On January 4, all who bear the name Tihomir, Tihomira, Tihomirka and their derivatives celebrate their name day. On this day, the church also honors St. Onufry of Gabrovo.
The Reverend Martyr Onufry was born in Gabrovo, Veliko Tarnovo Diocese, to pious and noble parents. (His father Decho later took monastic vows under the name Daniil in the same Hilendar Monastery on Mount Athos, where his son was then ascetic). The child was given the name Matthew at Holy Baptism. When he grew up, he was sent to a Bulgarian school, where he studied well. When he was already 17 years old, his parents once punished him for some kind of mischief, and out of frivolous ambition he declared in the presence of the Turks that he would accept the Mohammedan faith.
In such cases, the Turks immediately seized the one who made such a promise and performed the rite of Mohammedan circumcision on him. To prevent this from happening, his parents hid him and perhaps sent him to the Troyan monastery of "St. Mother of God", where a tradition has survived to this day that the venerable martyr Onuphrius began his monastic asceticism here and received his first monastic tonsure with the name Manasius. He rose diligently, but the voice of his conscience increasingly began to denounce him for renouncing Christianity, even if only in words. Perhaps that is why he set out for St. Mount Athos, hoping that there, under the guidance of more experienced elders, he would do sufficient penance and calm his conscience.
Manassey spent some time in the Hilendar Monastery, where he was ordained a deacon. But - as the holy fathers of the Church say - the more a Christian grows in virtues, the more deeply he humbles himself and insignificant sins seem great to him. This is what happened to Hierodeacon Manassey. He was always deeply impressed by the words of the Savior Christ:
"Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my heavenly Father; but whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my heavenly Father" (Matt. 10:32-33). And from the lives of the saints, he was especially deeply moved by the example of the holy martyr Barlaam, who held his hand without trembling over the burning pagan altar until it was completely burned, but did not drop incense on the altar, so as not to be said to have offered an incense sacrifice to idols. And his heart was inflamed with jealousy when the venerable Euthymius, Ignatius and Acacius performed their martyrdom. Then Manasses secretly left Hillendar and went to the Forerunner Skete to the local monk Nicephorus with a request - to prepare him for such a martyrdom.
For four months he labored hard under the guidance of this elder. Every day Manasses made four thousand prostrations; his prayer was unceasing; his penitential mood called forth streams of tears from his eyes. During these four months of preparation, he ate two and a half kilograms of dried grapes, and during the strictest forty-day fast, he ate 30 grams of bread every two or three days and drank water in moderation. After the elder Nicephorus had thus prepared him for the upcoming martyrdom, he tonsured him into a great schema with the name Onuphrius and sent him to the island of Chios with the same companion, the elder Gregory, whom he sent with the other holy martyrs. There this feat would be accomplished.
On the island of Chios, St. Onuphrius lived one Sunday in fasting and prayer, until on Friday - the day of Christ's Passion - he appeared, dressed in Turkish clothes, before the judge, openly blasphemed Muhammad and threw the green turban from his head to the ground. They admonished him, threw him into prison, tortured him and on the same day sentenced him to death. On January 4, 1818 on the very seashore they cut off his head and threw his body into the sea along with the spilled blood, so that Christians could not take for their own benefit any part of the holy relics of the holy martyr.
Before his death, some asked him about his name and homeland. The holy martyr replied that his name was Matthew and he was from Veliko Tarnovo. In this way, he wanted to protect St. Mount Athos and his monastery from troubles from the Turks. The Greeks of Mount Athos soon after his martyrdom canonized him and composed a life and service in his honor.
From the Lives of the Saints. Synodal Publishing House, Sofia, 1991, edited by Parthenius, Bishop of Levkiy and Archimandrite Dr. Athanasius (Bonchev), quoted by Actualno.com.