Venerable Martyr Michael the Black-Robed of St Sabbas Monastery

The Venerable Martyr Michael lived in the 9th century. Born to Christian parents in Edessa, he gave his inheritance to the poor, went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, then under Muslim rule, and became a monk at the Lavra of St Sabbas, as a disciple of St Theodore of Edessa.

Sent to sell the monks' handiwork in Jerusalem, he was brought by a eunuch to the Muslim queen Seida, who tried to seduce him. When he refused, she had him beaten and sent to the ruler (according to the OCA, Caliph al-Ma'mun, 813–833) as an enemy of Islam. Michael refused to convert, asking either to be sent back to his elder, or that the ruler be baptized, or that he be put to death. He drank a cup of poison without harm and was then beheaded in Jerusalem. The monks of St Sabbas buried him in their Lavra, where Abbot Daniel saw his relics in the early 12th century. Feasts: 23 May (5 June) and 29 July (11 August).