Saint John the Russian, May 27
Ἐκ γῆς ὁ καλέσας σε πρὸς οὐρανίους μονάς,
τηρεῖ καὶ μετὰ θάνατον ἀδιαλώβητον τὸ σκῆνός σου ὅσιε.
Σὺ γὰρ ἐν τῇ Ἀσία ὡς αἰχμάλωτος ἤχθης,
ἔνθα καὶ ὠκειώθης τῷ Χριστῷ Ἰωάννη.
Αὐτὸν οὖν ἱκέτευε,
σωθῆναι τὰς ψυχὰς ἡμῶν.
Saint John the Russian (Russian: Иоанн Русский; 1690 – May 27 (N.S. June 9), 1730) is one of the most renowned saints in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Being a prisoner of war and a slave to a Turkish Ağa, he became famous and respected even by his Muslim master for his humility, steadiness in faith and benevolence. His holy relics are claimed to be undecayed and wonder-working; there are traditions that this saint particularly helps sick children and those who suffer from cancer.
Saint John was born in a village in the so-called Little Russia, around 1690 AD, to pious and virtuous parents. When he reached legal age he enlisted while Peter the Great was reigning in Russia. He took part in the war waged by that bold tsar against the Turks in 1711 A.D., and was taken prisoner by the Tartars. The Tartars sold him to an Ottoman officer Hipparchus, who came from Prokopion in Asia Minor, which is near Caesarea in Cappadocia. The aga took him with him to his village. Many of his captive compatriots denied the faith of Christ and became Muslims, either because they were repelled by threats, or because they were enticed by promises and offers of material goods.
John, however, was brought up from a young age with education and admonition of the Lord and he loved God and the faith of his fathers very much. He was one of those young people, where the knowledge of God makes them wise, as the wise Solomon preached, saying: "The righteous is knowledgeable even in his youth. For honorable old age is not long-lived, nor is it measured by the number of years. The wisdom of younger people is as respectable as if they were bearers, and the pure life makes them as if they were old learned men.
So, too, the blessed John, having the wisdom that God gives to those who love him, endured the servitude and ill-treatment of his master and the insults and teasing of the Ottomans, who called him "kafiri", i.e. faithless, showing him their contempt and abhorrence. To his master and to those who urged him to deny his faith, he answered with a firm opinion that he would rather die than fall into such a terrible sin. To the aga he said: “If you leave me free in my faith, I will be very willing to your orders. If you hurry me to convert, know that I give you my head, in spite of my faith. I was born a Christian and I will die a Christian."
God, seeing his faith and hearing his confession, softened the aga's hard heart and in time took a liking to him. the great humility with which he adorned John, as well as his meekness, contributed to this.
Therefore, blessed John remained calm from the promises and threats of his Ottoman master, who had assigned him to his stable, to take care of his animals. In a corner of the stable he lay his tired body and rested, thanking God, because he deserved to have as a bed the manger in which our Lord Jesus Christ was born. And he was devoted to his work, lovingly caring for his master's animals, which felt so much the Saint's love for them, that they asked for him when he was absent, looked forward to him with love and squealed with joy when he caressed them, as if were conversing with him.
In time the aga came to love him, and so did his wife, and they gave him a small cell near the barn to live in. But Ioannis did not accept and continued to sleep in the stable, to strain his body with the bad weather and with the exercise, amid the stench of the animals and their hooves. Every night the stable was filled with the prayers of the Saint and the stench became a smell of spiritual fragrance. Blessed John had that stable as an ascetic, and there he walked according to the rules of the Fathers, for hours kneeling and praying, sleeping for a while on straw, with no other covering than an old cloak, eating with distinction, often only a little bread and water, and fasting most days.
He continued to sing the words of the holy psalmist: "He who dwells in the help of the Most High, in the shelter of the God of heaven glides. Be to the Lord; you are my understanding and my refuge, my God and I hope in Him. Because He is caught by a predator's snare and by a tumultuous word. He was with me in the bottomless pit, in darkness and in the shadow of death. But I cried out to the Lord in my distress, and hear me. Lord guard my entrance and my exit from now and forever. I turned my eyes to you, O Lord, who dwells in heaven. Behold, as the eyes of servants are in the hands of their masters, so are our eyes to the Lord our God, until you build us." He hummed psalms as he followed behind his master's horse.
With the blessing that the Saint brought to the house of the Turkish Hipparchus, he became rich and became one of the powerful of Procopius.
