St Cyprian the New Martyr

Cyprian was a monk of the Holy Mountain who grieved over Christians who had fallen away from the faith under Ottoman rule. Longing to bear witness to Christ, he left Athos and openly confessed the Gospel before the Turkish authorities, first in Thessalonica and then in Constantinople, urging those who had denied Christ to return to Him. For this bold confession he was condemned and beheaded in Constantinople in 1679, receiving the crown of martyrdom he had sought. The Church numbers him among the new martyrs of the Turkish yoke, whose blood strengthened the enslaved faithful to keep the faith.