The life of St Athanasius of Thessalonika
In 1774, while illustrating a point in one such conversation with a local official, he spoke aloud the Muslim profession of faith. The official seized on this to accuse him of having converted to Islam, and though the judge who first heard the case found no substance in the charge, he came under pressure from the accuser and others and began pressing Athanasius to confirm the conversion. Athanasius answered that he knew no truth but that of Christ, and was thrown into prison.
During his confinement, fear of reprisal kept even close acquaintances away, and by one account his own father declined to intervene with an official he knew who might have helped him. Brought before the judge again some days later, Athanasius held to his confession and was sentenced to death. He was hanged outside the city at the age of twenty-five, and Christians buried him near the Church of Saint Paraskevi.
