John of Euboea

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John of Euboea

John of Euboea , Ioannis tu Rosu or John the Russian ( Ukrainian Йоан Руський , * around 1690 in Ukraine ; † 27 May July / 7 June  1730 greg. In Prokopion (today: Ürgüp ) near Kayseri , Turkey ) is a Saint of the Greek Orthodox Church, whose bones are now buried on the island of Evia .

Life

Johannes was a peasant boy from the Ukraine and took part in the 3rd Russian Turkish War (1710–1711) as a soldier in Peter I's campaign against Turkey. He was taken prisoner by the Turks . According to tradition, it was bought at a slave market by a Turkish equestrian officer and taken to Prokopion, today Urgup, near Caesarea Cappadociae (Kayseri) in Cappadocia , where the Janissaries were based.

In contrast to the other captured war comrades, John did not convert to Islam , but remained an Orthodox Christian: at night he sang the Psalms of David in the Slavic language in the horse stable , as was customary in his Orthodox Church .

Ürgüp, Johannes der Russe-Kirche, built in 1834 or 1868, historical photograph (1914)

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His grave in Ürgüp developed into a place of pilgrimage . In 1924 the Christian Greeks expelled from Turkey reached Euboea on the ship Vasilios “Destounis”. The residents of Prokopion laid the saint in a silver shrine created for this purpose and brought him to the new Prokopion, today Prokopi, near Kireas , on Evia. From 1930 to 1951 a large church was built in his honor, where his body is kept in a shrine.

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personal data
SURNAME John of Euboea
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ioannis do Rosu; John the Russian; Йоан Руськийн (Ukrainian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION ukrainian orthodox saint
DATE OF BIRTH around 1690
PLACE OF BIRTH Ukraine
DATE OF DEATH June 7, 1730
Place of death Prokopion (today: Ürgüp ) near Kayseri , Turkey