The life of St Constantine the Hagarene of Mytilene
In time he came to believe in Christ, made his way to Mount Athos, and was baptized there, spending a season in silence, fasting, and prayer before a longing grew in him to give his life for the faith he had newly embraced.
He set out for Asia Minor hoping to see his sister and win her to Christ as well, but was recognized along the way and arrested. Brought before the authorities, he confessed Christ without wavering even under severe torture, and was finally sent on to Constantinople to be sentenced. There, tradition holds, the Mother of God herself appeared to him and told him his martyrdom was near, and he refused any last chance to save himself. He was put to death in the city on the second of June, 1819, and was buried in a Muslim graveyard so that the Christians of the city could not recover his body and honor him.
