John the Russian

John of Euboea, Ioannis tu Rosu or John the Russian (* 1690; Ukraine; † 27 Maijul / June 7 1730greg, Prokopion (today:. . Urgup ) in Kayseri, Turkey ) is a Russian saint, whose remains on the island of Euboea are entombed.

Life

John was a farm boy from the Ukraine and adopted on 3 Russian Turkish War ( 1710-1711 ) as a soldier in the campaign of Peter the Great against Turkey part. He got into Turkish captivity. On a slave market he bought after the tradition of a Turkish cavalry officer and, today, brought to Prokopion Urgup near Caesarea, where there was a location of Janissary.

In contrast to the other captured comrade John was not converted to Islam, but remained Orthodox Christian: At night he had the Psalms of David sung in the horse barn in the Slavonic language, as was the custom in the Orthodox Church.

His grave became a place of pilgrimage. 1924 came expelled from Turkey Christian Greeks with the ship Vasilios " Destounis " to Euboea. The residents of the Holy Prokopion embedded in a silver shrine created for this purpose and led him into the new Prokopion, today Prokopi in Kireas, in Euboea. From 1930 to 1951 a large church was built in his honor, where his body was kept in a shrine.