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| St. John of Konitsa (Feast Day - September 23) |
By Protopresbyter Fr. George Papavarnavas
The Holy New Martyr John lived in the 18th and early 19th centuries AD. He was born in Konitsa, Epirus, to Muslim parents. His father was a Dervish and held the rank of Sheikh. At the age of twenty, he also entered the religious order of the Dervishes. After living for several years in Ioannina, he then went to Vrachori in Aetolia, today's Agrinio, and lived in a house called the Musallim Serai.
We do not know the processes that took place in his inner world and contributed to his life being completely transformed and changed. That is, he suddenly threw off the garments of a Dervish, dressed like a Christian and went to Ithaca, where he was baptized and took the name John. Then he returned to Aetolia, and specifically to the village of Mahalas. There he married and practiced the profession of a field guard. His father, when he learned of these events, sent people to convince him to return to Islam. John chased them away and was then arrested by Muselimi of Vrachori. He confessed his faith in Christ with boldness and courage and, despite the inhuman torture, remained steadfast and unwavering. Then, because they could not bend his brave spirit, they beheaded him on September 23, 1814, and thus he delivered his holy soul into the hands of Christ, whom he loved deeply. The Christians buried his sacred tabernacle on a farm in Vrachori. Later, his sacred relics were brought back, which were deposited in the crypt of the Sacred Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos Prousos in Evrytania, and were discovered on January 4, 1974.
His life and his behavior give us the opportunity to emphasize the following:
First, the Grace of God, when active in the soul of man, transforms him and leads him to repentance, that is, to a change of lifestyle. Because, as His Eminence Metropolitan of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou, Hierotheos, emphasizes, faith in the living God of the Church is not an abstract ideology, but is a way of life, which leads to healing from passions and to communion with the living God. And he says that the Church is not a religion, but is the real Body of Christ, and possesses “all truth,” which the Son and Word of God revealed to the Prophets, the Apostles, and the Saints, among whom there is unity of faith and identity of experiences. He also emphasizes that all the appearances and revelations of God to the Prophets and Righteous of the Old Testament are appearances and revelations of the Son and Word of God, pre-incarnate. While the appearance and revelation of God the Word to the Apostles, in the New Testament, is “in the flesh,” since “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” That is, the Son and Word of God, “by extreme condescension,” became incarnate, as we confess in the Symbol of Faith, “by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary.” And this is a great mystery, as the Apostle Paul emphasizes, who writes to his disciple Timothy that “we confess that great is the mystery of piety: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.”
Therefore, the teaching of the Church is not a human discovery, but a revelation of God, while the various religions are human constructions, which cannot heal man from his passions and grant him inner fullness and meaning of life. This is why well-intentioned and "anxious" people - who are not satisfied with the various religions and ideologies, which as human constructs cannot satisfy man's deepest desire to experience true life - seek the true God, and to the extent of their capacity they accept the Grace of God and experience the good "transformation," which according to the Prophet David is the work of "the right hand of the Most High." And when “divine Grace” floods the existence of man, then, according to the sacred hymnographer, this man “shineth and illuminates transformed,” since he experiences the good, “pure and most dignified transformation” and is spiritually reborn. That is, the “old man, corrupted by the desires of deceit,” dies and the new man is “born,” “renewed in the image of Him who created him,” who perfumes “the whole world,” since he spreads around him the “myrrh” of love, which in its authentic form is sacrifice, offering, and martyrdom. And the reborn man is a blessing, consolation, strength and support for his fellow men, and especially the poor and suffering, the "least brethren of Christ."
Second, man is created by God to live forever. The various ideologies and religions limit him to the "here and now," and then he suffocates, unable to breathe the oxygen of true freedom and selfless love. In human constructions there is no love and freedom, but man is bound and trapped in space and time. And if he wants to break his bonds and fly free, like a soaring eagle, towards the true God who created him and whom his soul seeks, this may cost him exile, persecution, and martyrdom. However, this will be his eternal glory.
Man, no matter how many positions and material goods he acquires, in the end remains unsatisfied, because what he truly desires is to conquer death and live forever. However, how can we achieve this? According to Saint Sophrony the Athonite, “we can overcome the death that has struck us only if we become the dwelling place of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And if God is not with us, then we are powerless in the darkness and the power of death.” However, “in order to follow Christ, as He tells us, we must indeed be ready to endure every sorrow and illness, all possible sufferings.” And he who endures is glorified by God, “with glory that is unfading.”
The salvation of man is indeed a great mystery, which takes place in his inner world, in the “inner man,” in the “hidden man of the heart,” which is hidden from the eyes of many, the “uninitiated,” like the lava inside a volcano. However, when this volcano erupts, it does not burn, but cools, sanctifies, and perfumes “the whole world” with “the myrrh of sanctification.”
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
