captured the Martyrs and imprisoned and tortured them. Despite the terrible tortures, the Martyrs confessed their faith in Christ. The Kadi then wrote to Constantinople to his boss Vasaf, who was a secret secretary of Sultan Mahmoud, informing him about the Martyrs who denied the religion of Mohammed. The decision came back as a conviction. The first to be martyred was St. Michael, the oldest, who was cut to pieces with their swords. Sts. Theodore and George were hanged and so received the wreath of struggle. The much-suffering St. Manuel was thrown on iron hooks and was pinned in the shape of the Cross. They cast the blessed young St. George on the hooks similarly, but oh the miracle! The nails bent and did not at all pin the body of the Saint. After this they threw him on an iron awl and dropped him so that his body would be nailed. In this way the martyr St. Manuel shortly delivered his holy soul into the hands of God, while the martyr St. George stayed riveted for twenty-four hours in unbearable pain. These Turks, when they saw that he was still alive after so long, shot him in the head, and thus ended the life of this glorious martyr. Christians, having received the authorization, buried the remains of the Holy Martyrs at the place of their martyrdom.
  

Purportedly a picture of the church of the Dormition of the Theotokos, Chora, Samothrace (taken from: http://alex.eled.duth.gr/Samothrace/gr4a.html)
   

The five Holy Skulls of the Neomartyrs of Samothrace are treasured in the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Chora, Samothrace. As mentioned, their feast is celebrated on the Sunday of Antipascha (the Sunday of St. Thomas, the first Sunday after Pascha), because they were martyred on April 6th, which was the Monday of St. Thomas week. May the Holy Five Neomartyrs of Samothrace intercede for all of us and help us, as we honor them in the continued Light of Christ's Holy and Glorious Resurrection!
  

The Relics and Implements of Martyrdom (iron spike and nail) from the Holy Five Neomartyrs of Samothrace, from the Church of St. Anastasia in Makri (taken from: http://www.imalex.gr/6D5E7FE0.el.aspx)

Ἀπολυτίκιον. Ἦχος α’. Τῆς ἐρήμου πολίτης.Σαμοθράκης λαμπτῆρες καὶ τῆς Μάκρης ἀγλάισμα, Νεομάρτυρες θεῖοι ἀληθῶς ἀνεδείχθητε, ἀθλήσαντες στερρῶς ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ, καὶ λύσαντες τὴν πλάνην τοῦ ἐχθροῦ, Μανουὴλ σὺν Θεοδώρω καὶ Μιχαήλ, καὶ οἱ διττοὶ Γεώργιοι, δόξα τῷ ἐνισχύσαντι ὑμᾶς, δόξα τῷ στεφανώσαντι, δόξα τῷ χορηγούντι δι' ὑμῶν, ἠμὶν χάριν καὶ ἔλεος.

(taken from: http://www.synaxaristis.googlepages.com/6απριλιου)
   

Apolytikion of the Holy Five Neomartyrs of Samothrace - 1st Tone (amateur translation)

O lamps of Samothrace and adornment of Makri, you were shown forth truly as divine Neomartyrs, you struggled steadfastly for Christ and destroyed the fallacy of the enemy, Manuel with Theodore and Michael, and dual Georges, glory to Him Who strengthened you, glory to Him Who crowned you, glory to Him who bestows on us through you grace and mercy.
  

Christ is Risen from the dead, by death, trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs, bestowing life!
Truly the Lord is risen!