His holy horseman, besides praying and fasting, which he did like another Job, went at night and kept vigils standing in the narthex of the church of Saint George, which was built in a rock and was near the house of his Turkish master. . There he went secretly at night, and every Saturday he communicated the Immaculate Mysteries. and the Lord, "the Lord of hearts and kidneys", watched over his servant the faithful and made it so that they would cease to persecute his comrades and the other non-religionists love and abuse him.
After, therefore, John's master became rich, he decided to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca, the holy city of the Mohammedans.
After several days had passed since his departure, his wife prepared a bank and invited her husband's relatives and friends, to rejoice and wish him a safe return home from exile. Blessed John ministered at the bank. They also brought her a dish, which the aga liked very much, the so-called pilaf, which is very common in the East. Then the hostess remembered her husband and said to Ioannis: "How much pleasure your master, Juvan, would receive if he were here and eating this pilaf with us!" John then asked his lady for a plate full of pilaf and said he would send it to his master in Mecca. The guests laughed at his words. But the hostess told the cook to give the plate of food to John, thinking either that he wanted to eat it himself or to take it to some poor Christian family, as he was wont to do, giving his food.
The Saint took it and went to the stable. There he knelt down and prayed from the bottom of his heart, begging God to send food to his master in whatever way He provided with His omnipotence. With the simplicity in his heart John believed that the Lord would hear his prayer and the food would miraculously go to Mecca. He believed, "not discerning" according to the word of the Lord, without having any hesitation that what he asked would be done. And, as Saint Isaac the Syrian says, "these supernatural signs happen to those who are simpler in intellect and warmer in hope", that is, these supernatural miracles happen to those who have a simpler intellect and are warmer in the hope they have for God. Actually! the plate of food disappeared from the eyes of the Holy One. Blessed John returned to the bank and told the hostess that he had sent the food to Mecca. Hearing this, the guests laughed and said that John ate it.
But after a few days his master returned from Mecca and brought the copper plate with him, to the great surprise of his household. Only blessed John was not surprised. So the agha said to his friends: "That day (and it was the day of the banquet, on which John said he sent the food to his master), at the time when I returned from the great mosque to the place where lived, I found on the table, in an onda (room) where I had locked it, this sahani (plate) full of pilaf. I stood wondering, thinking, who had brought that food and above all I could not understand in what way he had opened the door, which I had closed tightly. Not knowing how to explain this paradoxical thing, I was curious about the dish in which the pilaf was steaming and saw with wonder that my name was engraved on the bronze, as on all the copper utensils in our house. However, with all the agitation I had from that inexplicable incident, I sat down and ate the pilaf with great relish, and here is the dish I brought with me, and it is truly ours.'
Listening to this story, Hipparchus' relatives were amazed and surprised, and his wife told him that John asked for the plate of food and said that he had sent it to Mecca, and that, hearing him say that he had sent it, they laughed.
This miracle was learned throughout the village and the surrounding area, and everyone now considered John as a righteous man and dear to God, and they looked at him with fear and respect, and no one dared to disturb him. His master and his wife treated him more, and begged him again to leave the stable and dwell in a house, which was near the stable, but he did not want to change his abode. So he spent his life in the same way, as an ascetic, working as before in the care of the animals and willingly doing the errands of the aga.
But after a few years, during which blessed John lived with fasting, prayer and chastity, approaching the end of his life, he fell ill and was lying on the straw of the stable, which he had sanctified with his prayers and his suffering of his body for the name and love of Christ.
Sensing his end, the Blessed One asked to receive communion of the Immaculate Mysteries and therefore sent and called a priest. But the priest was afraid to openly carry the Holy Mysteries to the stable, because of the fanaticism of the Turks. But he became wise, according to Divine enlightenment, and took an apple, dug it up, put the Holy Communion in it and thus went to the stable and received communion with blessed John. John, as soon as he received the Immaculate Body and Precious Blood of the Lord, delivered his holy soul into the hands of God.It was in 1730 AD.
In 1733 AD, the intact and fragrant holy relic of St. John was transferred, after his exhumation, first to the rock-hewn church of St. George, later to the newly built church of St. Basil and finally to the temple erected in his honor. It was placed in an altar on the right side of the Church. Innumerable pilgrims and sufferers of various diseases arrived there and found their cure.
When, in 1832 AD, during the reign of Sultan Mahmud II, the regent of Egypt, Ibrahim Pasha, rebelled against him, the Sultan sent Haznetar Oglu Osman Pasha with 1,800 soldiers against him. Osman Pasha, after passing Caesarea in Cappadocia, arrived near Procopius, where he thought of resting and departing the next day. But since most of the Muslims of Prokopi, like janissaries that they were, hated the sultan, they all agreed not to receive Osman Pasha in Prokopi or at the border. The Christians, who were loyal to the sultan, tried to persuade their countrymen to obey the sultan and accept the army coming from him, even telling them that Osman Pasha might be outraged and destroy the village. But they did not change their minds.
