Saint Saint Apostle the Young

Apostolos the New (Greek: Άγιος Απόστολος ο Νέος), was born in Agios Lavrentios of Magnesia, Pelion, Greece, in 1667 A.D. His father was Costas Stamatiou (Greek: Κώστας Σταματίου) and his mother was Melo (Greek: Μελώ). At the age of 15 he became an orphan. In 1682 A.D., he went to Istanbul, where he worked in a tavern. According to the Greek Orthodox Church, Apostolos had already been in Constantinople for four years when the inhabitants of his homeland were oppressed under heavy taxation. Because of this, he decided to turn to the Sultan's commissioners and taught them how to reduce the tax burden. Apostolos helped his brethren set up their own committee of residents who would represent them. This was a success, but Voivode did not accept the documents of his sultan's commissioners, rejecting them as forgeries. Voivode arrested three of the residents' committee and took them to Istanbul himself, where he demanded they be imprisoned for high treason. When their compatriots learned of this, they sent a committee to Istanbul to address the queen mother herself (the Sultan's mother - Valide Hanoum Kiosem) to get them released. As they did not know how and where to go, Apostolos was willing to help them, since he also knew the Turkish language. He even took the report written by the residents and gave it to a top Sultan official. The official, however, had already received orders from Voivode of Pelion. Apostolos was arrested and handed over to Voivode to be punished for his arrogance. Voivode then ordered him to be chained and asked Apostolos for a four-year Haraç for as long as he was away from his village. However, because he feared that the rest of the committee would appeal to the queen mother herself, he thought of finally leaving the three prisoners and Apostolos.