The MonkMartyr Onufrii

Commemorated on January 4

The MonkMartyr Onufrii, in the world Matfei (Matthew), was born in Bulgaria in the settlement of Gabrovo in Tyrnovsk diocese. Matfei received a fine education, but in place of worldly blessings he preferred service to God, and he went to Athos to the Khilendaria monastery. Here he took monastic vows with the name Manassiya (Manassas). but even the strict asceticism of a monk on Mount Athos did not fully satisfy the self-strictness of the monk, and Manassiya decided to suffer for Christ. With this desire he became involved with the starets Nikifor. The elder vowed him to schema-monk with the name Onufrii and, having been given admonition, he set off with the Monk Gregory to the Turkish island of Chios. There the MonkMartyr Onufrii openly confessed the Christian faith, for which he was seized and subjected to cruel tortures.
After the torturing they beheaded him and threw him into the sea (+ 4 January 1818).