Then the Christians took the women and children and fled to the surrounding villages and caves, so as not to fall victim to the stupid reaction of the janissaries.
Indeed, the next day, when Osman Pasha entered Prokopi, he plundered and destroyed it. Some of the soldiers also entered the church of Agios Georgios. They grabbed the sacred utensils and opened the altar of Osios, hoping to find gold and silver items there as well. but they found nothing. Out of their evil, which came out laughing and to mock the Christian faith, they decided to burn the holy relic.
They put it in the courtyard, gathered a lot of firewood, set it on fire and disrespectfully threw the sacred tent into the flames. The holy relic of Saint John not only remained unburnt, but it also appeared to the unbelievers that he was alive, frightening them and driving them out of the precincts of the church.
The next day, old Christians found the silverware, which the Turkish soldiers had left behind in their terror, reverently took the holy relic and placed it again in the urn.
The right of St. John was given by the residents of old Prokopio in 1881 AD, to the representative of the Panteleimon Monastery of Mount Athos Hieromonk Dionysios, in exchange for the great help of the Monastery in the construction of the Temple of St. St. over his tomb.
The holy relic was transported to Evia in October 1924 AD together with the refugees from Asia Minor by the ship "Vasilios Destounis". and while the ship was at Rhodes it did not advance, but turned in the sea and remained in the same place. The captain of the ship was afraid. Then Panagiotis Papadopoulos, who had taken the holy relic with him secretly, explained to the captain that inside the ship and indeed in the hold was the holy relic of Saint John the Russian. Immediately the captain ordered the sacred tabernacle to be carried to the compartment of the ship, which was used as a show-house, where it was deposited and the candle lit.
Mythology
Miracles of the Holy One
St. John the Russian, as a faithful servant of God, has received the gift of miracle-working and is therefore rightly considered by the faithful: protector of the poor and the grieving, a harbor that protects from the dangers of the salty and stormy sea of this life, salvation in calamities, a river of gifts inexhaustible, a fountain of benefits and a source of healings everlasting. Of his many miracles, only a few are mentioned in this work, but they are capable of inspiring and moving the lips to praise "... may I call you old, and I long to praise you and worship you and magnify you "Holy one, do the divine works".
These miracles, verified, are a living testimony, against the not rare tendency of many who consider the concept of a miracle to be obsolete, but also a protection for those who frivolously and greedily seek false miracles.
They probably also trouble those arrogant and irreligious spirits who stand with the cruelty of the Pharaoh, without expecting anything from an unknown God, not knowing that "every word is weak in spite of God".
• The following miracle is described in the silver sequence of 1897 AD. by the Hieromonk Dionysios, who was an eyewitness and self-suffering witness as a student of the Greek School, which was located next to the Holy Temple of Agios Basilios. We quote his testimony verbatim:
"During the year 1862, a Sabbath day, early in the morning, and of the bloodless sacrifice performed in the upper and quiet Holy Temple of our holy Father Basilius, venerable of women, he told the women present in the Temple, that, yesterday in honor, I saw "Saint Ioannis, walking out of this altar, and holding in both hands, the roof of the Greek School, which was about to collapse. While they were saying these things, a sudden bang and a lot of noise was heard, and all the churchgoers left the Temple, and I actually saw that the entire roof of the School fell down and injured the assembled former students. Everyone ran away after lamentations and tears, and raising the heavy roof straight away, they put themselves under it in taffeta and crushed in favor of the twenty disciples, alive, of the miracle! and all healthy. Having asked the disciples, how this happened to them and how they were saved from such danger? They answered thus that, "suddenly hearing the fierce and violent creaking of the roof beams and seeing the imminent danger we were all in as if led by a signal and by an invisible hand, we descended in a moment under the desks, in fear and terror and utter despair. Lo and behold, the roof falling on us with a roar, the beams of the roof were supported, after the same material, on the weak tables, and we, remaining under these, unharmed at all and apathetic, were saved beyond expectation". And so by the grace of God, and the invisible stewardship of our Holy Father John, so many innocent creatures were saved then, who after these men, were useful in many ways and benefited the school and loved the motherland".
