Saint John (Ioannis)
the Russian
by
John N. Kallianiotis
University of Scranton
Birth, Enlistment, Captivity
Saint John was born in a village of Little Russia, around 1690, from
virtuous and faithful parents and from childhood he learned the sacred letters.
When he reached legal age he enlisted, while Peter the Great was reigning in
Russia. He took part in the great Russo-Turkish war (1710-1711), which was
unfortunate for his country, and together with thousands of other Russians, he
was captured by the Tatars. They then sold him to an Ottoman officer,
Hipparchus, who came from Prokopion in Asia Minor, a town in Cappadocia, which
belonged to the wider area of Caesarea.
Many of his captive compatriots denied the holy faith of Christ and
embraced Islam, either because they were tempted by promises and offers of
material goods or because they bowed down from the fears of the threats and the
pains of the sufferings and martyrdoms to which they were subjected.
John, however, remained a devoted and fearless athlete of Jesus Christ
and his faith. As a "free besieged" he is described in the following
troparion:
«Ὡς ἀπήχθης αἰχμάλωτος καί τό σῶμα δεδούλωσαι, τήν ψυχήν ἀδούλωτον διετήρησας, ἐρηρεισμένος τοῖς δόγμασι, τῆς πίστεως ὅσιε, καί ἠγώνισαι στερρῶς, τά ὀνείδη καί σκώμματα, γνώμη κρείττονι, τῶν ἀπίστων ὡς θείας ἀναβάσεις, ὑπομένων Ἰωάννη· ὅθεν ἀξίως δεδόξασαι».
“ As a
kidnapped captive and the body enslaved, the soul free from restraint you preserved, chastened by the dogmas, of the faith saint,
and you fight hard, the shames and mockeries, opinion superior, from the
unbelievers as divine ascents, long-suffering John; whence art thou deservedly
glorified.”
Confession before Hipparchus his Master
Imitating the courage of the holy martyrs of our faith, he responded to
the extortionate invitations of his master Hipparchus:
“Nothing will separate me from the love of my Christ, neither the false
promises of earthly and temporal goods, nor the insults, the whippings and the
harshest of these sufferings. I have before my eyes my savior, who as a royal
crib had the manger of Bethlehem, I gladly rest in the dark corner of your
stable, where you condemned me to stay, and this seems to me a paradise while I
profess the saving religion of my Jesus, I have in mind the reed, with which
the head of my savior was strike, I gladly accept them in favor of him rods and
remembering the crown of thorns, which was placed on his head, I am ready with
joy to endure the vexation, which you are accustomed to wear on those who rise
to your will, finally the greatest sufferings I am willing to suffer for the
sake of my Christ , who, through his martyrdom on the Cross, taught us the
courage, courage and patience of this most cruel death, as the beginning of a
new existence and eternal bliss. I am a Russian, faithful to my earthly king as
much as to heavenly one, I will never deny the true religion of my parents and
as long as you leave me free to do what my religion requires of me, I am
willing at your command to do any work and if I am able in your favor, but I am
tempted to be distracted from the loving tricks of the philanthropic religion
of my Jesus, either by threats, or by the false promises of wealth, glory, and
every earthly good, that some are fickle and uncertain, know well that none of
these can ever tempt me and my faith to shake. I was born a Christian and I
want to die a Christian...”
This faithfulness of his and his confession of Christ before the people,
gave him the very honorable and evangelical title of the new confessor. Saint
John’s statement “I was born a Christian and I will die a Christian...” also
applies the words of Saint Basil the Great, in his eulogy to the Holy Forty
Martyrs: "O blessed tongues, those who left that shrine a voice (I am a
Christian) is the air while the tank was sanctified, and the angels listening
applauded, the devil with the demons was wounded, and the Lord was written in
the heavens.”
A Life of Martyrdom and Devotion
His unshakable faith and his steadfast love for God was also expressed
by his great humility and his hard work and above all by his patience in the
mistreatment of his master and the insults and teasing of the Ottomans, who
called him “kafiri”, i.e. faithless.
With diligence and much affection he took care of the animals, in the
dark stable, and there he lay his tired body to rest, praying and praising God,
like another Job.
