The Life of Saint
John the Russian
Whose Venerable
Relics Repose in New Prokopion on the Greek Island of Evvia
Let us give
glory and chant hymns to thank our greatly compassionate
Lord who in these evil times deems us worthy to see rising in the
darkness new luminaries of the spiritual firmament of our Orthodox
Church. These bright lights cheer and gladden the faithful but put
unbelievers to shame. Shut are the mouths of the ungodly who seek to
excuse their unbelief by the claim that today people no longer become
saints, as though our Faith and Christ who is the Head and of whom the
Apostle Paul says, "Christ, the same yesterday and today and unto the
ages" had changed.
Besides the ancient saints,
righteous hierarchs, and martyrs, a great
and, shining halo of new saints, (most of them martyrs) has appeared
from the fall of Constantinople until today. They have strengthened the
Faith by martyrdom. They adorned with new and unfading crowns our
Orthodox Church, which has stood alone as unchanging and immovable from
the time of the Apostles who founded her. This recalls the words of
Haggai the Prophet, who said; "Great shall be the glory of this house
(that is, the Church); the last greater than the first." (Haggai 2:9).
One of these new saints is John
the Russian, whose holy tabernacle is the boast of the blessed island
of Evvia. Here Saint John deigned to rest and further to sanctify the
place that had already been hallowed by the righteous David the Elder
who is commemorated on Nov. 1 and many other saints.
The righteous John was born
in a
village in southern Rus-sia, of pious Orthodox parents, for the blessed
Russians have the same spiritual Mother as the Greeks-the Orthodox
Church-and has given birth to many great saints. Saint John was born
around 1690, during the reign of Peter the Great. When John was a brave
lad he served as a soldier in the war which that daring Tsar was then
waging against the Ottoman Empire in the year 1711. In this war, John
was taken prisoner by Tartars along with thousands of other Russians.
The Tartars sold him to a Muslim cavalry officer who lived in Prokopion
in Asia Minor, near Caesarea of Cappadocia, and this Aga carried John
to his village. At this time Turkey was filled with a multitude of
Muscovite slaves who groaned under the harsh Muslim yoke. Sadly, the
majority of these loathsome wretches, to lighten their burden, denied
the Faith of Christ and embraced Islam.
John, however, had been nurtured
from childhood "in in-struction and
admonition of the Lord," and he loved God and the religion of his
fathers exceedingly. Indeed, he was one of those young men whom the
knowledge of God makes wise.
As the sage Solomon declared, "The
just man is wise even in his youth.
For honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor
that which is measured by number of years. But wisdom is the gray hair
unto men, and an unspotted life is old age (Wisdom 4:8,9)." Possessing
that knowledge which God imparts to those who love him, blessed John
was patient in the ill-treatment of his master and the insults and
annoy-ances of the Muslims who called him Kiafir, which means
un-believer. To show their contempt and aversion. Prokopion was the
site of an army camp of the Christian-hating Jannisaries, who were
sons of Christians taken from their parents while young and raised as
fanatical Muslim soldiers. John was a particular object of hatred to
the Jannisaries because to his master and to all who urged him to deny
his Faith he answered with conviction that he preferred to die rather
than fall into such a fearful sin. To the Aga he said, "If you leave me
free in my religion, I will be very eager to carry out your commands.
But if you try to force me to change my faith, I will first surren-der
my head. I was born a Christian and a Christian I shall die."
Seeing John's faith and hearing
his confession, God at length softened the Turk's hard heart so that at
last the Aga relented. From then on John was left in peace without
further threats from his Muslim lord who kept him in a stable to care
for animals. In one comer of the stable John would lie his tired body
down to rest. John thanked God for being deemed worthy to have as a bed
a manger like the one in which our Lord Jesus Christ had likewise lain
at his birth. Dedicated to his work, John affectionately cared for the
animals; and they, perceiving the love that the saint had for them,
would look for him expectantly whenever he was absent. When he petted
them, they looked at him with love and whinnied with joy as though they
were talking with him.
