Great Martyr George the New at Sofia, Bulgaria

George was born in Sofia, then called Sredets, to a noble Christian family. When he was twenty-five, the city was under Ottoman rule. According to the Life, Muslims urged him to renounce Christianity and put on their cap; he refused, threw the cap to the ground and spoke openly of his faith.

He was beaten, cut with knives and led through the town to the beat of drums. On 26 May 1515 (the Life of Dimitry of Rostov gives 1514) he was burned in the middle of the town. The Life tells that rain put out the fire and that the metropolitan later gathered his unharmed remains. He is remembered as one of the New Martyrs of the Ottoman period.