A simile of the Great Vespers says in this regard: «Τοῦ Ἰώβ τήν ἀνένδοτον, καρτερίαν μιμούμενος, ἀκλινής καί ἄσειστος θείῳ πνεύματι, ταῖς ἐπελθούσαις κακώσεσι, καί θλίψεσιν ἔμεινας, καί ἐν κόπρῳ τήν ζωήν, διανύων πεπλήρωσαι, ὀσμῆς κρείττονος καί πολλῆς εὐωδίας οὐρανόθεν, Ἰωάννη θεοφόρε, τῆς χορηγίας τῆς χάριτος». “Job's
unyielding, endurance imitating, without bed and steady by the divine spirit,
the coming evils and sorrow remained, and in manure the life you were filled
with spirits, scent greater and many fragrances from heaven, John Theo-bearer,
of the grant of grace".
Little by little he won, in this way, the sympathy of the Ottoman master
and his wife, who even granted him a small apartment near the barn, to live
there. He, however, did not accept and continued to sleep in his beloved
stable, straining his body with bad hardship and exercise, which ensured him
the fragrance of the Holy Spirit. Having, as one of his troparion says, “bed
the stable, feed insults and kicks” and enduring the cold and nakedness for the
sake of Christ “pure in body and soul became all the time.”
His joy and his yearning was the prayer. The uninterrupted communication
with his Lord, Jesus Christ, in whose hands he left not only his pains and
sufferings, but his entire life. He applied the “prayer time for all life”. His
trust was hopeful. His heart was “burnt”. The stable was the place where he met
his beloved every day, while at night he looked for him in the narthex of the
Church of Agios Georgios, which was next to his master's house carved into a
rock. There he kept his vigils standing up and banishing the sleepiness of his
eyelids, he put to sleep the disordered passions of the body. His mind, through
vigilance, "as if on wings, it rose and rose to the glory of God".
The perfect union, however, with the life-giving Christ took place every
Saturday, when the slave John "partook of the hospitality of the despotic
and immortal table", becoming partaker of the immaculate Body and the
precious Blood of the Savior Jesus Christ. He responded as a grateful servant
to the invitation and exhortation of the Lord of the supper, "Take, eat,
this is my body..." and "Drink of it, all of you, this is my
blood...", because he fully believed the assurance of the Life-Giver,
"he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood he remains in me and I remain in
him”. The psalm was applied to his face: "You have prepared a table before
me, against those who afflict me. You anointed my head with oil, and your cup
of wine made me drunk." Participating in the cup of life gave him that
state of intimacy after God which is called "parishia” (frankness). What
really happens with Christ is what the excellent Eucharistic Fathers teach: [
"...whom he begat intimately feeds eternally with blood". Christ
nourishes us so that we may live in the joy and cheerfulness of his own
resurrection. To realize how the sacramental life gives meaning to our lives
and the church is our homeland (St. Chrysostomos). So that we may walk with the
vision of His own Kingdom, preparing ourselves "toward the resurrection
life" (Vasilios the Great) by experiencing it from now on at the table of
thanksgiving, at the paschal dinner of life.]. This life goes hand in hand with
our cross, the imitation of Christ's obedience to death.
St. Vasileios the Great says again: “For what reason do they eat the
body and drink the blood of the Lord? in memory of the Lord's obedience until
death, so that the living may not live themselves, but to him who died and rose
for them". Saint John had in his life this crucifixion attitude and
resurrecting ethos, because he was meeting God and "the world in
God". He was meeting the world in all its sad condition and was serving
it, as the incarnate Son of God served man. He saw and dealt with everything
with this ecclesiastical, indeed free, perspective. A work of art of the Holy
Spirit was thus revealed, an "epiphany", as all successfully praying
people become.
His Miraculous Prayer
The presence of John was a true blessing for his place and the cause of
many goods for his master. His prayer was strong, he worked miracles. “Whatever
you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” Christ had promised his
disciples. And John “always keeps these verbs in his heart”.
This is amply demonstrated by the following fact. Once his master
decided to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca. His wife, after the lapse of several
days, offered a dinner to his relatives and official friends, so that they
could rejoice and wish that her husband would return in good health to his
place from his trip. John, as usual, served at the table.
