Venerable Onuphrius (+1818)

The Venerable Martyr Onuphrius (in the world Matthew) was born in the Bulgarian village of Gabrovo. He received a good education, and a brilliant future awaited him, but the God-loving young man went to Mount Athos and was tonsured a monk in the Hilandar monastery with the name Manasses. It is said that once, as a child, Matthew was punished by his father for mischief, and the angry child thoughtlessly shouted: “I’ll become a Turk!” Repentance for this unintended, spoken renunciation of Christianity brought him to the Holy Mountain, but even the strict rule of the Athonite monks did not satisfy him: a desire to suffer for Christ was stirred in him, and he revealed his heart’s wish to an experienced teacher, Nicephorus. Nicephorus clothed the zealous monk in the schema, named him Onuphrius, and sent him to the Turkish-held island of Chios, where the saint denounced the false wisdom of the Koran and openly confessed Christ. For this he was seized and cruelly tortured, and then beheaded and thrown into the sea.