Church of Saint Chrysi the New Martyr

Why pilgrims come

Discover what makes Church of Saint Chrysi the New Martyr a place of pilgrimage

The village of Chrysi in Almopia preserves the living Eastern Orthodox memory of St. Chrysi the New Martyr, also known as Chryse or Zlata of Meglen. The settlement was formerly called Slatena or Zlatina and now bears the saint’s name. Its church dedicated to her is the principal place where her annual October 13 commemoration, local pilgrimage, and present relic devotion come together.

Chrysi’s received life belongs to the Orthodox tradition of the New Martyrs: Christians remembered as having died for their confession of Christ under Ottoman rule. The Church of Greece’s synaxarion says that a Muslim man sought to compel the young Christian woman to convert and marry him. It recounts pressure from captors and members of her own family, her refusal to renounce Christ, prolonged torture, and her death on October 13, 1795. The account became widely known through the New Martyrology associated with St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite.

The story must be read with both reverence and precision. The graphic details come from Orthodox hagiographic tradition rather than a surviving civil trial record or a modern historical investigation. Catholic Tourist therefore attributes them to the synaxarion and does not turn suffering into spectacle. The enduring center of the devotion is her fidelity to Christ, courage under coercion, and refusal to make safety conditional on abandoning her faith.

In 2026 the Holy Metropolis of Edessa, Pella and Almopia announced that human remains discovered some years earlier near the ruins of the old Dormition church at the Castle of Chrysi had undergone examination and were being received by the Metropolis as the relics of St. Chrysi. The solemn reception was scheduled at her village church on October 12, 2026, followed by Orthros and a hierarchical Divine Liturgy on her October 13 feast and a week of services. This page reports the local Orthodox authority’s identification and liturgical reception; Catholic Tourist does not claim an independent Catholic authentication or scientific certainty beyond the published evidence.

The nearby Castle of Chrysi, identified with medieval Moglena, adds a much older Christian layer. Greece’s Ministry of Culture documents the remains of a large tenth- to twelfth-century episcopal basilica, a funerary church, burials, mosaics, fresco fragments, and an early medieval reliquary. Those excavated churches are not the same building as today’s parish shrine, and the archaeological evidence does not prove the later martyr narrative. Together, however, the castle and village reveal a Christian landscape extending from Byzantine episcopal life to modern Orthodox pilgrimage.

Catholic visitors should understand the ecclesial boundary clearly. St. Chrysi is venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church and is not listed in the Roman Martyrology as a Catholic saint. The church is Greek Orthodox, not a Catholic parish. Catholics may visit respectfully when the community permits, pray for Christian fidelity and unity, and learn from her witness, but should follow Orthodox dress, photography, and sacramental discipline and should not presume reception of Holy Communion.

No dependable year-round public opening schedule or official visitor office was found. The October feast is the clearest documented time of public worship, but special programs do not establish ordinary daily access. Contact the Holy Metropolis of Edessa, Pella and Almopia before making a special journey, and treat the mapped point as orientation within the village until the exact public entrance is confirmed by the custodian.

Visit the Greek Orthodox village shrine of St. Chrysi, encounter her received witness of fidelity to Christ, and understand the newly received relic tradition without confusing Orthodox veneration with Catholic canonization or independent historical proof.