St John the Russian, Prayers and Kindness Were His Only Accomplishments

What can we learn by reflecting on the life of St John the
Russian?
How can a slave become a saint?
How can a slave whose prayers are his only
accomplishment become a saint?
Could St John the Russian be considered a patron saint for
failures, according to the standards of the world?
This is the story behind the saint whose icon we display in
our small studio.

Please, we welcome interesting questions in the
comments. Let us learn and reflect together!
At the end of our talk, we will discuss the sources
used for this video. Feel free to follow along in the
PowerPoint script we uploaded to SlideShare.

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To be honest, if you search the internet you will find nobody else
who claims that St John the Russian is the patron saint of failures.
That is what has attracted him to me, I have not had much
business success since I am too guileless to be a good salesman
and have never asked a boss for a raise in my life.
This reminds me of something I heard in the videos for our
DivorceCare support group. They said that even if you are
divorced, God still has a plan for you. This struck me as odd that
they would need to say it this way, because so long as you can be
kind to somebody tomorrow, of course your life has purpose.
How much more complicated can living a godly life be?

https://www.divorcecare.org/
Please, if you anyone who is facing divorce, let them know support is available.

https://www.catholicsdivorce.com/
Please, if you anyone who is facing divorce, let them know support is available.

This was the same theme in another favorite book of
mine, a life changing book, Man’s Search for
Meaning. The psychologist Viktor Frankl tells of his
struggles to survive the Auschwitz work camps under
the Nazis, how even when you live under the most
dehumanizing conditions, you can still find meaning
in life by being kind to others, by finding meaning in
serving others, whether that be those who you love,
or your neighbors, or your career that gives to others.

The church in the thumbnail is the Holy Shrine of St
John the Russian in Greece, where most of his relics
currently reside. If you access their website, they
have the exhibits in their small museum dedicated to
St John the Russian and history of Orthodoxy in the
Ottoman Empire.

St John the Russian was born around 1890 in Little Russia and served as a
simple soldier in Peter the Great’s army, fighting in the Russo-Turkish War
in 1710. He was captured during battle, but rather than being executed,
which was the practice during ancient times, he was sold into slavery,
serving as a house servant for the head of the Turkish Calvary, or Agha,
on his farm in Cappadocia in central Turkey. Although he was treated like
a slave, house slaves are generally, though not always, treated better
than field slaves or industrial or mining slaves, though women slaves
always were helpless against sexual abuse.
Many of the enslaved Russian soldiers converted to Islam, hoping for
better treatment, but St John refused to deny Christ by converting. In
response, the Muslims and his master beat him and tortured him, but he
was not swayed, enduring these humiliations.

Fight near Telish, by Wiktor Mazurowski, 1877. We could not find paintings of earlier Russo-Ottoman wars.

St John was assigned to live and work in the stables, grooming
the horses, serving his master in the summer heat and the winter
snow. He was mocked by his fellow slaves for his hard work, but
this, and his kind nature and gentle soul, won over the hearts of
the Agha and his family. Soon his kindness and industriousness
helped his master’s farm to prosper.
St Paul in Galatians instructs slaves to work for their masters as if
they were working for Christ himself. Some commentators apply
this verse to the current day, saying that employees should work
for their bosses with diligence and cheer.

St John led a life of prayer, often praying in secret in
the cave church of St George, often reciting the
Psalms next to the horses in his stable, taking Holy
Communion every Saturday. Despite his poverty, he
helped the needy and sick, sharing with them his
meager rations.

Miracle of the Rice Pilaf in Meccan Hajj
Pilgrims performing Tawaf around Kaaba during Muslim Hajj in Mecca

Due to his prosperity, his master the Agha was able to travel to Mecca as
a pilgrim to perform the Hajj. While he was away, his wife invited their
friends and relatives to a banquet. St John was serving and set a piping
hot dish of rice pilaf on the table, his master’s favorite dish. When his
wife wished that her husband were home to share this favorite dish, St
John asked for a dish to send it to him in Mecca. Everyone laughed,
thinking he would give the rice to some poor Christians, so they gave him
a dish heaping with rice pilaf. St John took the dish into the stables,
prayed to God to send it to his master, and the dish promptly
disappeared. He returned, saying the dish had been sent to his master.

In Mecca, at the end of the day, when the Agha
unlocked his room, he was astonished to see a piping
hot dish of rice pilaf! What was even more surprising
was that his monogram was etched on his plate,
which he recognized. This astonishment was shared
by those in the village when he brought the strange
plate home, with his monogram, with his strange
story. They had assumed St John had sold the dish for
alms.

The Kaaba at al-
Haram Mosque
during the start of
Hajj

Living a Quiet, Prayerful Life of Obscurity

His master offered St John a small house to live in, but our saint
preferred to live in humility in the stables, leading a life of prayer,
chanting the psalms, with only an old coat for cover against the
cold night. Toward the end of his life, falling ill, he summoned the
priest to receive Holy Communion. Fearful of the Turks, he
brought the Eucharist hidden in an apple. He was buried by the
Church of St George. When the Greeks were expelled from
Turkey in 1924, his relics were brought to their new home in
Euboea, which is an island east of Athens. His right hand is in the
Russian monastery on Mt Athos.

https://oir.gr/?lang=en
Prokopi, Evia, Greece
Somewhat Nearby:
Ancient Greek Delphi Temple
Call Center: +30 2227041462
+30 2227041209 (ext.1)
Fax: +30 2227041308
email: naos@oir.gr
Hours of operation of
the Holy Temple:
Winter season: 7:00 – 19:00
Summer season: 7:00 – 21:00

If Muslims convert, they risk certain execution,
especially in this early time, so there is no record that
St John the Russian converted anyone. There are
accounts of miraculous healings and event after his
death, but during his life his kindness and prayers
were his only accomplishments.

Our sources include pages on St John the Russian in
Wikipedia, and also on the OCA, or Orthodox Church of
America page, and also the website for the Holy Shrine of
St John the Russian on the island of Euboea in Greece.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Russian

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/1999/05/27/101545-saint-john-the-russian-and-confessor-whose-relics-are-on-the-isl

https://oir.gr/saint-john-the-russian/a-brief-life-of-saint-john-the-russian/?lang=en

We found many of the St John the Russian icons on the
Orthodoxy Mystagogy website.
Orthodox practice differs from Catholic practice in that
Orthodox devout can be declared saints without proving
they performed miracles. However, there are numerous
delightful miracles attributed to the relics and intervention
of St John the Russian, including miraculous healings and
anonymous appearances which are listed on this website.
Enjoy!

https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/search?q=john+the+russian

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