Two Miracles of Saint John the Russian Recounted from an Encyclical Issued in 1978

 

Metropolitan Chrysostomos I of Chalkis standing over the sacred relic of St. John the Russian

Metropolitan Chrysostomos I of Chalkis, in his encyclical no. 1609/17-11-1978 addressed to the most reverend parish priests and the pious Christians of the Holy Metropolis, made known the following two miracles of Saint John the Russian.

1) “... Last winter, a Greek ship in the North Sea, heavily loaded with cargo, was sailing toward a port in the Low Countries. In the middle of the sea they were struck by a terrible cyclone. The radar stopped functioning. At any moment the ship was about to sink. The captain, an experienced sailor, saw clearly that there was truly no hope of salvation.

Someone had once told him that there exists an incorrupt saint, Saint John the Russian is his name, who grants whatever one asks of him with faith. The captain remembered this, and amid the storm of destruction he prayed to the Saint John unknown to him and said to him:

‘Great Saint of God, whom I have never known, tonight I pray to you, not to save myself, though I am the captain, not for the ship that costs millions, but I pray for these suffering sailors who left their homeland in order to support their poor families and who at this moment are drowning. Come, Saint of God, and hold the ship fast so that it may not be lost in the depths of the sea.’

Synaxarion of Venerable John the Russian and the New Confessor

Synaxarion

By Monk Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis

On the twenty-seventh day of the same month [May], we commemorate the Venerable John the Russian, the New Confessor, whose divine relic, having been brought from Asia Minor, is preserved incorrupt in New Prokopi on the island of Euboea.

Verses

The captive appeared full of graces,
Having taken captive the ruler of darkness.
On the twenty-seventh John was taken from here unto God.

This man lived in the eighteenth century, having been born in a certain village of what is called Little Russia, from pious parents, by whom he was raised in a God-loving manner in piety and honorable morals. Having reached manhood, he entered military service during the reign in Russia of Peter the Great, who, having undertaken war against the Turks, was defeated, and very many of the soldiers became captives to the neighboring Tatars, among whom was also John. Having been sold to a certain Ottoman cavalry commander, he was led by him to a certain town whose name was Prokopion, situated a day’s journey from Caesarea in Cappadocia.

Venerable John the Russian in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Russia may boast of its remarkable offspring, Saint John; Asia Minor may exalt because in its land the holiness of the Venerable Father was manifested; New Prokopi on the island of Euboea may shine radiantly because there his grace-flowing relic came to rest; yet all the faithful throughout the whole earth celebrate the great Venerable New Confessor. And this is because our saints are the boast and blessing of all the Orthodox everywhere on earth. A saint, that is, may have been “bound” to a certain place while he lived in this life, yet in the end he belongs to the whole Church, which means that every believer can regard the saint as his own, can have him as friend and protector, brother and father. The good Hymnographer of the Venerable one, the sacred teacher Joseph from Kermeira of Cappadocia, repeatedly comes and emphasizes this truth to us through his service:

“Rejoice, most excellent offspring of Russia and honored praise of all the faithful without exception” (Lity).

“Your homeland Russia boasts of your swaddling clothes, while the Asiatic land rejoices in your holy relic” (Second Apolytikion).

Yet: “Come then, all you Orthodox, let us celebrate his divine memory” (Doxastikon of the Lity).

Testimony of a Miracle of Saint John the Russian from 1862

The following miracle is described in the Service composed in honor of Saint John the Russian from 1897 by Hieromonk Dionysios, who was an eyewitness and even a first-hand witness as a student of the Greek School mentioned in Prokopi of Asia Minor, which was located next to the Church of Saint Basil. We quote his testimony verbatim:

“In the year 1862, on Saturday, still early in the morning, when the bloodless sacrifice was being performed in the above-mentioned Holy Temple of our Holy Father Basil, a pious woman told the women present in the temple that, yesterday in a dream, she had seen Saint John, coming out of his larnax in a hurry, and holding in both hands the roof of the Greek School, which was about to collapse. While she was saying this, suddenly a great crash and noise was heard, and all the congregation immediately left the temple, and I saw indeed that the entire roof of the school collapsed and crushed the assembled former students. Everyone ran away with lamentations and cries, and immediately raised the heavy roof that had collapsed, and they pulled out the twenty students buried and crushed under it, miraculously alive and completely healthy! The students were asked how this happened to them and how they were saved from such danger? They replied that, 'suddenly hearing the severe and violent creaking of the roof beams and seeing the imminent danger to us all as if by a signal and as if led by an invisible hand, we immediately went down under the desks, in fear and terror and utter despair.' It is then written, 'The roof fell on us with a crash, and the rafters of the roof were supported with so much material, on the weak benches, and we, remaining under them, completely unharmed and unaffected, were preserved beyond expectation.' And thus, by the grace of God, and the invisible supervision of our Holy Father John, so many innocent creatures were saved at that time, who, having grown to manhood, have benefited, as they do now, the aforementioned school and our homeland.”

