New Martyr 18th century

New Martyr Zlata of Meglena

died 1795

Also known as Zlata · Chryse

A virgin of the village of Slatena in the Meglena region who refused to accept Islam or marriage and was tortured to death for Christ.

Feast Day

October 13

Draft

Draft — pending review. Not yet verified for publication.

Hymn / Apolytikion Icon gallery Video / Media

Commemorated as

The Holy New Martyr Zlata of Meglena

Life

New Martyr Zlata of Meglena was an 18th-century Orthodox virgin and martyr born in the village of Slatina (Slatena) in the Meglen (Meglena) region, then under Ottoman rule. The site lies in what is now Chrysi, Pella, in Greek Macedonia; sources locate the Meglena diocese on the Bulgaria-Serbia borderland.

Her name, Zlata, means "golden" in Slavic languages; she is correspondingly known in Greek as Chryse, also meaning "golden." The OCA Synaxarion styles her "a golden vessel of virginity, and undefiled bride of Christ."

Born into a poor peasant family with four daughters, she was seized by a Turkish man and pressured for months to renounce Christianity, accept Islam, and marry him. She refused steadfastly and was tortured to death, dying in 1795. She is venerated across the Orthodox world, with the Bulgarian Church keeping her feast on October 18 and the Greek, Russian, Serbian, and Macedonian Churches on October 13.

Timeline 2 moments Read Hide

1795 Martyrdom at Meglen After roughly six months of attempted persuasion and three months of imprisonment and daily torture for refusing Islam and marriage, Zlata was hung on a tree and cut to pieces. Her relics were gathered and buried in secret by local Christians.
21 May 2023 Consecration of St. Zlata Meglenska Church, Zagreb A church dedicated to Saint Zlata, raised for the Macedonian community, was consecrated in Zagreb.

Contributions & Legacy

2 contributions Read Hide

Capture and Captivity

According to her life, Zlata was seized by a Turkish man who saw her gathering wood in the village together with other women; he abducted her with the help of other Turks. He sought to convert her to Islam and to make her his wife, promising her material wealth, all of which she firmly refused.

For six months the man and his wives attempted to persuade her to the marriage. When persuasion failed, they turned to threats against her parents and sisters in the hope of forcing her conversion. Her family, fearing the Turkish intimidation, also tried to dissuade her from her suffering, but she remained steadfast.

Torture and Martyrdom

When neither inducement nor threat moved her, she was locked in darkness for three months and flagellated daily, her skin cut and a heated rod driven through her ears. Her life relates that she called upon her father's spiritual father, Timotheus, to pray for her to Christ.

She was finally put to death: her captors hung her on a tree and cut her to pieces. She died in 1795 (one account gives 1796, but 1795 is the date primarily recorded). Christians afterward gathered her remains in secret and buried her.

Her hagiography was written by Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite, the influential early-modern Athonite writer.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints