On March 24, the holy Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of the new hieromartyr Parthenios. Of course, in the history of the Church there have been many saints—one need only think of people like Gregory the Theologian and Basil the Great—who have been renowned not only for their piety but also their intellectual capabilities. Parthenios was such a man. He was reared by pious parents, grew up in the love and fear of God, and eventually became in quick succession a reader, a subdeacon, a deacon, and a priest. Having come from the town of Mytilini from these pious parents, he was eventually elevated to the bishopric of the [island] of Chios in 1639. He remained there until 1656, when he was unanimously elevated to the throne of Constantinople.

Not long after this, just a matter of months, there was a prince of the Tartars who sent an emissary to Constantinople on some kind of business. This emissary noticed the metropolitan of Nicaea who was receiving all sorts of accolades and warmth and respect of the people, and he became very jealous of this man for some reason. So when he returned to the prince, he told the prince that this man who was receiving all of these accolades must have been sent by Patriarch Parthenios in order to spy on the Turkish state. Well, immediately this prince had an investigation started and asked that the vizier in that locality bring Parthenios in and question him, because surely he must be a traitor to the state.

When the vizier examined Parthenios and came to the conclusion that Parthenios was indeed innocent of all of these charges, that nothing of this kind was going on with him, yet because he was in a position where to contradict the prince would have put him in a bad position and he did not want to disparage his prince or make a fool out of him, he told Parthenios that he indeed was going to be executed as a traitor to the state. Parthenios, upon hearing this, rejoiced in his Lord, and even though he was offered many honors and wealth beyond his imagination in order to betray his faith—because that way supposedly it would prove that he was not involved in any kind of plot against the state—he said, “No, I am a Christian, a disciple of my sweet Savior, Jesus Christ, and even if I die 10,000 deaths, I would not deny him, and I say this in all joy, that he has given me this opportunity to witness for him.”

Well, they took him, and as is the case with so many of the new martyrs of the Turkish yoke, they tortured him severely and then offered him again many enticements to leave the faith—but he said that he would not. They took the holy Patriarch Parthenios and hung him by the neck until he died on Lazarus Saturday in 1657, having only been patriarch for less than a year. After this, they took his relics and threw them into the sea, although the Christians were able to gather them back and have him suitably buried on one of the islands in the Constantinople region.

Patriarch Parthenios was known at the time as one of the smartest men around. He was extremely intelligent, he was extremely pious, and he certainly deserves to be remembered in that great line of hierarchs starting from St. Basil, who continued on and are known as Fathers of the Church. He left us no writings, but his example was supreme in all ways as one who was not going to deny his Lord for any reason. By his holy prayers, may we also attain to the same attitude towards our faith in Jesus Christ and never deny him for any reason at all.