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The title of New Martyr or Neomartyr (Greek: νεο-, neo-, the prefix for "new"; and μάρτυς, martys, "witness") is conferred in some denominations of Christianity to distinguish more recent martyrs and confessors from the old martyrs of the persecution in the Roman Empire. Originally and typically, it refers to victims of Islamic persecution.[1]
The earliest source to use the term neomartys is the Narrationes of Anastasius of Sinai, who died around 700. The title continued to be used for the next three hundred years to refer to victims of Umayyad and Abbasid persecution. It was mainly used in Greek sources, but is occasionally found in Arabic, Georgian and Syriac sources. Between the 11th and 14th centuries, the Byzantine–Seljuq wars also generated a number of neomartyrs.[1]
The Greek Orthodox Church traditionally gives the title to those who had been tortured and executed during Ottoman rule in Greece in order to avoid forced conversion to Islam.[2][3] This meaning is the dominant one, so much so that pre-Ottoman use of the term has been almost ignored in academia. Sectarian conflicts of the 19th century within the Ottoman Empire and Communist persecution in eastern Europe also generated saints considered neomartyrs.[1]