Saint John the Russian

John the Russian (Russian: Иоанн Русский; c. 1690 – 9 June [O.S. 27 May] 1730) was a Russian Orthodox slave who is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Being a prisoner of war and a slave to a Turkish Ağa, he became famous and respected even by his Muslim master for his humility, steadiness in faith and benevolence. His holy relics are claimed to be incorrupt and wonderworking; there are traditions that this saint particularly helps sick children and those who suffer from cancer. John the Russian was born around 1690 in the Cossack Hetmanate, in the Russian Tsardom. Having come of age, he was recruited in the army of Peter the Great and took part in the Russo-Turkish War (1710–1711). During the war, he was taken prisoner and sold as a slave to the head of the Ottoman cavalry who lived in Ürgüp in Cappadocia (modern-day central Turkey). Because he refused to convert to Islam, John was humiliated and tormented by the Ottoman Turks, who called him a gavur (unbeliever). But as time passed, the mockery stopped because of John's steadiness of faith, humility and diligence and eventually John won the respect of his master and his household. He worked as a groom and lived in the stables. Other slaves mocked him for working zealously but he didn't take offence, trying instead to help and comfort them in their need. For his kind-heartedness, John earned the love and trust of the Ağa who offered to let him live as a free man in a separate house. However, John refused, saying: "My patron is Lord, and no one is above Him. He predestined me to live as a slave in a foreign land; seems, it must be so for my salvation". During the day John worked and prayed, keeping a strict fast, but when the night came, he used to go in secret to the cave-church of St. George, where he said the prayers of the All-Night Vigil. Every Saturday he used to take Holy Communion.