• In the Holy Monastery of Saint David the Elder, in Rovies of Evia, in the year 1991 AD, he became a monk. exiled to God, her late elder and abbot, Archimandrite Iakovos Tsalikis (see November 22). It is about an excellent spiritual personality, recognized in the consciousness of the church staff.
That, therefore, the blessed father, at some critical phase of his life saw a miracle of the Holy One, which he always recounted with gratitude, to the glory of God.
The fathers of the Holy Monastery describe it accurately and faithfully in the book they published in his honor. The Elder narrates: "I, who had never been seen naked by anyone, except my mother, when I was a child, God allowed the doctors and nurses to see me and operate on me repeatedly. At first I didn't want to go to a doctor, considering that it would be a shame for them to see my body, the body of a Priest.
My Elder father Nikodimos once said to me:
- Go, my child, to the doctor, because God will allow you to fall into a serious illness, because you have pride and do not want to be examined.
- Elder, I said to him, what is pride? I am ashamed to undress. "However, when once I was gripped by strong and unbearable pains, they took me down to the Lake with the animal and then put me in the Chalkida Hospital. There the surgeon examined me and said to urgently operate. So while I was suffering and in a serious condition, I begged "Saint David" saying: ""My Saint David, please quickly, in ten minutes, be here, help me. As you are coming, pass through Prokopi, take with you "Saint John the Russian and come and help me now that I am in danger". I mentally prayed this. Not a few minutes passed, the door opens and I see a white-bearded Elder with a crutch in his hand enter, accompanied by a younger man in his thirties in a turban. They approached me and greeted me.
- What are you doing, father Jacob? Do you know who we are?
-What should I do, my fathers, I am suffering. I don't know you. Who are you;
- I am Elder David and from here John the Confessor, he said, addressing the younger one, who joined and bowed to "Saint David, as elder and Priest." Don't be afraid, Saint David told me, we have come to help you.
I saw said the Elder - the forehead of Saint David that it was sweaty; so quickly came the "Saint help me! I then turn around and say to my Elder, father Nikodimos, who was next to me:
- Elder, here are Saint David and Saint John the Russian.
The Elder leans into my ear and says:
-What are you talking about, are you crazy? Which Saint David are you talking about? Don't say such things, lest those around us hear and say that father Iakovos was silent. "When I heard my Elder tell me these things I understood that he did not see anything and I kept silent. Then, as they were taking me to the operating room, I saw "St. David" opening the door of the operating room with his staff and entering with "St. John the Russian". I saw them standing near me on the operating table. With the anesthesia I didn't understand anything because I fell asleep. The surgeon faced a difficult situation, because he had to perform three operations on me at once. For my ruptured appendicitis, groin and some other parts of my body down low. Thus with the help of the Saints and the honorable efforts of the good surgeon I was saved. Since then I often said, very good surgeon; he saved me. But miraculously, I saw Saint John the Russian who said to me:
– I hear you say, my Father, all about the surgeon that he is a good doctor and a good man. No matter how good a doctor he is, his blade couldn't heal you. I, Saint John the Russian, was ordered with Saint David to heal you. You were supposed to leave today, but I left you for tomorrow. Thus with this extension I still live, said the Elder, for this tomorrow that the Saint said".
• In the magazine "Synaxis" were published in 1982 AD. other miracles of the Saint, which were narrated by the Priest of the First Pilgrimage Fr. Ioannis Vernezos, based on texts recorded and signed by the healed, in the book of miracles of the Holy Pilgrimage. "A Greek mother gave birth to a child with a terrible disease that should be called acromegaly. The flesh grows without the bones growing. Science says that a person with this terrible condition lives for a few years and is like an amorphous mass. The mother struggled here in Greece and was advised to go to Paris, to a child health institute to have relevant research done. There the French doctors told her that her child is in his last days and that he is going to die and that death happens with a very high fever. And really, in those days this high fever appeared around 41, without falling at all. As soon as the mother sees it like this, she grabs the child in her arms, leaves the hospital and goes to a Russian Orthodox monastery. He goes straight to the icon of the Virgin Mary and with tears begins to say to her: You mother, mother of the Lord, who knows from pain, I beg you either to make my child well or let him rest.
A Russian who knew a little Greek listens to her pleas. He approaches her, sees her little child in this terrible condition and tells her: There in Greece you have a very miraculous patriot of ours, Saint John the Russian. I don't know if you went, but you must go and beseech him earnestly. He is a great protector of the sick in our time. I have his image with me, and I will crucify your child with this image of him, and believe that God and his saints are above science and doctors. He takes out the picture and just as he puts it on the child's forehead, he spartans like a fish. Cold sweat bathes his entire body, he literally gets soaked and the mother bends down to kiss her child out of the urge to see if he is burning (from the fever). The kid is totally cool.