Among the dishes listed in it was pilaf, the aga’s favorite. Then the
hostess remembered her husband and said to John: "How much pleasure your
master Juvan (John) would receive if he were here and eating with us from this
food!” John, with eagerness and simplicity, immediately asked for a plate full
of pilaf and said he would send it to his master in Mecca.
On hearing these words, those present laughed, thinking that John wanted
to eat the food or give it to some poor family. But he took it, went to the
stable and there kneeling prayed and entrusted to God the satisfaction of his
request. And indeed the plate disappeared from his sight, and John returned to
the banquets and told the hostess that he had sent the food to Mecca. However,
he again accepted the mocking comments and laughter of his fellow dinner eaters.
Of course, their surprise was great when, after a few days, Agas returned from
his trip and brought in his luggage the plate with his characteristic coat of
arms.
He even recounted how he found the food, and indeed hot, in his room in
Mecca, without knowing the method of transportation. Listening to the
narration, his relatives were speechless, while his wife recounted what had
happened.
This miracle was advertised throughout the village and its surroundings
and everyone now considered John as a righteous man and dear to God and they
respected him.
Sleeping, Burial and Collection of his Holy Relic
After a few years, Saint John fell ill and sensing the end of his life,
he wished to receive the heavenly bread for the last time so that he could have
it as his companion at the time of his departure from this life and for this
purpose he notified the priest. Fr. Theodoros Papadopoulos was afraid, due to
the fanaticism of the Turks, to transfer the Holy Communion to the stable.
However, by divine enlightenment, he took an apple, dug it up, put the Holy
Communion in it and after going to the stable, blessed John received communion.
After a while the faithful servant of God surrendered his holy soul into the
hands of his Creator, whom he loved so much that for His sake he was killed
every day, being counted "as a sheep for the slaughter." It was in the
year 1730 A.D.
The priests and precocious Christians of Procopion were notified by Aga
and buried the saint's body, while the Ottoman himself placed a precious carpet
on his coffin, thus showing the respect he had for him.
His confession was lifelong and permanent. His life is worthy of
confession, such that it caused the honor of God and people, and even of his
allopist (of other religion) master. It reminds us of the saying of the holy
Chrysostom: "After frankness we confess our faith... not only through
words, but also through these things, we do this and a life with the merit of
the confession for everything showing off, for everything glorifying our Lord
we enjoy both here and there honor...”.
For John, who passed "through fire and water", the word of the
Lord "my witness is faithful" was applied. He was a witness of the
One who came into the world to "bear witness to the truth". And
that's why he found "rest". He received "the crown of
life", i.e. Him the Lord, according to Saint Gregory of Nyssa, who
interpreting the beatitude of the persecuted by saying: "Behold the end of
God's struggles, the honor of pains of old age, the reward of sweat of the
kingdom in heaven is deserved... let us be persecuted so that we may run... to
our prize of the higher calling the way is even. What is the prize? the crown?
don't ask me what else is with him the Lord...for He is both the champion of
the toiling and the crown of the victorious.”
After the passage of three years from his falling asleep to the Lord and
his burial in the Christian cemetery, his incorruptible and fragrant body was
revealed in a heavenly way. From 1733 this holy relic entered the liturgical
life of the Church, a harbinger of the Resurrection, a guarantee of the
"proclaimed to us the Kingdom".
In 1733 A.D., 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.
In 1832 A.D., 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 Procopion, where he
thought of resting and departing the next day. But since most of the Muslims of
Prokopi, like janissaries that they were, they hated the sultan and 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 they do not 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 vessels and
opened the altar of Osios, hoping to find gold and silver items there as well,
but they found nothing. Out of their evil, they 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 hand of Saint John was
given by the residents of old Prokopi in 1881 A.D., 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 Saint's Temple over
his tomb.
The holy relic was
transported to Evia in October 1924 A.D. 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 bethel-house, where it was
deposited and they lit the candle.
