John of Konitsa

John of Konitsa was a young man born a Muslim, a sheikh's son, who received Baptism and was beheaded for Christ at Vrachori (today Agrinio) in Aetolia on 23 September 1814. He is honoured as a new martyr and is commemorated on 23 September. He has no known canonization.

He was born in 1785 at Konitsa, a place then inhabited by Albanian Muslims. His parents were Muslims, and his father was a dervish and sheikh. At twenty he too joined the order of dervishes, since there were several tekes at Konitsa. He moved to Ioannina and then to Vrachori in Aetolia, where the pasha, Haznatar Isufaravos, was a friend of his father. The pasha made him his personal dervish and he rose in rank, fighting in a battle of the Turks against the Russians in the region of the Ionian Islands.

In the fighting he came into contact with many Orthodox Christians and decided to become a Christian himself. He took off his dervish clothing and asked for Baptism, but no one dared to baptize him for fear. The pasha was transferred, and John did not follow him. Unable to be baptized at Vrachori, he went to the island of Ithaca, where he was baptized and received the name John. Returning to the mainland he married an Orthodox woman and became a field guard, avoiding Muslims as much as he could.

His father learned of his son's "apostasy" and sent two dervishes to urge him to return to Islam, but they failed because of his firm faith. The news spread in the village, and the local Muslims denounced him. The muselim of Vrachori sent soldiers to arrest him. Asked who he was, John answered: "I am an Orthodox Christian and my name is John." The muselim reminded him that he was the young dervish, the son of the sheikh of Konitsa. "Yes, I am," said John, "but now I am an Orthodox Christian and I will die an Orthodox Christian." The muselim urged him to repent and return, promising him honour. John rejected the appeal.

For this confession he was sentenced to be beheaded. Before the execution he asked that his hands be untied, and this was allowed. He made the sign of the Cross and said: "Lord, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom," then bent his head. This took place beside a tree at the church of St Demetrios in Agrinio, which stands to this day. The muselim would not treat him as either Muslim or Christian and did not allow him to be buried in any cemetery. His head and body were thrown into a stream. Influential Christians bribed the aga and obtained permission to bury him, without any service, in a field.

His skull and relics were brought, between 1814 and 1821, to the Monastery of Prousos in Evrytania by the priest Cyril Kastanophyllis, and hidden. In time the place was forgotten. On 4 January 1974 the monks opened a crypt and an indescribable fragrance filled the room. Inside they found a skull and the relics of an unknown saint, and then a tile with the inscription: "Jesus Christ conquers. Here is the former Ottoman John, martyred for Christ at Vrachori in 1814, on 23 September." The finding of the relics is celebrated every year on 4 January. Near the tree of his martyrdom a small chapel of the saint was founded in 1983, where the feast is kept with the relics brought for a few days.