The mother begins to cry, other monks and visitors gather, she begs for a vigil to be held in the evening for the health of the child. The vigil is held and the child is feverless all night. In the morning, after the vigil, the child returns to the hospital without a fever. The French doctors say it is an extraordinary scientific event, they continue the monitoring and in three months the x-rays showed that the child's bones started to grow normally and as soon as the child walked the mother took him and they came to Prokopi. Today she is proud of the fact that she walks to school and returns home at noon, as she characteristically told us. It is as God wills. He didn't have any problems and is a normal person."
• One of the most touching miracles is with a child in Istiaea.
I don't know, but it seems that St. John has a special weakness for small children. He has done many miracles for children. The child was born again with a terrible disability. His legs were turned and attached to his backs. The child's shoulder blades and legs were one, one flesh. Science with successive operations detached the legs, brought them straight, but they told the parents, after 3-4 years of efforts, that the child will not walk, because from the waist down he is paralyzed, there are no nerves to tighten the child and keep him upright.
The parents took the child and returned to Istea. They left the paralyzed child on the bed, his mother went out and his father went and stood in front of the child's bed, looked at him, began to cry and remembered Saint John, saying: "My Saint John, I will not be able as a father to take up this cross all my life. I beg you to take the cross from me by making my child good. I have nothing to offer you. I have nothing left but a little lamb which I now see here in the garden of the orchard. This I will bring you as a tama, as a gift to your grace.”
Κίνησαν με τα πόδια από την Ιστιαία πατέρας και μάνα, δυόμισυ μέρες και νύχτες δρόμο, πότε ο ένας στον ώμο το παιδί, πότε ο άλλος το αρνί. Έφτασαν στον Άγιο Γιάννη κλαίγοντας, έγινε παράκληση μπροστά στο ιερό λείψανο του Αγίου. Είχαν αφήσει το παιδάκι μπροστά στη λάρνακα, παράλυτο όπως ήταν, ξαπλωμένο. Και το αρνάκι το είχαν δέσει μαζί του, εκεί στον Άγιο κοντά. Τη λάρνακα δεν την ανοίξαμε. Παρακολουθήσαμε το γεγονός. Το βράδυ οι γονείς δεν ήθελαν να πάνε να κοιμηθούν σε σπίτι ή σε ξενοδοχείο παρά ήρθαν απ’έξω από την κλειδωμένη πόρτα της Εκκλησίας.
After midnight, again the father, the one who had requested the healing of the child from the Saint, realized something and shook the little child and called him by his name.
His wife wakes up and says to him:
– Resurrection, what time is it? Why are you waking the child? What do you want it for?
- Get up, woman, and the Saint has performed his miracle. Get up, my child, there at the end near the narthex was a jug of water and a cup.
- Get up, my child, pour me some water, says the father to the child, so that he can see the miracle. And the child stands up and begins to take the first steps of his life. The parents couldn't stand it and started shouting loudly in the night. The whole village gathers and they start watching the child's movements. He's a lad now. Around 15 to 17 years have passed. A young man who every year, with the same desire, a live lamb in his arms, approaches the Saint, leaves the lamb there in front of him as he remembers from the first time, embraces the holy relic many times and goes back to his place."
• A walking stick!
If you come to the pilgrimage of Saint John the Russian, you will see a simple and poor gift. A cane! It hangs like a trophy in the shrine, in front of Osios. The cane belongs to grandmother Maria Siaka from Frenaro, Famagusta, Cyprus, who for eighteen years was hunched over and her face was a little off the ground. On August 11, 1978 AD her people brought her with a hundred other Cypriots to Saint John. They raised her in their arms to venerate the holy relic. The ailing grandmother looks at the blessed full-length figure and cries asking for a little divine help for her painful old age. The Holy One of God saw the greatness of her soul, he saw her pain, but also her faith. In front of everyone's eyes, like an invisible hand, he grabbed her shoulders with tremendous force and slowly began to unfold her body! The spine creaks and takes its first place! Grandma is up! Her fellow villagers are crying. Church bells mean. A grateful request is made by all Cypriots. They can't hold back their tears. Anyone who has happened to be at the time of a miracle can understand these lines. At the end, the grandmother's voice is heard: "let me give you my lad, my Saint, I am poor, I will give you my cane, that I need until I die!"
