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John the New of Suceava - OrthodoxWiki: http://orthodoxwiki.org/John_the_New_of_Suceava
The holy, glorious and right-victorious Great-martyr John the New of
Suceava (Romanian: Sf. Mare Mucenic Ioan cel Nou de la Suceava), was a
Romanian saint of the 14th century. His feast days are celebrated on
June 2 and June 24.
Life
St. John was born in Trebizond in Asia Minor in about 1300 to devout
Orthodox parents. His father was a merchant and John followed in his
footsteps. On a trading trip to Cetatea Albă, then part of Moldova but
now Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyy in the Ukraine, he got to know a Venetian
merchant named Reiz whilst they were sailing on the Black Sea. They
discussed the faith many times and, seeing that John always defeated
his arguments, the Venetian decided to take revenge.
On arriving in Cetatea Albă, Reiz spread a rumor that John, despite
being raised Christian, was interested in the Muslim faith. Cetatea
Albă at that time had been conquered by Muslim Tartars, and when their
ruler heard the rumor he called for John. He was taken before the
ruler and asked if it was true that he wished to deny the Christian
faith and become a Muslim. He responded that he would never give up
his faith in the true God in order to worship created things or the
inventions of men. This response offended the Tartar ruler, who
ordered John to renounce his faith on pain of torture. He refused to
do so, enduring many beatings, and was eventually martyred by being
dragged behind a horse through the streets of the city before having
his head struck off by a 'fanatical Jew'. The year was 1330 and John
was only about 30 years old.
On hearing of his death, Reiz resolved to dig up the body of the
martyr and steal it as a further act of revenge, but the Orthodox
priest in the city had a dream in which John who informed him of this
crime and asked him to bring his body to the Orthodox Church. This was
the first miracle of the great martyr. For years his relics were kept
in Cetatea Albă, where they became famous for healings and other
miracles, but eventually Prince (Voievod) Alexander the Good
(Alexandru cel Bun) heard of the martyr's relics and, at the urging of
Metropolitan Joseph (Iosif) Muşat of Moldova, arranged to have them
brought to his capital, Suceava, on June 24, 1402. John's incorrupt
relics have been kept at the monastery bearing his name in that city
until the present.
St. John the New is one of the most venerated saints in Moldova, and
many miracles are associated with his relics.
