Patriarch
Saint Gregory V, the martyr and Patriarch of Constantinople, held the throne three times (1797–1799, 1806–1808, 1819–1821) under the heavy Turkish yoke. He supported the Greek patriots who hoped for the restoration of independence. After Alexander Ipsilantis crossed the Prut River with his army, Gregory V was captured and hanged at the gates of the patriarchate on April 10, 1821, and his body was thrown into the sea.
Greek sailors found his body and brought it to Odessa, where it was buried on June 19, 1821, in the Trinity Church. From Moscow, a patriarchal vestment and a mitre with a cross, belonging to Patriarch Nikon, were sent.
In 1871, at the request of the Greek government, the relics of the saint were transferred from Odessa to Athens in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of Greece's independence, where a special service was composed in his honor.
