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== See also ==
* [[Metropolis of Mytilene]]
*[http://agios-raphael.com/english/kleidara.html The testimony of Holy Mother Evgenia Kleidara]
Category
[[Image:Ss. Raphael, Nicholas and Irene.jpg|thumb|right|Ss. Raphael, Nicholas and Irene]]
The holy, glorious and right-victorious [[New Martyrs]] '''Raphael, Nicholas and Irene''' suffered [[martyr]]dom by the Turks on the island of [[Wikipedia:Lesbos Island|Lesbos]] (or ''Lesvos''), [[w:Greece|Greece]] , on Bright Tuesday ([[April 9]], 1463), after the [[fall of Constantinople]]. St Raphael was the [[Abbot]] of [[Karyes]] near the village of Thermi on the island. St Nicholas was a [[deacon]] at the [[monastery]], and St [[Wikipedia:Saint_Irene|Irene]] was the 12-year-old daughter of the mayor of Thermi. The three saints were at the monastery with the village teacher and St Irene's father when the Turks raided it. Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene of Lesbos are rembered by the Church on April 9 and on the Tuesday of [[Bright Week]] along with St Eleni, New martyr Martyr of Lesbos (who was also called Susanna).
These [[saint]]s were unknown for about 500 years after their martyrdoms during the Turkish occupation of Lesbos. In 1959 the three saints appeared to the people on Lesvos in dreams and visions. They guided excavations of their own graves, called people to repentance, and cured many kinds of diseases.
The saints revealed how they were cruelly tortured at the monastery, calling it a "second [[Golgotha]]" (in the words of St Raphael). St Raphael's torture ended when his head was sawn off. St Nicholas died of heart failure when he was being tortured and Irene was tortured in front of her father and burnt alive in a clay cask, where her charred bones were later found. The teacher's head was cut off and placed between his legs when he was buried. A great deal of blood was shed at the monastery; the saints were martyred for the sake of their Christian faith and fatherland.
Found amongst the excavation was St Raphael's round metallic [[engolpion]] with a low relief of Christ [[Pantocrator]] on it.
[[Megalynarion]]
:Let us honour with hymns the Hosiomartyrs of Christ, divine Raphael and venerable Nicholas, together with Irene, the guardians of Lesbos, for helping all.
==Source==
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20080119005423/http://home.it.net.au/~jgrapsas/pages/sts_rni.htm ''Archive of'' Sts Raphael, Nicholas and Irene of Lesbos] ([[GOAA]])*[http://www.orthodoxchristian.info/pages/sts_rni.htm Sts Raphael, Nicholas and Irene of Lesbos]
==External links==
*[http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=108897 New Martyr Raphael of Lesbos] ([[OCA]])
*[http://wwwgoarch.churchsaintsorg/chapel/saints_view?contentid=1045 Renewal Tuesday] ([[GOARCH]])*[http://web.btinternetarchive.coorg/web/20050214024034/http://agios-raphael.ukcom/straphaelenglish/straphaelpicskleidara.htm Pictures html ''Archive of'' The testimony of the Church in MytiliniHoly Mother Evgenia Kleidara]*[http://web.archive.org/web/20050107085601/http://www.churchsaints.btinternet.co.uk/straphael/straphael.htm ''Archive of'' Devotional site]*[http://www.allsaints.tv/video/99945-saints-raphael-nicholas-and-irene-of-lesvos.html Video footage of Lesvos Church from AllSaints.TV]
==Further reading==
*"Saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene of Lesbos", ''Modern Orthodox Saints'', vol 10, by Constantine Cavarnos. Published in 1994 (second printing) by the Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies (currently out of print).ISBN 0‒914744‒88‒7
[[Category:Saints]]
[[Category:Greek Saints]]
[[Category:Martyrs]]
[[Category:Orthodoxy and Islam]]
[[Category:15th-century saints]]
[[el:Ραφαήλ, Νικόλαος και Ειρήνη]]
