Saint Damaskinos was born in the village of Gabrovo, in the Metropolis of Tarnovo, Bulgaria. He became a monk at the Holy Monastery of Hilandar. There, he was ordained a deacon, later a hieromonk, and eventually got elevated to the rank of abbot.
Because of the monastery’s needs, he traveled to Bulgaria, where he was falsely accused and persecuted. The Ottomans, accusing him of abducting a woman, arrested him and brought him to trial. Although the ruler believed in his innocence, the crowd demanded his execution.
The saint never ceased to confess his faith in Christ and courageously accepted his sentence. He was hanged while praying, while according to tradition, his executioners drowned in the Danube as punishment for the sin of executing an innocent man.
Saint Damaskinos became a martyr on January 16, 1771.
