Life and Martyrdom
According to the synaxarion, Demetrius came from the village of Davoudio, near the town of Amapasos in Thrace. One account describes him as a Slav of that region. His arrest fell during the persecution under the Emperor Maximian (286–305).
Brought before the pagan governor — named in the sources as Publius (also rendered Pomplius) and associated by one account with the archon Publius — Demetrius boldly confessed his Christian faith. According to a later retelling, he used the occasion to teach those present about the incarnation of Christ and the emptiness of idol worship, contrasting the living God with idols he described as deaf and dumb. Enraged by his witness, the governor ordered his execution, and Demetrius was beheaded.
The saint is said to have accepted death willingly. Christians afterward buried his remains, and tradition holds that his grave became a place of veneration and reported wonders.