New Martyr 18th century

Monastic Martyr Pachomius of Mount Athos

d. 1730

Also known as Pachomius the New Martyr · Pachomius of Patmos

A man of Little Russia taken captive and enslaved, who was pressured to deny Christ; escaping to Mount Athos and becoming a monk, he returned to confess the faith openly and was martyred.

Feast Day

May 7

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Commemorated as

The Holy New Monastic-Martyr Pachomius of Mount Athos

Life

Pachomius was a New Martyr of the eighteenth century, remembered as a monk of Mount Athos who returned to the place of his long enslavement to confess Christ openly and was beheaded for the faith. He came from Little Russia (Ukraine) and was carried off into captivity as a young man, spending nearly three decades as a slave in Asia Minor before he found his way to the Holy Mountain.

According to the synaxarion, his master in slavery pressed him repeatedly to abandon Christianity, even offering him marriage and inheritance to do so, but Pachomius held to the faith. After his eventual release he became a monk on Athos, and with the blessing of the elders of the Holy Mountain he went back to the town of his captivity to confess Christ before those who had once known him. He was martyred at Usaki on the Feast of the Ascension, May 7, 1730.

Timeline 4 moments Read Hide

Late 17th c. Birth in Little Russia Pachomius was born in Little Russia (the region corresponding to modern Ukraine). By tradition he was taken captive as a young man and carried into Asia Minor.
c. 1700s Enslavement at Usaki He was sold as a slave to a Muslim tanner at Usaki, near the ancient city of Philadelphia in Asia Minor, and remained in servitude for some twenty-seven years. The synaxarion relates that his master offered him his daughter in marriage and made him his heir if he would convert to Islam, which Pachomius refused; impressed by his steadfastness, the tanner finally set him free.
c. 1720s Monastic life on Mount Athos After recovering from illness and passing through Smyrna, Pachomius came to Saint Paul's Monastery on Mount Athos, where he placed himself under the hieromonk Joseph and lived as a monk for twelve years. He afterward moved to the community of Saint Acacius of Kavsokalyvia, where he spent a further six years.
May 7, 1730 Return and martyrdom at Usaki With the blessing of the fathers of the Holy Mountain and accompanied by his elder Joseph, Pachomius returned to Usaki and openly confessed Christ. After being held and pressed to deny the faith, he was beheaded on May 7, 1730, which that year fell on the Feast of the Ascension.

Contributions & Legacy

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Captivity and confession

The accounts of Pachomius emphasize the long ordeal of his enslavement. Carried off from Little Russia, he was sold to a tanner at Usaki near Philadelphia in Asia Minor and served roughly twenty-seven years. Throughout that time he was pressed to embrace Islam, and the sources record that his master held out the inducements of marriage and inheritance, all of which the saint declined.

Some accounts indicate that under the prolonged pressure of captivity he had at one point been forced toward apostasy, and that his later return to confess Christ openly was understood as the public undoing of that coercion. The anchor record likewise describes him as a man "pressured to deny Christ" who afterward "returned to confess the faith openly."

Athos and the path to martyrdom

Freed at last, Pachomius made his way to Mount Athos, the center of Orthodox monastic life, where he was tonsured and lived under the guidance of the hieromonk Joseph at Saint Paul's Monastery for twelve years before joining the brotherhood of Saint Acacius of Kavsokalyvia. The desire to atone for his time of compulsion and to bear witness drew him back toward Usaki.

After taking counsel with the fathers of the Holy Mountain, who blessed his resolve, he returned to the town accompanied by Elder Joseph. There he confessed Christ before those who had known him in his servitude and was put to death by beheading on the Feast of the Ascension in 1730. His relics were later translated to the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian on the island of Patmos.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints