Agathangelos of Esphigmenou

Holy New Martyr Agathangelos of the Esphigmenou Monastery, beheaded at Smyrna.

Agathangelos was born Athanasios in Thrace and, working as a sailor, was pressed into accepting Islam by the Turks. Repenting, he fled to Mount Athos and became a monk at Esphigmenou, where he prepared himself to confess the faith he had denied.

He returned to Smyrna, publicly declared himself a Christian, and was beheaded there in 1819.

Feast day

On the New Calendar, Agathangelos of Esphigmenou is commemorated on April 19. Churches on the Old (Julian) Calendar keep the feast on May 2 of the civil calendar.

Also commemorated on April 19

• 

  John of the Ladder

  Venerable, Ιωάννης της Κλίμακος

  Abbot of Sinai and author of The Ladder of Divine Ascent.

  Name days: Ioannis, Giannis, Yiannis, John

• Paphnutius of Jerusalem

  Hierarch, Παφνούτιος ο Ιεροσολυμίτης

  Hieromartyr Paphnutius of Jerusalem.

• Theodore of Perge and those with him

  Saint, Θεόδωρος ο εν Πέργη

  Holy Martyrs Theodore of Perge, his mother Philippa, and Dioscorus, Socrates and Dionysius.

• George of Pisidia

  Hierarch, Γεώργιος Επίσκοπος Πισιδίας

  Saint George the Confessor, Bishop of Antioch in Pisidia, who suffered exile for the icons.

• Tryphon of Constantinople

  Hierarch, Τρύφων Πατριάρχης Κωνσταντινουπόλεως

  Saint Tryphon, Patriarch of Constantinople, who yielded his throne in humility.

• Symeon of Philotheou

  Venerable, Συμεών ο Μονοχίτων

  Venerable Symeon the Barefoot of Philotheou, abbot and preacher of repentance in Greece.