Miracles of the Saint
Saint 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
afflicted, a harbor that protects from the dangers of the salty and stormy sea
of this life, salvation in calamities, river of gifts inexhaustible, fountain
of benefits and fountain of eternal healings.” Of his many miracles, only a few
are mentioned in the present work, but they are capable of inspiring and moving
the lips to praise, "...may I grow old, and longingly sing and worship 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 outdated, 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 canticle sequence of 1897 A.D. 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, on a Sabbath
day, in the morning of any year, and of the bloodless sacrifice performed in
the upper and quiet Holy Temple of our holy Father Basil, venerable of women,
he told the women present in the Temple, that , yesterday in honor, I saw
"Saint Ioannis, coming out of this shrine (larnaka) running, and holding
in both hands, the roof of the Greek School, which was about to collapse. While
they were saying these things, a sudden crash 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 laid themselves under it being buried and being crushed over twenty students,
alive, of the miracle! and all healthy. Having asked the students, how this
happened to them and how they were saved from such danger? They responded that,
"suddenly hearing the fierce and violent thrashing of the roof beams and
seeing the impending danger we were all led as by a signal and as if by an
invisible hand, we descended in a moment under the desks, in fear and terror
and utter despair. Behold, the roof fell on us with a roar, the beams of the
roof were supported, after the same material, on the weak desks, and we,
remaining under these, unharmed and apathetic, despite expectation, were
preserved. And so by the grace of God, and the invisible stewardship of our
Holy Father John, so many innocent creatures were saved, who then became men, and
were useful in many ways and benefited the school and our entire motherland".
In the Holy Monastery
of Saint David the Elder, in Rovies of Evia, the late elder and abbot was
Archimandrite Iakovos Tsalikis, who fell asleep in the year 1991 A.D. He was an
excellent spiritual personality, recognized in the consciousness of the church
staff.
The blessed father, at some critical
phase of his life saw a miracle of the Holy One (St. John’s), 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
it 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 Limni with the animal and then put me in
the Hospital of Chalkida. There the surgeon examined me and said to urgently
operate. So while I was suffering and I was 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 an old white-bearded
man with a crutch in his hand enter, accompanied by a younger man in his
thirties in a cassock. They approached me and greeted me.
- What are you doing, Fr. Jacob? Do
you know us who we are?
-What shall I do my fathers, I
suffer. I don't know you. Who are you?
-I am the Elder David and from here
John the Confessor, he said, addressing the younger one, the one who consented
and bowed to Saint David, as elder and Priest. Don't be afraid, Saint David
told me, we came to help you.
I saw, said the Elder, the forehead
of Saint David that it was sweaty; so quickly came the Saint to 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, because
those around us will hear and say that father Iakovos has lost his mind. 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. I was often saying since then, that he was a very
good surgeon; he saved me. But, miraculously, I saw Saint John the Russian who
said to me:
- I hear you saying, 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 later. Thus with this extension I still live, said the Elder, for
this later that the Saint said.”
In the magazine "Synaxis"
were published in 1982 A.D. other miracles of Saint John, which were narrated
by the Priest of the Holy 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 growing of bones. 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 for relevant research. 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. She goes directly 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 pleadings. 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 icon with me, and I will cross your child with this icon of him, and
believe that God and his saints are above science and doctors.” He takes out
the icon and just as he puts it on the child's forehead, he spartans like a
fish. Cold sweat bathes his whole body, he literally gets soaked and the mother
bends down to kiss her child out of the impulse 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 was held and the child was feverless all
night. In the morning, after the vigil, the child returns to the hospital
without a fever. The French doctors say that 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 the
child 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 moving miracles is
with a child in Istiaea, Evia. 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 Istiaea. 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 remembering Saint John, he was 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 well. 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 vow (tama), as a gift to your grace.”
They set off on foot from Istiaea,
father and mother, two and a half days and nights on the road, sometimes one
shouldering the child and sometimes the other the lamb. They arrived at Saint
John crying; a prayer was made in front of the holy relic of the Saint. They
had left the child in front of the altar, paralyzed as it was, lying down. And
the lamb had been tied with him, there near the Saint. We did not open the urn.
We watched the event. At night the parents did not want to go to sleep in a
house or hotel but came from outside through the locked door of the Church.