As time passed, the Aga and
his
wife came to love John and gave him a small room near the hayloft. Even
so, John re-fused this continuing to sleep in his beloved stable to
bring his body into subjection by privation and asceticism amid the
reek of the animals and the stamping of their feet. At night, however,
that stable was filled with the prayers of the saint, and the smell
would become an odor of a spiritual fragrance. Blessed John made that
stable a hermitage, living there according to the rule of the Fathers,
kneeling and praying for hours at times taking a little rest by curling
up on the hay with no covering except for an old coat. Often he took
only a little bread and water, fasting on most days and quietly
chanting psalms in Slavonic. "He that dwelleth in the help of the Most
High shall abide in the shelter of the God of heaven. He shall say to
the Lord: Thou art my helper and my refuge. He is my God, and I will
hope in him. For he shall deliver thee from the snare of the hunters
and from every troubling word (ps. 90:1-3)." "They laid me in the
lowest pit, in darkness and in the shadow of death (ps. 87:6)." "Unto
the Lord in mine affliction have I cried, and he heard me (ps. 119:1)."
"The Lord shall keep thy coming in and going out, from henceforth and
forevermore (ps. 120:8)." "Unto thee have I lifted up my eyes, unto
thee that dwellest in heaven. Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto
the hands of their masters, so our eyes look unto the Lord our God,
until he take pity on us (ps. 122:1,2)."
John would even silently chant
psalms while he followed the horse of
his master as hostler when the master rode in the country. The blessing
that the saint brought to his master's house soon enabled that cavalry
officer to grow rich and become powerful in Prokopion. The holy stable
boy-besides the prayers and fasting which he carried on day and night,
winter and summer, inside that stable while lying upon the dung like
another Job-would go at night and keep vigil in the narthex of the
Chapel of Saint George, which was built in the hollow of a rock near
the house of his master. John would go there secretly at night, and
every Saturday he partook of the immaculate Mysteries. Greek Orthodox
clergy were living in Prokopion serving the local native Greek
population as well as the Russian slaves of the Turks. The Lord, who
examines the hearts and the reins, looked upon his faithful slave and
caused John's fellow slaves and other believers who had previously done
so to cease mocking and insulting him. The Lord continued to bestow
riches on John's master, who understood from what source such blessings
came and proclaimed this to his fellow citizens.
After the Aga had become wealthy,
he determined to go on the annual
pilgrimage to Mecca to give thanks to God for his blessings, which he
actually received through the intercessions of Saint John and not from
any devotion to the Islamic religion, and to offer sacrifice for his
sins. The Hadj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, is commanded of Muslims
to make at least once in their lifetime. After leaving Prokopion, and
enduring the hardships suffered in those times by pilgrims, he arrived
at the holy city of the Muslims. Meanwhile, some days after his
departure, the Aga's wife gave a banquet, at which she invited her
husband's relatives and friends to rejoice and to pray that he might
return safe from his journey. Blessed John served at table. Pilaf, a
dish favored by the Aga, was placed on the table. Then the mistress
remembered her hus-band and exclaimed to John, "How much pleasure your
master would have if he were here now and could eat this pilaf with
us!" John then asked for a plate of the pilaf, saying that he would
send it to his master in Mecca. Upon hearing these words, the guests
laughed. The mistress told the cook to give John a plate of the food,
thinking that he would either eat it himself or carry it to some poor
Christian family as was his custom. Taking the dish, the saint went to
the stable where he knelt and prayed from the depths of his heart that
almighty God would send the food to his master in whatever manner he
might choose. In his simplicity the blessed one had faith that the Lord
would hearken to his prayer and that the food would arrive in Mecca by
supernatural means. He believed "without doubting," according to the
word of the Lord that God would perform this miracle. As the great
ascetic Saint Isaac the Syrian writes, "These supernatural things will
occur for those who are simple in mind and feNent in the hope." Indeed
the plate of food vanished from before John's eyes. Then the holy one
returned to the dining room and told his mistress that he had sent the
pilaf to his master.
"Some time later the Aga returned
from Mecca, and to the amazement of
his household brought with him the very copper plate that had held the
food. Only blessed John was not surprised. The Aga told his household,
"On that exact day (that is, on the day of his wife's banquet in
Prokopion) as I was returning from the Great Mosque to the house where
I stayed, I found this plate filled with pilaf on the table in a room
that I had locked. I stood pondering who could have brought it. Above
all, I could not understand how the door which I had locked well had
been opened. Not knowing how to explain this mystery, I examined the
plate of steaming pilaf. I saw with amazement that my name was engraved
in the copper just as all such vessels in our house. Despite confusion
from that unexplainable circumstance, I sat down and ate the pilaf with
great relish. Observe the plate which I have brought back. It is truly
ours. For the sake of Allah, I do not understand how it came all the
way to Mecca, or who brought it."
