Gjergj Novi of Yanina was Albanian, born in the village of Čurkli in Albania to very poor parents, farmers. Forced by the Turks to turn Turkish, he remained steadfast in his Christian faith, which is why he was hanged in Ioannina on January 17, 1838. A great miracle worker and healer to this day.

Holy Martyr Gjergj Novi (Georgije Novi or George Janjinski) from Janina. This new martyr was born in 1810, in the village of Churkli, in the province of Grevenska in Northern Greece. His parents, Konstantin and Vasiljka, were poor farmers, and they died when Georgi was 8 years old. He soon enters the service of some Turks as a groom. In 1836, working as a groom in Ioannina for a Turkish elder, who called him not Georgije, but Baur – Hasan, he met a poor girl named Jelena and wanted to marry her.

The Turkish hodja from Ioannina, hearing that Georgije wants to marry a Christian woman, slanders him to the kadi, that he is a Muslim and that he now wants to convert to Christianity in order to marry a Christian woman. In the court before the cadia and vizier of Georgia, who was by nature very quiet and calm, he justified himself and proved that he was a Christian from birth, which was also confirmed by the owner where he served as a groom.

Thus, this holy young man would be freed and soon marry in the church with his fiancee Jelena. The following year, he had a son, whom he immediately baptized in the church. A lot of time passed, and the holy martyr was again deprived of his freedom on January 12, 1838, and again brought to court before the kadi, on the complaint of the same hodja that he was supposedly a Turk, but that he had crossed into Christianity.

In court, he bravely confessed that he was and remains a Christian, and the Turks threatened to kill him if he did not turn to the Turks. And an old man, a converted Christian, advised Georgi to accept the Muslim faith, but he resolutely refused. The Turks wanted to make sure if he was really a Christian or a Muslim, so when they saw that he was not circumcised, they made sure that he was a Christian from birth.

However, they did not release St. George, but threw him into prison. This saint was tortured for five days in a row, but he did not deny the Lord Christ, and kept saying: “I am a Christian, I will die a Christian!” The Turks put his feet in stakes, pressed him with a stone slab, forced him in every possible way to become a Muslim, but he remained steadfast and repeated: “I was born a Christian, I am a Christian, and I will die as a Christian!”

When the Christians from Ioannina, especially the clerics, found out about it, they made every effort to beg the Turks to release Georgi, or at least to convince Georgi to flee to Greece. The Turks didn’t want to give up, but Georgije didn’t give up his intention to suffer for Christ either, instead he told everyone: “Be afraid, brothers, I will most joyfully suffer for my Christ”.

On Monday, January 17, on St. Anthony the Great, George, who was then about 30 years old, was taken and hanged, not wanting to renounce Christ God. After three days, the Christians took his holy body and buried it behind the altar of the temple of St. Athanasius in Ioannina. The Patriarch of Constantinople Gregory VI decided in 1839 to celebrate the martyrdom day of this new martyr of Christ, from whose holy relics many healings took place and are still taking place to this day

References

1.  „Свети мученик Георгије Нови, јањински”. Prijateljboziji.com (на језику: српски). Приступљено 2024-01-20.
2. ^ Magazina, Redakcija (31. 1. 2021). „Sveti mučenik Georgije Novi janjinski – stradalnik za veru Hristovu”. Bašta Balkana Magazin (на језику: српски). Приступљено 19. 1. 2023.
3. https://prijateljboziji.com/свети-мученик-георгије-нови-јањински-2/
4. https://www.zyraekatekizmitkoash.com/jeta-e-shenjtoreve/shenjtori-i-dites-/janari/