After midnight, again the father,
the one who had requested the healing of the child from the Saint, understood
something and shook the little child and called him by his name. His wife wakes
up and says to him:
– Anastasi, what time is it? Why are you waking up the child? What do
you want?
– Get up, woman, and the Saint has
done his miracle. Stand up, my child, there at the end, near the narthex was a
jug of water and a cup.
- Stand 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 laddie 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 cane!
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 John. The cane belongs to
grandmother Maria Siaka from Frenaro, Ammochostou, Cyprus, who for eighteen
years was hunched over and her face was a little off the ground. On August 11,
1978 A.D. 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 relics 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 ring. A grateful prayer 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: "What
can I give you my lad, my Saint, I am poor, I will give you my cane, that I do
not need it until I die!"
And the Nicosia newspapers were
writing: "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, she recovered and is completely fine."
In the Newspaper, "PANEVOIKO
VIMA" of 8/24/1978 A.D., the following letter - confession of the Healed
woman is published:
“As she herself affirms ONE ELDERLY
CYPRIOT WOMAN WAS COMPLETELY HEALED, as soon as she worshiped the relics of St.
John the Russian". A MIRACLE on a sick woman from Cyprus, took place in
the Holy Church of St. John the Russian. And indeed, it was the immediate
treatment of the pious pilgrim Mrs. Marikous P. Siaka, on August 11, 1978 A.D.
In her letter, the recipient of the miraculous grace herself describes the
event as follows:
"My name is Marikou Panagi
Siaka, I come from Frenaro, Ammochostou, 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 like a letter "U" from the disease. With many tears I
prostrated worshiping and begging the Saint to heal me. I also wore the Saint's
belt. Going down the stairs I felt a cold sweat covering 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 be separated for
15 whole years. I praise God and Saint John for the great miracle he performed.’
MARIA P. SIAKA, Frenaros – Ammochostou Cyprus.
Appearance of the Holy One in Vassiliko of Chalkida.
On September 4, 1965 A.D. 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
Stylianou Papafraga.
Soon the miracle went beyond the
narrow local limits of the small town, as Athenian newspapers helped to spread
it. This
is how newspaper "VRADYNI" describes it on 9/17/65:
MIRACLE or FANTASY?
A strange phenomenon in Evia (9-17-1965).
The head of Saint John the Russian was imprinted on the wall of a house and
religious awe possessed the inhabitants, who were unable to interpret this
paradoxical phenomenon. The holy figure appeared for the first time about five
days ago in the house of Anastasios Papafraga, aged 54, a farmer, and the first
to notice it was his daughter Stella, who was busy whitewashing (painting) 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 same did her neighbors,
who recognized the head of Saint John the Russian. The villagers were crossing
themselves, the town was mobilized and the vicar Papa-Dimitris and the Police
Station Commander were immediately notified, who reported this; the priest to
Metropolitan of Chalkidos Bishop Grigorios 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 also 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, Bishop Grigorios will visit the house, in order to
verify the phenomenon himself, and he declared 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 A.D. it 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 Bishop Chrysostomos
I, on Sunday October 8, 1978 A.D., and then became the parish Church of the second
homonymous parish of Vasilikou Chalkidos.
The Holy Church celebrates on May
27, but also on the first Sunday of every September, the anniversary of the appearance
of the Saint, with the participation of thousands of believers.
Metropolitan Chalkidos Bishop Chrysostomos
I, with his encyclical No. 1609/17-11-1978 to the reverend vicars and pious
Christians of the Holy Metropolis, communicates two more miracles of the Saint:
(1)"... Last winter a
Greek ship in the North Sea laden 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 the day lies within the port it wished to go to, lying
alongside the quay as if some experienced navigator had skillfully 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 after a humble pilgrim he kneels in front of the
venerable vessel of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Relic of Osios. 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 Frideriki
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 medical professors, that her illness is incurable, after
learning that the Holy One had also healed the bending for 15-years of an old
woman from Cyprus, she prayed fervently to the Saint John and on 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, opening
his holy hands and saying 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 these people arrived as humble pilgrims, here at Saint John.
"The Lord admired His Saints in His land".
