New Martyr John of Monemvasia

Saint John was born in 1758 near the city of Monemvasia. His father was a priest from Geraki, and his mother was from the neighboring village of Gouves. It was in Gouves that John's father was assigned as a priest, and there John was born. From a young age John tried to emulate his father by helping him work in the church. He was known for his exemplary behavior, and referred to by other children as the "priest's son."

In the year 1770 the army of the Albanian Hatzi Osman defeated the Greek resistance, and arriving in Monemvasia they killed John's father and enslaved both him and his mother. They were taken to Larisa, where they were sold separately two or three times.

After two years they were bought by the same man, a Turkish landowner. This Turk had no children, and recognizing John's good qualities (he was exceptionally intelligent for his age, obedient, and a hard worker), the man wanted to adopt John after converting him to Islam. Every day they tried to persuade him to abandon the Christian Faith and become a Turk. Initially, they used flattery and promises, but later they used terrible tortures to overcome John's steadfastness (he was only 15 years old), but he remained unwavering in his Christian faith.

One day his master, tired of trying to convince him to convert, and in anger led him to the courtyard of the mosque. Many Muslims were gathered there, and with blows and terrible threats they urged him to convert and become a Turk. John's response was clear: "I am not a Turk, I am a Christian and I shall die as a Christian."

In addition, the Turk and his wife tried every day with magic and evil spells to make the Saint lose his mind and give in to carnal desires, and then to become a Turk. But John remained pure, for the grace of Christ protected him from all of the diabolical devices of the Turk's wife.

Soon came the fifteen days of fasting before the Dormition of the Theotokos. The Turk realized that John did not wish to break the fast, so he locked him up in a barn. He kept him there for the entire fifteen days and hung him up, lighting a fire in the straw beneath him to cause smoke, and struck him with the flat of his sword, all the while trying to make him eat their abominable foods and break the fast. But Saint John did not even taste the food, but prayed to the Mother of God, in whose honor the Fast is observed, asking her to help him keep the fast, for he preferred to die rather than break his fast.

The master, seeing that he remained unconvinced, left him without food for two and three days at a time. His mother, seeing him weakened by the tortures and the fasting, tried to convince him to give in, saying: "Eat these foods, my son, so that you do not perish. God and the Panagia will forgive you, because you would not be doing this voluntarily, but out of necessity. Pity me, your poor mother. Do not die and leave me alone in this foreign land, for by having you here, I feel as if I am not a slave."

John replied: "Why are you doing this, Mother, and why are you crying? Why don't you emulate the Patriarch Abraham, who for the love of God wanted to sacrifice his only son, yet you only cry and weep. I am a priest's son and I should be keeping the laws and customs of our Church more than the sons of laymen, for if we don't keep the small things [of the faith], how can we keep the larger things?"

Soon after this response the furious Turk stabbed him in the heart on October 19, 1773. After two days Saint John died and received the crown of martyrdom.

Saint John's skull and portions of his hand and feet are located at the Zermbitsa Monastery in Sparta, and other portions of his relics are in the churches of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste in Larisa and Voulkanou Monastery in Messenia.