Martyr John the New (+1526)
The holy Martyr John the New (+1526) was born in Greece, in the city of Ioannina. After being orphaned Saint John went to Constantinople. With the money his parents had left him he bought a small shop in the city market and took up a craft.
Saint John was hard-working, carried out every order honestly, and his business did well, but his soul yearned for the Kingdom of Heaven.
Saint John lived in a hard time. Constantinople had been conquered by the Turks, and Christians were severely persecuted. Many Christian craftsmen and merchants became Muslims. Saint John firmly held to the true faith and reproached the apostates, for which they came to hate the saint and plotted his ruin. John knew this but was not afraid, for, burning with the desire to suffer for Christ, he himself sought death for Christ.
On Great Friday Saint John went to his spiritual father and asked his blessing for the struggle of martyrdom. The priest advised the young man to test himself and to prepare for martyrdom with prayer and fasting. Saint John fervently besought the Lord to strengthen him. On Great Saturday the saint saw in his sleep that he was standing on a fiery cloud, glorifying the Lord with hymns. He took this vision as a call, received the holy Body and Blood of the Lord, and again asked his spiritual father for a blessing.
When Saint John came to the market, the craftsmen began to reproach him for his Christianity. In reply the saint declared aloud that he was a Christian and would never deny his faith. Then the traitors to the faith denounced the holy martyr to the court. The judges tried to win him over, but Saint John firmly held to his confession. For several days the saint was mercilessly beaten, and then he was sentenced to be burned. Saint John received the sentence with joy, and with joy climbed onto the blazing pyre. But the executioners took him out of the fire and beheaded him, and threw his body back into the fire.
The Christians gathered the saint’s bones and reverently buried them in a church.
