John of Vilnius

Holy Martyr John of Vilnius (the Lithuanian) is commemorated together with his fellow martyrs Anthony and Eustathius, who served at the court of the grand prince of Lithuania Olgerd (1345-1377). Worldly calculations led Olgerd to approach Christianity, so that by marrying the Orthodox princess of Vitebsk, Maria Yaroslavna († 1346), he could widen his possessions. At first the prince supported the Orthodox faith: he allowed the preaching of the priest Nestor, the princess's spiritual father, and let several churches be built, two at Vitebsk and one at Vilnius, in the name of the Holy Martyr Paraskeva. Father Nestor turned to Orthodoxy several pagan Lithuanian courtiers, among them two brothers of the local nobility, Nezhilo and Kumets, named at Holy Baptism Anthony and John. After the death of his wife, Olgerd, under the pressure of the pagan Lithuanian priests, renounced Christianity and again bowed to idols. Saints Anthony and John went on keeping all Christian rules, among others they did not eat meat on fast days, and the priests demanded that the prince punish them. Olgerd urged them to renounce Christianity, but the brothers did not change their faith, and the prince, angered, ordered them thrown into prison.

In prison

A whole year the brothers suffered in captivity. The younger, Saint Anthony, endured manfully, but John, the elder, could not hold out and told the prince in secret, without his brother's knowledge, that he submitted to his will, if only his freedom was returned. Glad of his renunciation, the prince freed both John and Anthony. John outwardly performed the pagan rites, but in his heart remained a Christian, while Anthony confessed Orthodoxy by his whole life and reproached his brother for weakness and urged him to repent. One day, at the prince's table, to which the brothers were invited too, a meat dish was served. John, although it was a fast day, for fear of torments did not dare to refuse it, and Anthony, confessing himself a Christian, refused. The angry prince threw him into prison again. The one who had renounced stayed free, but was shunned as a traitor by Christians and pagans alike. John understood his grave sin and began to repent in tears. Saint Anthony told him that a brotherly bond between them could exist only if he openly confessed his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

At a suitable moment, when the prince was surrounded by a crowd of courtiers, Saint John declared himself aloud a Christian. This filled Olgerd and all present with rage, and they began to beat him cruelly, then, by the prince's order, he was thrown into the same prison as his brother. Crowds came to the prison to see the fearless confessors. The power of the truth they proclaimed, their unshakable faith and strength of spirit in the harsh captivity amazed the people so much that many received Holy Baptism. The pagan priests demanded of Olgerd that he put them to death, to stop the faith in Christ that was spreading. The grand prince yielded, but decided to execute Saint Anthony first, hoping that John would renounce again.

Martyrdom

The whole night before the execution Saint Anthony spent in prayer, thanking God for the crown of martyrdom and asking Him to strengthen his brother. On the morning of 14 April (the page gives the year 1317, but Olgerd reigned from 1345, and John's death is given as 1347) both partook of the Holy Mysteries and Anthony was led to death; the pagans hanged him on an oak. Saint John stayed unshaken in the faith and went on preaching to the crowds gathered at the prison. The enraged pagans dealt with him cruelly: on 24 April 1347 they first strangled him, then hanged him dead on the same oak, as Anthony had foretold before his death. The bodies of the martyrs were buried with honour by Christians in the church of Saint Nicholas.

Saint Eustathius

Their death bore spiritual fruit. A relative of theirs, Kruglets, a courtier of Olgerd, amazed at the steadfastness of the martyrs, received Baptism from the priest Nestor, with the name Eustathius. Once the prince, who loved him much, noticed that he had let his hair grow long and asked whether he was a Christian; Eustathius confessed openly. The prince, angered, forced him to eat meat on a Friday of the Nativity Fast, but the martyr refused. He was beaten with iron rods, then taken out naked into a severe frost and ice-⁠cold water was poured into his mouth, then the bones of his legs were crushed, the skin of his head was torn off with the hair, his ears and nose were cut off. Three days he was tormented. To the Christians who wept he gave comfort: "Do not weep for me, brothers, that this earthly dwelling of my soul is being destroyed, for soon I hope to receive for it from the Lord a dwelling not made with hands, in the heavens." With crushed legs, strengthened by God, he went to the place of execution so briskly that the executioners could hardly keep up. On 13 December 1347 he was tormented and hanged on the same oak as his relatives Anthony and John. His body was left hanging near the ground, but no beast and no bird could approach, for a pillar of cloud guarded it. After three days the remains were buried in the church of Saint Nicholas, beside the brothers.

The veneration of the relics

On the place where the oak had grown, a church of the Holy Trinity was later raised. At the transfer of the bodies into it, the relics were found incorrupt and miracles and healings were wrought from them. At the request of the Orthodox Lithuanians, Saint Alexis, metropolitan of Moscow († 1378), asked Patriarch Philotheus of Constantinople to allow the martyrs to be counted among the saints; in 1364 the patriarch sent to Saint Sergius of Radonezh a cross with relics of Saints Anthony, John and Eustathius. Their struggle had great significance for Lithuania: Olgerd himself returned to the faith and at the end of his life received monasticism, all twelve of his sons were Christians, and toward the end of the fourteenth century half of the inhabitants of Vilnius were Orthodox. In 1915, at the German advance, the relics were taken to Moscow by Metropolitan Tikhon, the future patriarch, and in 1946 were welcomed with joy at the Holy Spirit monastery in Vilnius. The day of the return, 13 (26) July, has been celebrated yearly since then in this monastery.

The Church commemorates Saint John, together with his brothers, on 27 April, in the new style, and on the movable day of 11 July, in the Synaxis of the Saints of Belarus.