And the newspapers of Nicosia: "Maria Siaka, after the pilgrimage to Greece to St. John the Russian, can and does see her fellow villagers in the face, because she was hunched over for almost two decades, crawling and looking at the earth. Thanks to the miracle of the Saint, he recovered and is completely fine."
In the "PANEVOIKO VIMA" Newspaper of 8/24/1978 AD. the following letter – confession of the Healed woman is published:
As MIA herself attests, ELDERLY CYPRUS WAS COMPLETELY HEALED As soon as she worshiped the tabernacle of St. John the Russian"
A MIRACLE on a sick woman from Cyprus, was performed in the name of St. John the Russian. And indeed with the immediate treatment of the pious pilgrim Mrs. Marikos P. Siakas, on August 11, 1978 AD. In her letter, the recipient of the miraculous grace herself describes the event as follows:
"My name is Marikou Panagi Siakas, I come from Frenaros Famagusta, 73 years old. I suffered from kyphosis of the spine for about 15 years. The doctors had given up on me. I decided to visit with other Cypriots the Blessed and Wonderworker Saint John the Russian. I had become a "highlander" from the disease. With many tears I prostrated and begged the Saint to heal me. I also wore the Saint's belt. Going down the stairs I felt a cold sweat cover my body. A tremor and as if some invisible hand were putting a board on my body, like a support. I immediately perked up. And I told my husband that I was fine. That I have nothing! I immediately threw away the stick, which I had not parted with for 15 whole years. I praise God and Saint John for the great miracle he performed.
• Apparition of the Holy One in the Basilica of Chalkida
On September 4, 1965 AD the figure of the Saint was captured, exactly as it is in the Holy Relic, on the wall, in a settlement, which was located in the courtyard of the house of Anastasios Stylianos Papafraga.
Soon the miracle went beyond the narrow local limits of the small town, as Athenian newspapers helped to spread it.
This is how "VRADYNI" describes it on 9/17/65:
MIRACLE or FANTASY?
Strange phenomenon in Evia (17-9-1965)
The head of Saint John the Russian was imprinted on the wall of a house and religious awe holds the inhabitants, who are unable to interpret this paradoxical phenomenon. The holy figure appeared for the first time about five days ago in the house of Anastasios Papafraga, 54, a farmer, and the first to notice it was his daughter Stella, who was busy whitewashing the room.
"I saw a head on the wall, she said fearfully as she left her house, but she had fine features and a loving smile." Her father and her brother immediately ran, and the neighbors, who recognized the head of Saint John the Russian.
The villagers were crucified, the town was mobilized and the vicar Papa-Dimitris and the Police Station Commander were immediately notified, who reported this, the priest to Metropolitan Chalkidos etc. Grigorio, and the Station Commander to the Gendarmerie Commander Lt. Col. Panagiotopoulos. The presbyter of the Metropolis and the commander of the Gendarmerie immediately went to the town, who, as they declared, saw the head of Saint John on the wall, but without expressing any opinion.
In the meantime, this room of the villager has been transformed into a place of pilgrimage, where residents from the surrounding villages flock. Many do not even leave money which, thanks to a committee formed under the chairmanship of the priest, is deposited in the village church.
It was known that the Most Reverend Metropolitan of Chalkidos, Mr. Grigorios will visit the house, in order to verify the phenomenon himself, and he stated that:
"Such phenomena exist. We can't deny anything. Everything is possible and people believe. For my part, I made sure that exploitation was avoided. The only thing I will allow is for a small church to be built there."
In memory of the miracle, on September 4, 1966 AD. was founded, on a plot of land next to the house, a Holy Church in honor of Saint John, which was inaugurated by Metropolitan Chalkidos Chrysostomos I, on Sunday 8 October 1978 AD, and then became the parish Church of the second homonymous parish of Vasilikos Chalkidos.
The Holy Church celebrates on May 27, but also on the first Sunday of every September, the anniversary of the canonization, with the participation of thousands of believers.
• The Metropolitan of Chalkidos Chrysostomos I, with his circular No. 1609/17-11-1978 to the reverend vicars and pious Christians of the Holy Metropolis, communicates two more miracles of the Holy One.
1) "...Last winter a Greek ship in the North Sea, loaded, goes to a port in the Netherlands. In the middle of the ocean they fall into a terrible cyclone. The radar is not working. The ship is sinking from moment to moment. The captain, an experienced sailor, sees that indeed there is no hope of salvation. Someone had told him that there is a full-bodied Saint, Saint John the Russian is his name, who does whatever you ask of him with faith. The captain remembered this and in the midst of the destruction he prayed to the unknown Saint John and said to him: "Great Saint of God, who have not known you, I pray to you tonight, not to save myself who am a captain, not for the ship that costs millions, but I pray for those sick sailors who have gone astray, to support their poor families and are currently drowning. Come, Holy One of God, and keep this ship from being lost in the bowels of the sea."
