Saint Constantine of Agarina, June 2
Saint Constantine came from the village of Ypsilometopos in Mytilene from Muslim parents. He was hanged by the Turks on June 2, 1819 in Constantinople.
Saint Constantine came from Muslim parents and was born in the village of Psilometopos in Mytilene. Together with his mother and siblings, he came to Magnesia and later to Smyrna, where he helped his siblings in the fruit shop, taking to the homes of the nobles what they bought from their shop.
At the age of fifteen he was poisoned by a Turkala and was blind and bedridden for three years. But he was cured when he washed in a holy water, as a Christian suggested to his mother.
But going often to the Metropolis of Smyrna, he listened and learned the Greek language and the Christian religion. So he left for Mount Athos, but no one would accept him. Then the exiled Patriarch Gregory V (see April 10) in M. Lavra, after testing him, baptized him as a Christian in Kausokalyvia, with the name Konstantinos.
St. Constantine, in the Skete of the Holy Forerunner, worshiped the holy relics of the newly-appearing martyrs and was seized with the desire to imitate their action. After fasting and praying to a spiritual person, he decided to go to Magnesia, to baptize his Christian sister. However, after the advice of the Fathers, he set sail from Mount Athos and landed in Kydonias.
In Kydonies, he was recognized by a Turk and taken to Aga. There he confessed Christ and after revealing his origin, he was imprisoned and severely tortured. When they interrogated him again, Saint Constantine made the sign of the Cross in front of them, thus proving the immutability of his faith. Then again they imprisoned him and tortured him in a horrible way. But the ruler seeing that all his efforts were in vain, sent him to Constantinople. After he was subjected to severe torture there as well, he was finally hanged on June 2, 1819 AD.
His handwritten sequence can be found in the Kalyvi of Agios Ioannis theologus in Kaufsokalyvia and in the Monastery of Agios Panteleimon on Mount Athos.
Texts
Absolute
Ἦhos c'. Of divine faith.
All gladdened, faithful choirs, and distressed, the children of Hagar, you brilliantly proclaimed piety, and endured unreal sufferings, O Constantine, the sight of the Martyrs. Ὡs oὖn ἔtyches, oὗper ὗποθης ὑοδιμε, remember us of the eufimuandos Se.
Heteron Apolytikion
Number d. He quickly realized.
Phosphorus rose, the Church of Christ, the memory of your sufferings, light filling it, Sealing of Martyrs, glorious Constantine, solving the deception, children of Hagar, shining richly, the souls of those in faith, who celebrate your memory bleed.
Σχόλια