Icon of Saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene
High quality silkscreen image with “vivid” colors and 22K gold background. The image is accompanied by a hard cardboard box.
Saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene are among the choirs of the New Saints and even those who martyred almost immediately after the fall of Constantinople. We know little about their lives. The first information about the existence of the Saints is narrated in a miraculous and revealing way from the year 1959 AD. From an excavation that took place in Thermi, Lesvos, the tomb of an unknown person was discovered, which, as revealed in continuous visions, belonged to Saint Hieromartyr Raphael, who martyred together with Saint Osiomartyr Nicholas and Saint Irene. The tomb and the relic of Agios Nikolaos were discovered on June 13, 1960 AD.
Saint Raphael came from the Mills of Ithaca and was born in the year 1410 AD. His secular name was George Laskaris or Laskaridis and his father was called Dionysios. Before becoming a clergyman, he had a career in the Byzantine army and even reached a large degree. At the age of thirty-five he met an ascetic and revered elder, John, who attracted him to life in Christ. One Christmas the old man came down from the place of his practice, to confess and commune with the soldiers and preach the word of God. Then Officer George, when the elder went down to the Epiphany again, said goodbye to the soldiers and followed him.
After his haircut as a monk, he was ordained an elder, but he was also honored with the rank of archimandrite and protosyggelos. Along with the other revelations, Saint Raphael revealed that he was sent by the Ecumenical Patriarch to Esperia, in the French city called Morlai, to fulfill his mandate.
A few years before the fall of Constantinople, around the year 1450 AD, the Saint was found after wandering in the region of Macedonia and was alone there.
Saint Nicholas was close to Saint Raphael at that time as a submissive. Nicholas became a monk and then was ordained a deacon.
As soon as Constantinople fell to the Turks, who invaded Thrace and the Byzantine Empire was finally overthrown, the fear of general persecution against the Christians led St. Raphael to flee from the port of Ales to the port of Alexandria. . There she settled with other monks in the old monastery of Genesis of the Virgin, which in the past was for women and was built on the hill of Karyes, near the village of Thermi. Saint Raphael was then elected abbot of the monastery.
A few years later, in the year 1463 AD, Lesvos fell into the hands of the Turks, who in a raid on the monastery, arrested Saint Raphael and Saint Nicholas, on Holy Thursday of the same year. Cruel and ruthless tortures followed and Saint Raphael testified by slaughter in a very cruel way. They dragged him violently by pulling him by the hair and the beard, hung him from a tree, beat him brutally, pierced him with their weapons, after burning him with strong fire and finally slaughtering him by sawing him in the mouth.
Agios Nikolaos died after being tortured, from a heart attack, tied to a tree.
Along with the Saints, the only twelve-year-old girl Irene, daughter of the Kingdom, prostitute of Thermi, who also appears with them, also played with them. She testified as follows: The ungodly pagans cut off one of her hands and then put her in a jar and burned this pure virgin, under the watchful eye of her unfortunate parents, who mourned the horrible death of their child.
Their martyrdom happened on the Tuesday of Diakainisimos, on April 9 of the year 1463 AD.
Following the miraculous instructions of Saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene, the existence of their remains became known and the places where their tombs were located were indicated.
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