And the Most Reverend Prelate 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 Larnaka (shrine) that 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 of June 24, 2008 A.D., to the Most Reverend
Metropolitan of Chalkidos, Bishop Chrysostomos:
"Venerable Father & Despot,
As an old Rizarite, now a priest and
academic in the West Australia, I address to you, 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 presbytera
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 Rizareios
Ecclesiastical School, with the blessings and exhortations of the Holy
Archdiocese of Athens with the blessings of the late Archbishop Bishop
Christodoulos, was found on January 17, 2007 with the Catholic students on a
pilgrimage to Prokopion of Evia to Saint John the Russian. Two days before, she
had crushed the metatarsals of her right foot without knowing it and came to
the Divine Liturgy with terrible pains; I considered the pains to be muscular,
since she had been in a minor accident two days before. She walked for 15 whole
days until January 29 with a broken leg, where when she returned to Perth,
Western Australia, she 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 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 leg, after 11 months they
extracted all the metals that had placed awaiting the final amputation due to
diabetes B' and rejection by the organism of a foreign body.
The condition of the presbytera was
painful, worse than the former minister Mrs. Yanakou, who suffered from the
same health problems. After this blessed outcome of things and through the interceding
of Saint John, I am sending you, through the hands of the director of the
exchange program for religious students of the Rizareios School, Mr. Panayiots
Tsakiris dear friend, devout Christian and blessed family head and brotherly
friend of the late Archbishop Bishop Christodoulos, a precious cross inherited
from my spiritual father Metropolitan of Corinth Bishop Panteleimon
Karanikolas. The heavy pure silver and gold for the chest cross belonged to the
Metropolitan of the Armed Forces of Greece during the German occupation, Bishop
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, for the continuous prayers of the
Saint to our Lord in heaven Who proved the impossible of the scientists as
being accomplished by God, so that the healing doctors are still wondered to
this day. The x-rays testify to the truth of the miracle. Mr. Panagiotis
Tsakiris will be at your availability 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 A.D. 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 Ecclesiastical Relations
To His Eminence Archimandrite
Chrysostomon of the Diocese of Chalkidos
In response to your request regarding the
information available to us concerning the honor of Saint John the Russian, we
are quoting the following text of the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian
Orthodox Church (Minutes of the Meeting of the Holy Synod No 18 / 19-7-1962):
"At the Meeting of the Holy
Synod headed by the PATRIARCH - (after) 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 intercede of Saint
John the Russian, whose body is enshrined in Neo Prokopio (Ahmet Aga) on the
Island of Evia in Greece.
THEY DECIDED:
Because our compatriot "Holy
John the Russian" has been canonically recognized as a "Saint"
by the Church of Constantinople and Greece, we therefore (decided) to add His
name to the choir of Russian Saints and set His Feast Day on the 27 of May
(according to His Feast day in the Church of Greece) and on His memorial day to
sing His Church Service with Polyelaio.
Archbishop Nikodimos is authorized to edit the
translation from the Greek language of the Order of Saint John and to prepare a
troparion and canon of the Saint, for their introduction into the Order of all
Russian Saints, for which (introduction) the Holy Synod will take a similar
decision".
With the best
wishes for the progress of your work,
Archimandrite Elissaios
Secretary of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow
Patriarchate
Liturgical Texts:
Apolytikion
of St. Ioannis the Russian
Ἀπολυτίκιον (Κατέβασμα)
Ἦχος δ΄. Ταχύ προκατάλαβε.
«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.»[1]
Κοντάκιον
Ἦχος δ'. ᾿Επεφάνης σήμερον.
«Τῶν λαμπρῶν ἀγώνων σου, Ὅσιε Πάτερ, ἡ ἁγία σήμερον, ἐπέστη μνήμη τὰς ψυχάς, τῶν
εὐσεβῶν κατευφραίνουσα, ὧ Ἰωάννη τῶν πίστει τιμώντων σε.»
Hagiographies / Icons
Saint John the Russian
[1] Πρόγραμμα Ἀναπαραγωγῆς
Ἤχου (Audio Player)
https://oir.gr/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/apolytikion-osiou-ioanni-rosou.mp3
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