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

The Missing Right Hand of Saint John the Russian Found and Returned After 100 Years

The sacred relic of St. John the Russian with its missing right hand replaced with a golden effigy.

The year 2024 marks the 100th anniversary since the relics of Saint John the Russian were brought from Prokopi of Cappadocia to New Prokopi in Evia, by refugees who did not want to leave their beloved Saint behind. On Wednesday, May 15th 2024, in celebration of the 100th anniversary, Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Halkidos revealed to the faithful that the missing right hand of Saint John the Russian, which was considered lost for decades, has been found. He also revealed that on the feast of the Saint, Monday the 27th of May, the right hand would be reunited with the incorrupt body of the Saint.

It appears that a portion of the right palm and fingers of the Saint were kept by a family from Cappadocia for 100 years. This family today, who are two siblings of the third generation that descended from the original owners from Cappadocia, decided with the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the relics of the Saint to Evia, to return it where it came from for a reunion with the body of the Saint, at the prompting of their spiritual father. Despite the personal loss of the relic, and the miracles they have witnessed through it, they attended the event of the reunion and knew it was the right decision. Up until now, a golden effigy of a right hand has been used as a replacement.

The Miraculous Events Behind the Changing of the Vestments of Saint John the Russian

The wonderworking and incorrupt relics of Saint John the Russian were brought from Prokopi in Asia Minor to New Prokopi in Evia in October 1924 by Greek refugees. A beautiful temple was built in New Prokopi to house these relics beginning in 1930 and it was completed in 1951. This is when the Saint came to reside in his new home and he has remained there since. Today it is one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in Greece, due to the many miracles still performed there to those who hasten to it with faith.

The silver and glass coffin of the Saint never opens unless there is a reason to do so, and this usually takes place when the Saint indicates for it to be done. This is done when the vestments of the Saint are ready to be changed. It happens in the following manner, according to the narration of Father John Vernezous:

"The Saint himself asks us to change his vestments. Then we can also open the coffin. The coffin does not open whenever we want, but when the Saint wants.

How does he notify us about the changing of his vestments? Well, he comes, for example, to a good soul and says to them in their sleep (in different places, in New York, in Australia, in Thessaloniki), 'Come and greet me, I am John from Russia, come to my church and tell the priest the time has come to change my robes.' This is how it happened in 1937, in 1955, and in 1977 when I became a recipient. I got the information from the faithful.

In 2005 the Saint again asked for a change of vestments after 28 years that had passed since 1977.

I have been here for 43 years as a clergyman and three years before as a layman, a total of 46 years and we have seen thousands and millions of believers pass in front of Saint John.

What do we have to testify? What did we see in the changes? The shocking thing as we said is that he informs us himself! Thus he said to a girl:

'Come see my pillow that will be full of tears. We weep for you young people. We pray especially for you to God to support you.'

When in 1977 we opened and saw the pillow it was completely clean, but here next to the eyes it was wet with a big stain from tears.

We saw the whole head of the Saint moving, with His Eminence and the other priests.

It was shocking! 

 

We take the coffin and come to two tables and place the Saint there. God Himself has respected, honored, graced and glorified this relic, having bestowed on him the gift of incorruption until the Second Coming."

On Thursday the 18th of April 2024, the relics of the Saint had their vestments changed once again, behind closed doors, privately and unannounced, by the local bishop and priests with prayer and fasting, during the night when pilgrims are no longer allowed to enter. According to Father John Markos, the priest of the church in New Prokopi, Saint John the Russian recently appeared to 35 different people around the world, informing them to tell the priest of his church in New Prokopi that the time had come to once again change his robes. This time he specifically requested that his vestments be white and decorated with roses. Previous times the vestments had been blue. These previous vestments are cut into pieces and distributed to the faithful.

It should be noted that this year, 2024, marks the 100th anniversary of the transfer of the relics of the Saint from Asia Minor to Greece. In honor of this, many events have been planned, especially for May 27th, which is the feast of the Saint. The calendar of events can be seen here.