The life of St Angelis
At a village feast for the Dormition of the Theotokos, where Orthodox Christians and Muslim neighbors, some of them former Christians, had gathered and were drinking together, the company began playfully swapping headgear, and Angelis, caught up in the moment, put on a Muslim turban along with the rest.
The next day he was confronted: to wear that turban, even in jest, was taken by some as a sign of conversion, and he was brought before the authorities and told to choose between accepting Islam or facing torture and death. Whatever carelessness had marked his faith before, Angelis found in himself a sudden and unshakable resolve, and he confessed Christ openly, refusing every pressure to recant. He was beheaded near Hagia Sophia on September 1, 1680. That night those present, Christian and Muslim alike, reported a light shining over his body. Christians of his own guild later recovered his remains and buried him with reverence on a nearby island, and his sudden, unlooked-for courage has been remembered by the Church ever since.
