Lazaros the shepherd was a Bulgarian Orthodox Christian from the city of Gabrovo, Bulgaria. He left Gabrovo and went to Asia Minor and settled in the hamlet of Soma, near Pergamos, hoping to better his prospects.
One day while he was tending sheep in the fields, he sat down to rest and fell asleep. As it happened, a Muslim lady went by who was immediately attacked by the sheep dog. Lazaros was awakened by the dog’s barking and immediately rushed to the lady’s rescue. He was able to call the dog off, and the lady only suffered a slightly torn dress. She, however, was furious beyond reason, and when she arrived home she told her husband that her dress had been torn by an Orthodox Christian shepherd who also attempted to molest her. Now it was her husband’s turn to get angry. He rushed out into the fields looking for Lazaros, but since he did not know him, he mistakenly attacked a companion whom he almost killed. To cover up his mistake, the husband sought out his wife’s relatives and told them to go before the kadi and charge Lazaros with an attempt on his wife’s honor.
Lazaros found out the husband’s intention but did not go into hiding, thinking that since he was innocent, flight would only make him look guilty. Meanwhile, Lazaros was brought to court by an aga. There he was charged and imprisoned. This happened on April 7.
In the meantime, the woman’s relatives insisted that Lazaros would have either to convert to Islam or be executed for the dishonor he inflicted upon their relative. To make certain that the aga would not falter in his judgment, they offered him a thousand grosia if he would succeed in converting Lazaros or else have him sentenced to death.
In prison Lazaros was beaten to induce him to convert. He was then placed in chains and continuously tortured until April 22. Some Orthodox Bulgarians who heard of Lazaros’ plight went to visit him to give him some moral support, but he urged them to leave because they were endangering themselves. Meanwhile the aga was getting angrier as each hour went by because Lazaros refused to convert, and he did not have the authority from the kadi to put Lazaros to death. Thus his one thousand grosia were in danger of slipping through his fingers.
Lazaros was brought before the aga once more, and the aga began to flatter him, promising him honors and rewards if he would become a Muslim. But Lazaros was not fooled. In order to strike another blow at Lazaros, the aga had his forty sheep confiscated.
Then on the next day, the Tuesday of Saint Thomas, that is on April 22, the aga ordered other and crueler tortures in order to force the issue. The torturers first got drunk, and then they began applying red-hot irons on Lazaros’ body. They then put a very heavy piece of wood on his chest. But still Lazaros refused to submit. He kept calling upon the Lord for help and asking the assistance of Saint George.
The torturers then turned to Lazaros’ tongue, stretching it and applying a hot iron to it, burning the front half and drying up the remaining part. In the end Lazaros could not speak, so they motioned to him to use sign language when he was ready to convert. They also put a heated iron ring around his head, which caused Lazaros even more excruciating pain.
At sunset a merchant named John from Zagora, who was also a medical doctor, went to see the aga whom he knew because he was the doctor of the household of the aga. Doctor John then went to the window of the prison and was able to see Lazaros sitting on the floor and not only looking rather well but also speaking normally. Not knowing what had transpired that day, the good doctor began to encourage Lazaros to stay the course and endure in the love of Jesus Christ. He spoke to Lazaros in Turkish, their common language, since the doctor did not know Bulgarian and Lazaros did not speak Greek. Lazaros assured Doctor John that he would not relent. He only expressed the fear that the Muslims might tire of torturing him and quit instead of putting him to death.
When the aga found out that Lazaros could talk, he became angry with the torturers whom he assumed did not do their best work and only lied to him. He was convinced only when Lazaros was brought before him and he saw with his own eyes the marks of torture on his body.
The aga tried once more to convince Lazaros to change his mind by offering him honors and making promises of other good things. Lazaros would not accept any of this. He response was “I have one God, of three Persons, Whom I worship and adore. And since I was baptized in the name of the one and only God and became an Orthodox Christian, in the same way I am ready and willing to die, and nothing in this world can get me to change my mind.” The aga then ordered him to be hanged.
On the way to the execution, many Muslim bystanders made of Lazaros for being so foolish as to give his life for Jesus Christ. When they arrived at the place of execution, a plane tree, John willingly put the rope around his neck and stood upon the basket which was pushed out under him. This caused his death by choking.
Thus Lazaros the Orthodox Christian shepherd boy from Gabrovo, Bulgaria, died for the love of Jesus Christ in Soma, Asia Minor, on April 23, in the year 1802.
[N. M. Vaporis, Witnesses for Christ: Orthodox Christian Neomartyrs of the Ottoman Period (1437-1860), pp. 257-259]
Archbishop Gregory P.O. Box 3177 Buena Vista, CO 81211-3177 USA Email: ArchbishopGregory@starband.net
Copyright 2005.