It's starting to dawn. The ship at the first light of day lies within the port it wished to go to, lying alongside the quay as if some experienced navigator had skilfully steered it thither. The captain who saw that even with the best conditions the ship could not reach there is seized with awe. He calls the ship-owning company in Piraeus that he is unable to stay at his job. Changed by the divine experience, he arrives in Greece by plane and a humble pilgrim kneels in front of the venerable vessel of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Relic of Osius. He lives the truth of God that there are no words to express it to us. He opens his heart and offers Saint John material gifts worth two hundred thousand, a loaf of bread, a Holy Chalice, a Holy Gospel, a Cross of blessing and a censer, to be witnesses of this Divine share that he lived".
2) "On 14-10-1978 the young lady Frederiki Georgiou, resident of Agia Varvara Egaleo, 24 Rodou Street, who has been paralyzed for two years and with terrible headaches and with the hopeless diagnosis of the professors, that her illness is incurable , after learning that the Holy One had also healed the 15-year-old woman from Cyprus, she prayed fervently to the Saint John and this Saturday (14-10-1978) at 5 o'clock in the morning an unrepeatable epiphany sealed her life. As if in a vision, the figure of Saint John is in front of her, who, opening his holy hands, says to her: "Come, let me heal you." The terrible pains in her head disappeared. The paralysis left her body. With tears and full of joy she gets up, hugs her parents, calls to her relatives and after three hours all the humble pilgrims arrived, here at Saint John. "The Lord admired the Saints in His land".
And the Most Reverend Pastor ends the announcement of the wonders of faith with an exhortation: "Wonder the greatness of our faith, brothers. That is why you turn your prayers and your hopes to the Sanctuary of Larnaca which contains his Holy Relic, which the Grace of God preserves intact and leave your soul, heart and body in the special and blessed care of God and of His Saint.
And then and only then will you also feel that God works our salvation through His Saints, with love and compassion as in the above true, undeniable and shocking events.
And then you will give glory together with them to our Triune God, whose Grace and mercy I hope will always be with you".
• Father P. Dimitrakos refers to a new miracle of the Saint, in his letter dated June 24, 2008 AD, to the Most Reverend Metropolitan of Chalkidos, Mr. Chrysostomos: "Venerable Father & Despot, As an old Rizarite, now a priest and academician in the Western Australia, I address you to Ymas, as you are the only one whose spiritual jurisdiction belongs to the pilgrimage of Saint John the Russian in Prokopio Evia. I would like to briefly explain the following to you: My elder Susana Dimitrakou, as a responsible educator in Western Australia and director of the exchange program of seminarians, candidates for the holy priesthood, between the Catholic College of St. Charles D.A. and of the Rizarei Ecclesiastical School, with the blessings and exhortations of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens with the blessings of the late Archbishop Mr. Christodoulou, was found on January 17, 2007 with the Catholic students on a pilgrimage to Prokopion of Evia to St. John the Baptist. Two days before, he had crushed the metatarsals of his right foot without knowing it and came to the Divine Liturgy with terrible pains, I considered the pains to be muscular, since he had been in a minor accident two days before. He walked for 15 whole days until January 29 with a broken leg, where when he returned to Perth, Western Australia, he was immediately admitted to the hospital where he needed 11 months after the operation to heal. None of the best scientists undertook the surgical intervention, so as not to be reduced to academic colleagues by its failure on my wife, whom they also expected to be done (by amputation).
But sweet Jesus allowed all this for our spiritual strength. The faith in the Lord's love for us wicked and sinners, the constant supplications to our Saint and our prayers led to the long-term but complete restoration of the almost destroyed foot, after they extracted after 11 months all the metals, which had placed awaiting the final amputation due to diabetes B' and rejection by the body of a foreign body.
The condition of the elder was painful, worse than the former minister Ms. Yanakou, who suffered from the same health problems. After this blessed outcome of things and through the embassies of Saint John, I am sending you, through the hands of the director of the exchange program for religious students of the Rizareio School, etc. Panayiotou Tsakiris dear friend, devout Christian and blessed family head and fraternal friend of the late Archbishop Mr. Christodoulou, Polytimon Stavron inherited from my spiritual father Metropolitan of Corinth Mr. Panteleimon Karanikolas. The heavy pure silver and gold lapis lazuli cross belonged to the Metropolitan of the Armed Forces of Greece during the German occupation, Mr. Panteleimon Fostinis, Metropolitan of Chios and spiritual father of my Elder.
