In the world, Athanasius, originally from the city of Aena, Thracian region, was raised in a strictly Orthodox family. After the death of his parents, he entered the naval service. The Turks decided to convert the intelligent and skillful young man to Islam. They knew that he would not renounce Christ of his own free will, and in the city of Smyrna (now Izmir) they attacked the saint, wounded him and, threatening him with death, forced him to convert to Islam. The young man was confused and promised to call himself a Muslim in the hope of soon getting rid of the rapists and renouncing this promise. But he did not succeed for a long time, he was tormented by remorse and finally found the opportunity to leave the city and went to seek refuge on Holy Mount Athos. At the Esphigmen monastery, Abbot Euthymius confessed him and blessed him for obedience, which Saint Athanasius carried out with the greatest zeal.
But Saint Athanasius considered even the most difficult feats insufficient to repent of the sin of renunciation. He felt that he needed to give his life for his faith in Christ, and began to pray earnestly for this.
On the fourth Sunday of Great Lent, a nineteen-year-old young man was tonsured a monk with the name Agafangel.
Saint Nicholas of Myra appeared to the newly tonsured monk in a dream and promised his help. The abbot of the monastery saw a special sign in this and blessed Saint Agafangel to confess the faith of Christ in Smyrna before those who forced him to renounce it.
At the Ottoman court, the confessor told how he was forcibly forced to accept an alien faith, publicly renounced Islam and confessed himself as a Christian. They began to persuade and exhort Saint Agafangel. He answered: “I abhor your admonitions, your promises, and you yourself. I only love Christ, I seek my Christ, I desire to enjoy my Christ.” The judge began to threaten him with a painful death. “I am ready to endure everything for my Christ! I accept all types of torment with the greatest joy! I just ask you not to delay in carrying out your words,” answered the saint.
Saint Agathangel was tied up, shackled with a heavy chain, his feet were driven into wooden stocks and thrown into prison. Together with him there were two more innocently convicted Christians. One of them, Nicholas, after the death of the venerable martyr, witnessed his torment.
The next day, Saint Agathangel appeared in chains again before the court. Having courageously endured all the tortures that the Turks prepared for him, he was again sent to prison. Nicholas informed him that one influential man was petitioning the court for his release, but Saint Agathangel, in a letter to that man, asked not to seek freedom for him, but to pray to God to strengthen him in his martyrdom.
The saint was preparing for the final test. At midnight it was revealed to him in a vision that he would be executed no later than five o’clock, and he joyfully began to wait for the appointed hour. At about four o'clock the guards came for him. Seeing no possibility of turning the staunch confessor away from the faith of Christ, the judges decided to execute him. Concentrating in prayer, the martyr did not notice either the preparations for execution or the large crowd of people. He was beheaded at about five o'clock in the morning, April 19, 1819. Christians bought the holy relics of the martyr and buried them in Smyrna, in the Church of the Great Martyr George.
In 1844, part of the holy remains of the Venerable Martyr Agafangel was transferred to the Holy Mount Athos to the Esphigmen monastery.
29 Prmch. Timofey Esfigmensky, Athos († 1820, commemorated April 19, October 29)
In the world, Triandafil, was born in the village of Paraora (Παράορα, modern Barağı in Turkey) near the city of Kisani (Greek Κισσός, modern Keşan in Turkey) in the Thracian region.
His first name, given to him in holy baptism, was Triandafil. Having reached adulthood, Triandafil was legally married, from which he had two daughters.
The godly and peaceful life of this happy family led to the envy of the malicious enemy, who, out of his malice and hatred of all good, decided to destroy marital harmony; To do this, he aroused an irresistible voluptuous lust in one Muslim for Triandafil's wife, so that he, overcome by attraction, forcibly took her away from Triandafil and, introducing her to the Muslim faith, placed her in his harem. The good heart of the husband was overcome with bitter sorrow, seeing the death of his wife, who, for the sake of temporary and perishing blessings, had lost eternal ones, and, not finding any other outcome in his grief than prayer, he began to fervently pray to the Almighty Creator, asking Him to turn the lost woman to the light of true knowledge. But at the same time, he feared for his daughters, fearing that they too would suffer the fate of their mother, and therefore sent them to his relatives, asking them to take part in the unfortunate.
Grief over the loss of his beloved wife oppressed poor Triandafil, and he decided at all costs to snatch her from the clutches of the devil, why, in addition to fervent prayer, he secretly, through others, exhorted her to leave the Muslim faith, threatening her with eternal torment for her apostasy. The fervent prayer, offered from the fullness of the heart, was heard by the Heavenly Creator, Who, in His great mercy, put a good thought into the heart of the outcast, so that she soon felt disgusted with the Muslim faith, came to consciousness, bitterly repented of her fall and decided to again accept the Christian faith. But knowing that it was difficult to escape from the hands of the kidnapper on her own, she suggested that Triandafil pretend to accept the Muslim faith, and then demand it from the kidnapper in court; In other ways it was impossible for her to free herself from the harem.
And then, when she is freed, they must leave the world and go: he to the Holy Mount Athos and, having become a monk there, beg God and ask for forgiveness in his involuntary fall, and she to a nunnery, where, like him, she will heal her ulcers with repentance.
Hearing such a demand from his wife, Triandafil, in order to acquire the deceased, decided to fulfill her desire, imitating in this case the Apostle Paul, who, for the salvation of his brethren, himself wanted to be excommunicated from Christ.
So, placing his hope in God, he went to the judgment seat, where he declared his desire to accept the Muslim faith, but only if his wife was returned to him. Triandafil's wish was immediately fulfilled: he was introduced to the Muslim faith and, after circumcision was performed on him, his wife was returned to him. Having received a wife, Triandafil, although he showed the appearance that he would follow the Mohammedan law, secretly, together with his wife, professed the Christian faith and performed all church rituals, however, no matter how much they hid their secret, the Turks still suspected them of treason, which is why they began to strictly monitor them. Meanwhile, Triandafil realized that it was impossible for them to remain among the Muslims any longer, and therefore, entrusting his daughters to relatives and saying goodbye to them, he secretly went with his wife to the city of Enos, and from there to Kydonia, where he left her in a nunnery, and he himself went to Holy Mount Athos.
Upon arrival at the Holy Mountain, Triandafil entered the brotherhood of the Lavra of St. Athanasius, where he zealously labored in monastic deeds. Meanwhile, he secretly shed bitter tears and asked the merciful God to forgive him for his involuntary sin. The abbot, seeing his zeal in imitation of a virtuous life, tonsured him into monasticism with the name Timothy. With the adoption of the angelic image, he applied labor to labor and among the Lavra brotherhood he was like an angel, adorned with goodness and deep humility. He carried out the obediences assigned to him with special zeal, and thus he lived in the Lavra for about seven years, growing from strength to strength.
At that same time, news reached the Lavra that in Smyrna St. The Venerable Martyr Agafangel of Esphigmena successfully completed his martyrdom, and even the Turks themselves were amazed at his courageous patience. This rumor, as well as the fact that for his renunciation of Christ he shed his blood and with it washed away the stain that his all-evil enemy had placed on him, had a strong effect on Timothy: it clearly seemed to him that for his renunciation, like St. Agafangel, must confess Christ as the true God before the Muslims and then accept martyrdom.