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July 24: Saint Neomartyr Theophilos of Zakynthos is celebratedtranslated

July 24, 2026 · 1 min read

Today, July 24, the Church honors the memory of Saint Neomartyr Theophilos of Zakynthos and Saint Great Martyr Christina.

By LAMBROS K. SKONTZOU, Theologian - Professor

Saint Neomartyr Theophilos from Zakynthos The New Martyrs are one of the greatest chapters in the history of our Church. Those who confessed Christ and their faith in Orthodoxy and suffered martyrdom and death, from 1453 until today, are called Neomartyrs. Especially in the dark years of Turkish slavery, where enslaved Christians had to choose between violent Islamization and martyrdom. Thousands of Orthodox Christians were added to the millions of Martyrs of ancient and medieval times.

Saint Neomartys Theophilos is one of them. He was born in Zakynthos in 1615 from a poor family. We don't know much about his childhood. But we know the tyranny, the humiliations and the pressures to make the Orthodox Iptanisians renounce their faith and embrace the heretical papacy. Many experts argue that the ecclesiastical situation in the basements of the Venetian Ionian Islands was worse than the rest of Greece, where rudimentary...

Source: Orthodoxia News Agency · Read the full story →

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Красимира Василева

I did not know that Zakynthos was at that time worse off under the Venetians than under the Turks. Poor Saint Theophilus, from a poor family and still so young to endure all this. Thanks for the article, I always learn something new about non-martyrs.

Иван Виноградов

It is interesting that the author directly wrote how in Zakynthos under the Venetians it was even worse than in other places under the Turks. Didn't know about this. Thanks for the article, it’s always useful to know such details about neo-martyrs.

Методи Атанасов

Yes, I was also surprised by that detail about the Venetians in Eptaniso. One thinks that the Turkish yoke was the heaviest, and even the Catholics did not mind the coercion. Thank you Krasimira for pointing that out – I learned something new from the article too.

Любовь Андреева

Yes, this place in the article also caught my attention. I didn’t expect that under the Venetians in Zakynthos Orthodoxy was treated so harshly, worse than in Turkish lands. Have you read anything else about the neo-martyrs there?