When the Aga's household heard
this, they marveled. The wife told how
John had asked for the plate saying that he would send it to Mecca, and
how they had laughed to hear him say that he had sent it. Behold, what
he had said was true! This miracle was soon made known to the whole
village and surrounding area, and from now on John was considered
righteous and beloved of God. No one any longer dared to bother the
holy one but rather looked upon him with fear and reverence. His
master and his master's wife esteemed him all the more, and entreated
him again to leave the stable and occupy a more comfortable dwelling.
Even so, John refused to change his residence and continued to live as
an ascetic, laboring as before to care for the animals and eagerly
obeying the commands of his master. Saint John spent his nights in
prayer and psalmody, according to the word of the Lord who says,
"Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the
things which are God's."
John approached the end of his
life after several years of fasting,
prayer, and sleeping on the ground. Falling ill, he lay on the straw in
the stable that he had sanctified with his sup-plications and
privations for the love of Christ who became man for us and was
crucified for our sake. Foreseeing his end, John called for a priest
and asked to partake of the immaculate Mysteries. Because of the
fanaticism of the Turks, the priest was afraid to openly bring the Holy
Mysteries into the stable. He was made wise with divine enlightenment
however, and, taking an apple, he dug the core out, lined the cavity
with beeswax, and placed the divine Communion inside. Thus he went to
the stable and gave Communion to blessed John. After receiving the
immaculate Body and Blood of the Lord, John surrendered his holy soul
into the hands of God whom he loved so much. The date of his falling
asleep was May 27, 1730. In this manner, then, reposed Saint John the
Russian, a new Job who passed his life upon a dungheap, a second
Lazarus who endured the mockings of his fellow servants and whose
wounds his master's dogs licked.
John was about forty years old at
the time of his repose. Because he
was beloved by God, the Lord brought John quickly near his throne that
he might suffer no more torment in this sinful world, and that he might
rejoice in the tents of the righ-teous where there is neither pain, nor
sorrow, nor sighing, but the untroubled sound of those that keep
festival and cry unceasingly, "0 Lord, glory to thee!" We should
recall the Prophet King Solomon's words on the death of a righteous
man, "He pleased God, and was beloved of him: so that living among
sinners he was translated. Yea, speedily was he taken away, lest that
wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul.
For the bewitching of wickedness doth obscure things that are honest;
and the wandering of concupiscence doth undermine the simple mind. He,
being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time: for his soul
pleased the Lord; therefore, hasted he to take him away from among the
wicked. This the people saw, and understood not, neither laid they up
this in their minds, that his grace and mercy is with his saints, and
that he hath respect unto his chosen (Wisdom 4:1014)."
Yes, the world lives carnally
seeking to please only the senses and
eating, drinking, revelling, and caring only for "the things of vanity
and the much afflicted flesh." The senses, together with tangible
things and delights of this world, were fashioned by God so that it is
no sin for a man to rejoice in this world. Even so, he should not be
consumed wholly by material things, but should take care also for the
things of the spirit, keeping in mind that in the temporary body there
dwells an immortal soul that, in the Lord's words, is as much more
honored and valued than the body as the body is held important than
its clothing. If a man truly believes this, he will take care for his
salvation and will be blessed in this would with the joy of a pure
conscience, and in the next (which is eternal) he will rejoice in the
bosom of Abraham. If he rejects God and his Word, he will become
wretched and unhappy, even though he acquires many possessions, great
worldly glory and honor. According to the words which the all-holy and
truthful Lord: For what will it profit a man if he wins the whole world
and loses his soul, or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
Thrice-blessed therefore is the
man who has treasured these words in
the depths of his heart, hearkening to them un-til his last breath,
conforming to them, and walking always ac-cording to them. Blessed and
thrice-blessed therefore was the holy John, whose memory we celebrate
today with great com-punction and spiritual joy. He knew few letters
and neither did he know the evils of the world. He lived far from
complex systems of humanistic rationalism, remaining simple, poor in
spirit, and therefore full of faith. The Holy Spirit dwelled in his
heart. Within a disdained and tyrannized body, within a quiet and
ragged slave, there burned the mystical spark of faith.
