Euboea - Temple of St. right John the Russian

In the morning after breakfast we will take a bus to the Euboea island. On Euboea in Neo Prokopion we will visit the temple of  John the Russian, where the relics of this saint of the 18th century rest. St. John the Russian is deeply revered both in Greece and in Russia. From his relics many miracles occur today.

Since 1924 this place became known throughout Greece and in the Orthodox world as the resting place of the holy relics of St. John the Russian, who died during Turkish slavery. This saint is loved by not only the Orthodox of the whole world; it is revered by the Turks also.

St. John was a soldier of the Russian army, performing under the Peter flag in the Turkish campaign of 1711. Twenty-one years old, a peasant by birth, he like many others was captured by the Turks. The rest of his life he was destined to live as a slave in a foreign land. One of the chiefs of the Turkish cavalry, who lived in Prokopion village, bought the captured soldier Ivan at the slave market. They tried to force the newly acquired slave to convert to Islam. But the Russian soldier firmly answered the master that he would rather die than renounce his Faith. And if they do not interfere with the practice of his faith, then he will willingly obey all orders. The owner was surprised by John’s hardness. John was taking care of horses and soon became a chief of master's stable. The owners loved their servant and provide him with a room in their own house, but John preferred to sleep in the stable, where nothing interfered with his ascetic lifestyle and prayer.

Not far from the house was a small Orthodox church, erected in honor of St. George. Here in the  temple John spent all night in prayer, and every Saturday he received Holy Communion. Once the owner went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. His wife, having learned that her husband had safely reached Mecca, made a thank-you feast in the village. Remembering that her husband loves pilaf, which was served at the festival she expressed regret that her husband could not try it. John who was serving at the feast went up to the mistress and asked for a plate of pilaf for the owner. Everyone around laughed, but the hostess fulfilled the request of the servant. John carried the plate to the stable, knelt down and began to earnestly pray to God. And soon the plate disappeared. A few weeks later the owner returned. He said that when he was in Mecca the same day when  there was a feast in Prokopion, returning from the mosque, he found a plate of hot pilaf in his room. He came closer and gasped - the plate was from his house, as indicated by the engraved initials. He brought a plate in confirmation of words back home to show household members. Everyone was amazed; this miracle became known throughout the village. They began to talk about John as about a man of God.

John at the age of forty fell ill. Anticipating his imminent demise, he asked to invite a priest, since he himself could no longer walk. Communion of the Holy Mysteries, John of Russia peacefully died on May 27, 1730.

Three years later, the villagers saw a mysterious light above his grave. And John himself appeared in a dream to the local priest, who had communed the patient for the last time, and said that his body had not undergone decay. And what God wants is to be revered as relics. Both Christians and Muslims reverently removed the imperishable relics of the saint from the earth. They were transferred to the village church of St. George, and later they built a large church in honor of John the Russian, where they remained until 1924, then they were transferred to Euboea during an exchange of population.

Today in the village of Neo Prokopio there is a temple in honor of John the Russian, where his imperishable relics are stored. Thousands of pilgrims came from all over the world to receive the help of saint. The priest, Pater Ioannis, who is serving in the church, carefully “collects” miracles that occur through the prayers of the afflicted to the saint. The book of Father John is translated into Russian and with each reprint is replenished with new stories about the healing of incurable diseases and the explicit help of the saint. By lunchtime we will return to Athens.