Commemorated: 3rd May & 24th December
About the Saint:
Saint Ahmed Kalphas came from a Muslim family in Constantinople, and was raised as a devout Muslim. He worked as a secretary (deftedar) in the office of the Chief Secretary of the Ottoman Empire, that is in Ottoman terms, within the Sultan’s Chancellery as Scribe of the Second Rank. Thus Ahmed was a man of considerable power and influence due to this high social position, and from all accounts led the typical routine life of an Ottoman official. However, being an unmarried man, Ahmed had taken a Christian slave woman to be his concubine in accordance to Islamic law and the customs of his day. The woman in question was a Russian captive who adhered to the Orthodox Christian faith
In any case, Ahmed allowed this woman as well as an elderly Russian woman who attended her, given their piety, to continue practicing their Orthodox faith freely. This was not an unusual practice in “mixed marriages” of this kind. Hence, Ahmed’s concubine and the elderly Russian woman would attend church services regularly, particularly on feastdays. It also seems that one of the reasons why Ahmed allowed this to occur would be the sweet fragrance that emanated from his partner’s mouth after attending the Divine Liturgy. As time went passed, his partner’s faith slowly but surely became an important influence in his life and he became curious. Particularly given that the sweet fragrance kept emanating from her mouth which he found inexplicable.
On one particular feastday, Ahmed approached her and asked what she had eaten, and after much urging, told him that she had eaten nothing except the bread (antidoron) blessed by the priest and the holy water (aghiasmos) she had drunk from church. This of course fed his curiosity causing him to be seized with an ardent desire to see how the Christians receive this bread and what were the rites practiced in their churches.
Ahmed then sought one of the priests who served in the patriarchal church of Saint George at Phanari (Fener) to reserve a discreet place for him in the church when Patriarch Iakovos I was celebrating the Divine Liturgy so he could observe. When the day came, Ahmed dressed in Christian clothing thus removing his white turban (the symbol of an Ottoman Muslim) and donning the blue turban of a Christian and proceeded to Saint George’s in Phanari. At the moment of the Great Entrance in the Divine Liturgy, he saw the priest who was carrying the chalice walking without touching the ground and bathed in light. When Patriarch Iakovos blessed the people, he saw rays of light shooting from his hand and settling upon the heads of the faithful, noticing that he alone was deprived of this divine light.
This event caused the blessed man to believe with all his heart unhesitatingly, and so he sought to be catechised in the Orthodox faith and baptised into the Church. For quite some time he practiced his Orthodox Christian faith in secret, since he would not only lose his livelihood, but his life also, in accordance to Islamic law that viewed Ahmed as an “apostate” of the faith and liable to the death sentence if he did not recant.
In time though, the truth was bound to come out given the numerous formal dinner functions that Ottoman officials attended regularly. At these functions drinking was permitted and discussions of politics, religion, economics and so forth would take place which would normally become heated debates. It was during these functions that Ahmed would make various slips which brought his adherence to the Islamic faith into question by his fellow colleagues. The calligrapher of the third rank, who coveted Ahmed’s place, made concerted efforts to poison the Chief Secretary and all the staff against Ahmed, while seeking any opportunity to stir trouble against him. It had been said that the calligrapher of the third rank’s resentment for Ahmed also stemmed from the fact that Ahmed was far more talented and competent in his task than he.
Nevertheless the opportunity came in one of the dinner functions where the guests were engaged in a lively discussion as to what they thought was the greatest thing in the world. When Ahmed was asked his opinion he cited that faith in Christ was the greatest thing in the world and that great was the God of the Christians for everything else paled in comparison since it was the true faith. With this confession the other guests threw themselves on him in fury beating him and dragging him before the authorities.
Not long afterwards when things had settled he was summoned before a tribunal that interrogated him to determine whether he was a Christian and thus an “apostate”. Before the chief Judge (Kadi) and his colleagues, Ahmed replied that he had embraced the Orthodox Christian faith after a revelation, and that he hoped with all his heart that they too would realise in turn the deception of Islam. Infuriated the Chief Judge had him thrown into prison with the common prisoners and ordered that he be left without food and drink for six whole days.
Appearing once again before the tribunal after his brief incarceration, Ahmed declared that the fast had brought about his purification, and that Christ had revealed the deepest mysteries of the Faith to him, so strongly confirming his resolution that it would be easier for the magistrate to mould rock and fire with his hands than to make him change his mind. He was then accused before the Sultan himself, and, to the threats of beheading, replied that such a death would be the height of joy. The Sultan immediately pronounced the death sentence, and Ahmed was beheaded on 3 May 1682, receiving the crown of martyrdom under the name of Christodoulos. His body was thrown on the shore of the Bosphoros, in a place that was lit for several days by a supernatural light. Pray for us Neo-Martyr Ahmed. Amen.
Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Thy Martyr, O Lord, in his courageous contest for Thee received the prize of the crowns of incorruption and life from Thee, our immortal God. For since he possessed Thy strength, he cast down the tyrants and wholly destroyed the demons' strengthless presumption. O Christ God, by his prayers, save our souls, since Thou art merciful.
Compiled by Vasilios Manavas