Venerable Martyr Roman of Karpenisi (†1694) was born near Karpenisi in Morea to a poor family. After visiting the Holy Land and the Monastery of Saint Sabbas, he was inspired to embrace martyrdom for Christ. In Thessaloniki he boldly confessed Christ and denounced Muhammad, suffering torture. Rescued by Christians, he was sent to Mount Athos, where Elder Akakios tonsured him into the Great Schema and foretold his martyrdom.
Roman went to Constantinople, where he once again confessed Christ. He was imprisoned for forty days and then beheaded in 1694.
His body was ransomed by an English captain and taken to England, while a cloth stained with his blood is preserved at the Dochiariou Monastery on Athos. His feast is kept on January 5, February 16, and in the Synaxes of Athonite saints, Evrytania saints, and the New Martyrs after the fall of Constantinople.