"The people saw, and understood
not, neither laid they up this in their
minds." For the carnal men around him were in-wardly dark like
extinguished lanterns, beholding the saint, they understood nothing
because they saw only with bodily eyes, not having-wretched as they
were-spiritual eyes for seeing the holy mystery of his life. They, with
earthly pride, considered him insane for preferring to sleep with
animals, for avoiding men, for fasting, for dressing in rags, for
silently en-during abuses and insults, and for not lifting his eyes to
the face of a woman. Who of the clever of this world would have
surmised that this "insane" person, this fool for Christ, was the
wisest of the wise because he possessed that foolishness in Christ that
makes manifest the revelation of great and terrible mysteries to him
who possesses such foolishness and bestows upon him the great hope of
immortality?
As we celebrate the feast of the
righteous John with psalms and hymns,
we are assured that the saint is at this moment among us living and
crying out, "Rejoice" in the midst of glory and effulgence. Where are
those who saddened and despised our holy John? Where are the mighty of
the earth? Where is the Muslim master of this slave who was yet free?
Where are the fearsome Jannisaries? Where are the Tartars who bound him
and beat him and sold him like an animal? They are dis-pelled like
morning mist and "their bones are scattered in hades," according to
David, the Prophet-King. The tombstone of oblivion has covered them.
In Jerusalem on high, the dwelling
of the First-born where there are
found the blessed souls of the saints who endured privation in this
world as to pass through "the narrow and af-flicted way that leadeth
unto life," there rejoices also the humble John whom we celebrate
today, brother to animals, new Job, and second Lazarus.
In the other life, those who
grieved the saint and those who indulged their passions are groaning.
Behold what the Prophet King Solomon says concerning the righteous man
and his persecutors, when they open their eyes after death, then shall
the righteous man stand in great boldness before the face of such as
have afflicted him, and made no account of his labors. When they see
it, they shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at
the strangeness of his salvation, so far beyond all that they looked
for. And they repenting and groan-ing for anguish of spirit shall say
within themselves, "This was he, who we held sometimes in derision, and
a proverb of re-proach; we fools accounted his life madness, and his
end to be without honour. Now is he numbered among the children of God,
and his lot is among the saints! Therefore have we erred from the way
of truth, and the light of righteousness hath not shined unto us, and
the sun of righteousness rose not upon us. We wearied ourselves in the
way of wickedness and destruction: yea, we have gone through deserts,
where there lay no way, but as for the way of the Lord, we have not
known it. What hath pride profited us, or what good hath riches with
our vaunting brought us? All those things are passed away like a
shadow, and as a post hasted by, and as a ship that passes over the
waves of the water, which when it gone by, the trace thereof cannot be
found, neither the pathway of the keel in the waves! Even so we in like
manner, as soon as we were born, began to draw to our end, and had our
wickedness. For the hope of the ungodly is like dust that is blown away
with the wind, like a thin froth that is driven away with the storm,
like as the smoke which is dispersed here and there with a tem-pest,
and passes away as the remembrance of a guest that tar-ries but a day
(Wisdom 5:1-14)."
These things will the lawless say
in the other world where the
right-judging Lord shall judge man. They will receive no benefit from
their change of heart after death for in hades there is no repentance.
Saint John the Russian reposed in the Lord and received the recompense
of the labors and toils that he endured for Christ, whom he loved more
than all corrupt and fleeting things so that now, wearing a crown in
heaven, he rejoices with the choirs of the saints and beholds in glory
the Prize-bestower, our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and
dominion and worship unto the ages of ages. Amen.
He
that hath called thee from earth unto the heavenly abodes doth even
after thy death keep thy body unharmed, O righteous one; for thou wast
carried off as a prisoner into Asia wherein also, O John, thou didst
win Christ as thy friend. Wherefore do thou beseech him that our
souls be saved.
The
holy memory, O righteous father, of thine illustrious contests hath
come today gladdening the souls of those who venerate thee with
reverence and faith, O John,
