The Holy Confessor John the Russian
Commemorated on May 27
The Holy Confessor
John the Russian was born towards the end of the XVII Century in
Little Russia and was raised in piety and love for the Church of God. Upon
attaining the age of maturity he was called up into military service, and he
served as a simple soldier in the army of Peter I and took part in the
Russo-Turkish War. During the time of the Prutsk Campaign of 1711 he together
with other soldiers was taken captive by the Tatars, who handed him over to the
commander of the Turkish cavalry, who took his Russian captive home with him to
Asia Minor, to the village of Prokopia (in Turkish, Urkiul). The Turks tried to
convert the captive Christian soldiers to Mahometanism: some with threats and
allurements, while others that were more stoically hardy, they beat and
tortured. Saint John was not swayed by the promise of earthly blessings and he
bravely endured the ferocity, the humiliations and beatings. His master
tortured him often in the hope, that his slave would accept Mahometanism. But Saint
John resolutely resisted the will of his master and he answered: "Neither
by threats, nor with promises of riches and delights wilt thou be able to turn
me away from my holy faith. I was born a Christian, and a Christian I shalt
die". The bold words and firm faith of the confessor, his fearlessness and
righteous life, finally humbled the fierce heart of the master. He ceased to
torment and revile the captive, and no more urged him towards a renunciation of
Christianity, but had him only instead take care of the cattle and keep up the
stable, in a corner of which was the bed-cot of Saint John.
From morning until
late evening the saint of God served his Turkish master, judiciously fulfilling
all his commands. In the winter cold and summer hear, half naked and bare of
foot he did his duty. Other slaves frequently mocked him, in seeing his zeal. Righteous
John never became angry with them, on the contrary, as occasions arose he
helped them in their servitude and comforted them in their misfortune. Such sincere
kindness of heart of the saint had its effect on the souls of both the master
and the slaves. The master began to confide in Righteous John so much, and to
esteem him for his integrity and decency, that he offered him to live as though
free and to resettle, wheresoever he desired. But the ascetic suggested that he
should remain in the vicinity of the horse-stable, where each night he could
without hindrance asceticise in solitary prayer, strengthening people in
goodness and love for God. Sometimes he left his quiet shelter and under cover
of night he went to the church of the GreatMartyr George, where on the portico
he prayed fervently on bended knees. And in this church on feastdays he
communed the Holy Mysteries of Christ.
During this while
Righteous John continued as before to serve his master, and despite his own
poverty, he always helped the needy and the sick and shared with them his
meagre food.
Towards the end of
his difficult and ascetic life Saint John became infirm, and sensing the
nearness of his end, he summoned the priest, so as to receive the final
blessing for the departure of the soul. The priest, fearing to go with the Holy
Gifts to the house of the Turkish commander, enclosed the Holy Gifts in an
apple and so without problem gave them to Righteous John. Having glorified the
Lord, he communed the Holy Mysteries of Christ and then expired to God. The
righteous end of the holy Confessor John the Russian occurred on 27 May 1730.
When they reported to the master that his servant John had died, he summoned
the priests and gave over to them the body of Saint John, and they gave him
burial befitting a Christian. At the funeral there gathered almost all the
Christian inhabitants of Prokopia, and they accompanied the body of the saint
to the Christian cemetery.
Three and an half
years later the priest was miraculously informed in a dream, that the relics of
Saint John had remained incorrupt. Soon the relics of the saint were
transferred to the church of the holy GreatMartyr George and placed in a
special reliquary. The new saint of God began to be glorified by innumerable
miracles of grace, accounts of which spread to the remote cities and villages.
Christian believers from various places came to Prokopia to venerate the holy
relics of Saint John the Russian and they received through his prayers graced
healings. The new saint came to be venerated not only by Orthodox Christians,
but also by Armenians, and even Turks, recoursing with prayerful petition to
the Russian saint: "Servant of God, disregard us not in thine mercy".
In the year 1881 part
of the relics of Saint John were transferred to the Russian monastery of the
holy GreatMartyr Panteleimon by the monks of Holy Mount Athos, after they were
miraculously saved by the saint of God during the time of a dangerous journey.
Through the means of both this monastery and the inhabitants of Prokopia, in
1886 there was started construction of a new church, since the church of the
holy GreatMartyr George, where the relics of Saint John were situated, – had
become decrepit.
On 15 August 1898 the
new church in the name of Saint John the Russian was consecrated by the
Caesarea metropolitan John, with the blessing of the oecumenical patriarch
Constantine V.
In 1924 the
inhabitants of Caesarea Prokopia, having resettled to the Island of Eubeia,
took with them also part of the relics of Saint John the Russian. For several
decades the relics were situated in the church of the holy
Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helen at New Prokopia on Eubeia, but in 1951
they were transferred into a new church in the name of Saint John the Russian.
Thousands of pilgrims flocked here from all the corners of Greece, particularly
on the day of his memory, 27 May. Righteous John the Russian is widely
venerated on Holy Mount Athos, particularly in the Russian Panteleimonov
monastery.
© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.
