The Feast Day of the Holy Five New Martyrs of Samothrace

Every year, on the Sunday of Thomas, our Church has designated the commemoration of the Holy Five New Martyrs of Samothrace. The names of the five Saints were Manuel, Theodore, Michael, George and George the Younger. They were martyred in 1836 in Makri, Alexandroupoli.

As every year, and this year as well, His Eminence Metropolitan Anthimos of Alexandroupoli made his way to Samothrace for the feast of the five New Martyrs, which is celebrated in the Holy Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos, where the sacred skulls of the Saints are also kept. On the eve of the Feast, the Great Hierarchical Vespers were held, presided over by the local Metropolitan. Before the end of Vespers, he tonsured Konstantinos Melenios, a student of the first high school, as a reader, urging him to constantly be at the chanter’s stand and to constantly enrich his knowledge of Byzantine music.

On the Sunday of Thomas, 12 May 2024, the Matins and Hierarchical Divine Liturgy took place presided over by Metropolitan Anthimos, who was joined by priests from the island and from Alexandroupoli. Several residents of the island, as well as pilgrims, participated in the Divine Liturgy. Present also were the Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Food Mr. Stavros Keletsis, the Member of Parliament of Evros, Mr. Anastasios Dimoshakis, the Regional Governor of Macedonia and Thrace, Mr. Christodoulos Topsidis, the Vice-Regional Governor of Evros, Mr. Evangelos Poulilios, the Mayor of Samothrace, Mr. Athanasios Vitsas and officers of the Army and the law enforcement.

After the Divine Liturgy, a procession with the sacred skulls of the Saints took place throughout the picturesque streets of Chora. The litany stopped at the house of one of the Five Saints and a prayer was made for rain during the current drought. His Eminence then blessed red Paschal eggs and distributed them to the faithful as a blessing.