Very beautiful Bulgarian Hand Painted Icon Saint Great Martyr Dimitar of Thessalonica was born in the 3rd century in Thessalonica, in the family of the governor of the city. His father was a staunch Christian, but when he died, Emperor Maximian appointed Demetrius to a high military post with orders to persecute Christians. Baptized as a child and a Christian himself, Dimitar instead patronized and protected Christians, encouraged the spread of Christ's faith. However, the emperor found out about this and, returning from a campaign, stopped in Thessalonica and asked Dimitar to renounce Christianity. Despite the insistence, nothing could persuade the young warrior, and as a punishment he was thrown into prison, as was done to all Christians. The famous wrestler Lee challenged the condemned to a duel and threw them into a chasm on spears stuck with the blade up. Dimitar's squire, Nestor, asked permission from his master to compete with Lee and managed to defeat him by throwing him into the abyss. The enraged emperor ordered Nestor to be beheaded, and Demetrius was speared. In the notes discovered later, the date is given as October 26, 306. Dimitar's slave, Lupus, took away the ring and the blood-soaked clothes of his master, for which there are legends that the believers of Thessalonica were wounded. The relics of the saint were preserved in a silver coffin, which was kept in a small stone temple, and today - in a basilica built on the site of the temple. According to legends, fragrant myrrh flowed from the coffin, and therefore it was called Saint Demetrius the Myrrh-Breather. Saint Demetrius is the patron saint of merchants and builders.