Description
St. Constantine the New Martyr was born into a Moslem family and lived in Psilometopon on the Island of Mitylene. When he was just 15 years old a bout of smallpox left him blind, but an kind Orthodox woman neighbor asked to take him to a sacred font at a nearby church and he was completely healed. His father had died when he was young, and his mother remarried and moved with his stepfather and his three brothers to Magnesia in Asia Minor.
His stepfather beat the four brothers regularly, and they finally fled to Smyrna, where they opened a vegetable shop together to support themselves. Constantine took vegetables to the local bishop in Smyrna as a part of the business and was intrigued by visiting the church and bishop’s residence. The love of Christ began to grow in his heart. After some time, Constantine left for the Holy Mountain of Athos to seek baptism, but because he was a Moslem, most of the fathers there were afraid of retaliation, so they wouldn’t help. Patriarch Gregorios did baptize him Constantine, and the young man returned to Kydonies and then Constantinople, where he was cruelly tortured for 40 days, then killed for his faith in 1819.