Reverend Elder,
I, the unworthy one, beseech you, this precious and Holy Cross of the Lord, which also has historical value, as it is placed forever and shines the Holy Relic of Saint John the Russian, as the minimum offering of our suffering family, through his constant prayers Holy to our Lord in heaven, Who proved the impossible of the scientists as being accomplished by God, so that the healing doctors are still able to this day. The x-rays testify to the truth of the miracle. Mr. Panagiotis Tsakiris will be at your disposal at the time you want until the end of the week to deliver our family's Hope for the Saint into your hands. It is enough to be notified through your office while you are in Athens, where he lives...".
In the Russian Church
According to official information of the Russian Patriarchate, Saint John was listed in the canon of the Russian Church, by decision of the Holy Synod, in July 1962 AD. and May 27 was designated as his feast day.
Attached (in the original and translated into Greek) is the relevant document, which is a response to my letter of 29-6-1999, in which the relevant information was requested.
Moscow Patriarchate
Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Department of External Church Relations
To His Holiness Archimandrite Chrysostomon of the Diocese of Chalkidos
In response to your request regarding the information available to us regarding the honor of Saint John the Russian, we quote the following text of the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church (Minutes of the Holy Synod Session No 18 / 19-7-1962) :
"At the Session of the Holy Synod headed by the PATRIARCH - (after) THEY HEARD:
The Report of Archbishop Yaroslav and Rostov Nikodimos, head of the Department of External Church Relations for the canonical Recognition by the Russian Orthodox Church of the embassies of Saint John the Russian, whose body is enshrined in Neo Prokopio (Ahmet Aga) on the Island of Evia in Greece.
DECIDED:
Because our compatriot "Holy John the Russian" has been canonically recognized as a "Saint" by the Church of Constantinople and Greece, therefore we (decided) to add His name to the choir of Russian Saints and set His Feast Day on May 27 ( depending on the day of His Feast in the Church of Greece) and on the day of His memory to sing His Serenity with a Chandelier.
Archbishop Nikodimos is authorized to edit the translation from the Greek language of the Order of St. John and to prepare a troparion and rule of the Saint, for their introduction into the Order of all Russian Saints, for which (introduction) or Holy Synod will take and similar decision".
Wishing you progress in your work,
Archimandrite Elissaios
Department Secretary
External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate
Functional texts
Absolute
Ἦhos d'. He quickly realized.
He who called you from earth to the heavenly alone, keeps your tabernacle unbroken even after death. For you, in Asia, as a captive shore, came and belonged to Christ, John. He therefore begged, may our souls be saved.
Kontakion
Ἦhos d'. Happy New Year.
Of your glorious struggles, O Father, the holy today, the memory of the souls, of the pious, enlightening, ec John of the faith honoring you.
The House
How can I praise your struggle, O Father? of tears, how do I explore the ocean? For you, with the power of the most excellent, of the Angels, took possession of the Choir, dying the passions with restraint wisely, and the flesh of your slave you made subject to the spirit, and you gave strength to the darkness. For even now, present at the throne of the Despot, O John, you are interceding for those who believe in you.
Idiomelon from Lita
Ἦhos a'.
Rejoice in the Lord, the city of Prokopeon, go and dance, glorious faith, John the son of Russia, I held in your bosom, as a treasure enjoy the miracles of his healings, and sing thanks to Sotiri; Philanthropic Lord, glory to you.
Another Idiomelon from Lita
Ἦhos b'.
The sacred larnax of your holy relics springs forth to the faithful, we are gracious, O Father; and your holy soul, together with the angels, is worthy to be praised; then, having a wise prayer to the Lord, and with the Holy Ones dancing in the heavens, beg for us , of faithfully fulfilling your memory.
Another Idiomelon from Lita
Ἦhos c'.
The one of the gatherings of the Holy Council of the Congratulae of the Congratulations, the Call of the Faithful, and the Faithful, the Faithful, the Faithful of the passion, the flow of your tears, O John; Rejoice, the boast of the day, and the rejoicing of the Church of the faithful.
Another Idiomelon from Lita
Ἦhos d'.
Pheromone, O handsome man of the same name, O Father; for as the Baptist was gracious among the Jewish people, and before Christ he clearly testified, so also you, his namesake and imitator, among the vain people, by grace from heaven, to the Most High your state , ὦ John; do not cease to be ambassadors for us who faithfully celebrate your holy wise feast.
Σχόλια