Cloud of Witnesses
New Martyr16th century

Great Martyr Nicholas of Sofia

c. 1510 - 1555

Also known as Nicholas the New of Sofia

A young cobbler of Ioannina who, settling in Sofia, withstood every pressure to embrace Islam and was stoned and burned for confessing Christ in 1555.

Feast Day
May 17
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Commemorated as

The Holy Glorious New Martyr Nicholas of Sofia

Life

Nicholas of Sofia, also called Nicholas the New, was a sixteenth-century layman martyred for refusing to abandon Christ for Islam in Ottoman-ruled Bulgaria. By tradition he was born around 1510 in Ioannina, in the region of Epirus, and worked as a cobbler. After the death of his parents he lived as a wandering pilgrim and eventually settled in Serdets, the city later known as Sofia, where he led a devout life.

The synaxarion relates that Ottoman authorities pressed the Christians of Sofia to convert to Islam. According to the tradition preserved in his Life, Nicholas was treacherously circumcised after being plied with wine, but he publicly repudiated the act and continued to confess himself a Christian. Brought before a Muslim judge on May 17, 1555, he was condemned and, by the Slavic account, stoned outside the city and his body afterward burned. The local hierarch, Metropolitan James, convened a diocesan council that recognized him as a martyr; he is venerated especially in Sofia, where his feast is kept on May 17.

Timeline4 momentsReadHide
  1. c. 1510Birth in IoanninaBy tradition Nicholas was born about 1510 in Ioannina, in Epirus, and after the death of his parents took up the trade of a cobbler.
  2. 16th centurySettles in SofiaLiving as a pilgrim, he travelled and settled in Serdets (modern Sofia), where he was known for a holy manner of life.
  3. May 17, 1555MartyrdomHaving refused to embrace Islam, he was condemned and put to death; the Slavic tradition records that he was stoned outside the city and his body then burned.
  4. after 1555Recognition as a martyrMetropolitan James of Sofia convened a diocesan council at which Nicholas was recognized and honored as a New Martyr.

Contributions & Legacy

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A confessor under Ottoman rule

Nicholas belonged to the company of the New Martyrs, Orthodox Christians who suffered for the faith under Ottoman rule in the centuries after the fall of Constantinople. The pressure on the Christian population of Sofia to accept Islam forms the background of his confession, and his steadfast refusal to apostatize is the heart of his commemoration.

The accounts differ on the immediate circumstances of his death. The Slavic synaxarion preserved in the Orthodox Church in America's collection relates that he was stoned outside the city at a place called the "Three Wells" and that his body was afterward burned. A briefer notice records that he was brought before a Muslim judge, freed, and then killed by a mob of townspeople. The anchor record for this database follows the tradition that he was stoned and burned in 1555.

Veneration in Sofia

Nicholas is honored as a patron of the city of Sofia. A part of his relics is said to have been preserved by a Christian observer of his martyrdom. In the modern city his memory is attached to a grave site and to a church dedicated to him, and the faithful gather on his feast to venerate him.

Companions & Contemporaries1 figureShowHide
A fellow New Martyr of Sofia, often commemorated alongside Nicholas in the city's tradition
George the New Martyr of Sofia
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Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints