August 16: Saint Neomartys Stamatios from Pelion is celebratedtranslated

Today, August 16, the Church honors the memory of Saint Timothy Bishop Euripus and the memory of the Martyrs Demetrius the Younger and Diomedes from Tarsus, Anargyros the Physician who was martyred under Diocletian.  Also, of Saints Alcibiades and the new martyr Stamatis, from Volos, who was martyred in Vasilefoussa, in the year 1680, not succumbing to the pressures of denying the Risen Christ.

Lambros Skontzos, Theologian, writes

Saint Neomartys Stamatios from Pelion The region of Pelion in Magnesia gave a number of great personalities to the Church and our Nation in the dark years of the Turkish rule. That blessed and God-endowed place brought forth bright spiritual figures and saints, who contributed the most to our national cause and to the preservation of our orthodox faith. He also highlighted many New Martyrs, who sacrificed their lives for their witness to Christ and the saving truth of our Church. One of them was the holy Neomartys Stamatios, a glorious soldier of Christ.

He was born in the middle of the 17th century in the village of Agios Georgios Nileias of the enchanting Pelion, built at an altitude of 620...