New Martyr 19th century

New Martyr Myron of Crete

died 1793

Also known as Myron of Crete

A New Martyr of Crete who confessed Christ under Ottoman rule; few biographical details survive.

Feast Day
March 20
Draft
Draft — pending review. Not yet verified for publication.
Commemorated as

The Holy New Martyr Myron the Tailor of Crete

Life

Myron, often called Myron the Tailor, was a New Martyr of Crete who was put to death under Ottoman rule for refusing to abandon the Orthodox faith. According to the surviving account, he was from Mega Kastro, the city now known as Heraklion, and was executed there on March 20, 1793, the day on which he is commemorated. He should not be confused with the earlier Myron of Crete, the wonderworking archbishop of the third and fourth centuries, who died a natural death.

Few biographical details survive. The account relates that Myron was born into a pious Orthodox Christian family and that his father was named Demetrios. He earned his living as a tailor. The tradition describes him as a sober and serious young man whose conduct and bearing drew the envy of some of the Muslims of the city.

By the account, his accusers arranged for a young boy to bring a false charge against Myron, which gave them a pretext to seize him and bring him before the kadi. Myron denied the accusation. The judge offered to release him if he would convert to Islam and threatened death if he refused. Myron held to his confession of Christ, and after imprisonment and further interrogation he was sentenced to death and executed by hanging outside the city. He is numbered among the New Martyrs who suffered during the period of Ottoman rule over the Orthodox lands.

Contributions & Legacy

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Martyrdom and Veneration

The sources for Myron's life are brief, and his own database entry preserves only the essentials: a New Martyr of Crete who confessed Christ under Ottoman rule. Later Cretan accounts add the detail that the charge against him was fabricated and that he refused, under threat of execution, to renounce his faith for Islam.

The tradition relates that as Myron hung on the scaffold a heavenly light was seen bathing his body, a sign reported in a number of New Martyr narratives. He is commemorated on March 20, and is venerated among the New Martyrs of the Ottoman period, particularly in Crete.

Notes

Honest stub; century not given by the source (low confidence).

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints