HOLY NEW MARTYR ARGYRA

In the Russian tradition, new martyrs, are the saints who suffered from the Bolsheviks and their successors, during the almost seventy-year period of communist rule. It began at the very end of 1917, after the October Revolution and lasted until the beginning of 1988, when it was decided at the government level to celebrate the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus in the USSR.

Seventy years is a symbolic number of the Babylonian Captivity. At the same time, it is a sign of the fulfillment of human age: “The days of our years are seventy years,” as it is said in the psalms (Psalm 89:10). “The Father has put times and seasons in his own power” (Acts 17:8). These words the Lord said to the Apostles just before the moment of His Ascension to Heaven.

In the Greek Church, new martyrs are saints who suffered at the hands of the Muslims during the centuries-long rule of the Ottoman Dynasty, as well as the political and religious dominance of Muslims, which continues in many regions. The era of new martyrs is not over.

One of these new martyrs of the Greek Orthodox Church is Saint Argyra (1688–1721). Her memory is on the same day as Apostle James the Son of Zebedee and Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, that is, May 13 (April 30), depending on the liturgical calendar used in a particular Local Orthodox Church.

In the calendar, she is called Saint Argyra of Prussia, after the Greek name of the city of Bursa, in northwestern Anatolia, not far from the Sea of ​​Marmara and Mount Uludag. At the time of Saint Argyra, it was a dynamic economic center with a population of 100,000, more than a third of whom were Christians.

Argyra was born in this city in 1688. It was a time when the rapid territorial expansion of the Ottoman Empire was coming to an end. Economic growth and prosperity due to the military annexation of new territories was replaced by stagnation, an awareness of their own backwardness, which inevitably led to internal confrontations among its inhabitants, who, moreover, were completely unequal in rights. Christians were discriminated against.

In accordance with the customs of that time, Argyra got married at the age of 18. Her husband was Orthodox. But a certain Ottoman subject, a Muslim, invented that he also had matrimonial plans for her. This man began to persecute her. The wife’s religion does not matter to Muslims, because children are obliged to follow the faith of their father. But he stated that she had publicly promised to convert to Islam and accused her of breaking this promise. This was a dangerous slander, the reason for which was a treacherous revenge for refusing to marry him. Leaving Islam was punishable by death. Argyra denied his words. Then a trial was instituted against her.

Hoping for “metropolitan justice,” the trial, at the request of her husband, was transferred to Constantinople, where the enemy again bore false witness against Argyra. She could have gained freedom by converting to Islam, but she refused, openly confessed Christ, for which she was imprisoned: where she spent 17 years. The saint died in cruel torment on April 5, 1721, without ever abandoning Christ.

On April 30, 1735, her body was transferred to the Church of St. Paraskeve in the suburbs of Constantinople. Her life was later recorded. It contains stunning testimonies of eyewitnesses, relatives, people who knew her, and even cellmates.

At one time, Saint Argyra was especially revered in Greece, and a service to the saint was even composed, copies of which were also found in the Russian Empire. In 1912, the text of the service was published in Constantinople, but it was not included in modern liturgical books.

“A poor saint has no doxology,” says a Greek proverb, cited by the great righteous man of our time, Bishop and theologian Vasily Krivoshein (1900-1985). Soon after the official publication of the liturgical service in honor of Saint Argyra, the Balkan wars gave way to the First World War. Like the Russian, German and Austrian wars, the Ottoman Empire perished in this war.

The Greco-Turkish War began. Hoping for help from their Western allies, the Greek armies began to defeat the Turkish troops and pushed them back as far as Ankara. Then, suddenly deprived of support due to a change in the political situation, the Greeks suffered a crushing defeat. The entire Christian population of Asia Minor was expelled. The Orthodox presence in these lands, from Cappadocia to Constantinople, from Antioch to Bursa, the birthplace of Saint Argyra, ended.

The celebration in honor of Saint Argyra is a reminder that both in history and in an individual human biography, the past cannot be returned. Glory to God, who accepts martyrs and innocent sufferers into Heavenly Glory. Saint Argyra is the heavenly patroness of those subjected to slander and persecuted for their faith. She is the protector of pious marriages.