Akakios (baptized Athanasius) was the son of pious parents who lived in the village of Nivori near Thessalonica. When he was 9 years old, his parents sent him to learn a trade from a shoemaker, who often beat him. Unable to bear the cruelty of his master, the boy left him and, under the influence of the Turkish women he met, agreed to renounce Christ and accept the Muslim faith. The Turkish women took Afanasy to Khaznadar Yusuf Bey, who left him in his house and soon circumcised him, giving him a new Muslim name instead of a Christian one; after that he adopted him and loved him like a son. Having lived for 9 years in a rich house in contentment and luxury, Afanasy reached the age of 18.
The owner's wife was inflamed with carnal passion for him and began to persuade him to commit adultery, but the young man, like the biblical Joseph, fled from her. The angry Turkish woman told her husband that the young man wanted to persuade her to cheat. Yusuf, having listened to his wife's complaint, immediately kicked Afanasy out of the house. Athanasius went to Thessalonica to visit his parents. Those who saw their son, who was considered dead, rejoiced, especially when they learned that he was leaving the Muslim faith and wanted to become a Christian again. On the advice of his parents, Afanasy went first to Mount Athos to the Hilandar monastery, then, on the advice of the elders of this monastery, to the Xenophian monastery to see his confessor Nicholas. He, having listened to Afanasy’s confession, read prayers of permission over him, anointed him with holy myrrh and sent him back to Hilandar. After living in the Hilandar monastery for about a year, Afanasy moved to the Iversky Monastery and was tonsured into monasticism with the name A. After some time, his confessor blessed him to go on a martyrdom and gave him Elder Gregory as a companion.
Having said goodbye to the brethren of the monastery, on April 1 they left the Holy Mountain and sailed to Constantinople. Here, for renouncing Islam and professing the Christian faith, Akaki was beheaded after severe torture.
Prmch. Euthymius of Constantinople, Dimitsansky, New, Athos († 1814, commemorated March 22, May 1)
Prmch. Ignatius the New, Athos, Constantinople († 1814, commemorated May 1, October 20)
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St. Athanasius III Patelarius, Patriarch of Constantinople, Lubensky († 1654, commemorated May 2)