St John of Suchava:
Pilgrimage as enduring theme of the Christian life

It was Geoffrey Chaucer who immortalized the image of the pilgrim in his "Canterbury Tales."  His pilgrims were making their way to the Primatial See of the Church of England to the Tomb of St. Thomas, the Archbishop martyred in his own Cathedral by the knights of King Henry II. But what does it mean to be a pilgrim in today's world?  Aren't we always on some sort of pilgrimage?  But what is the object to which we are travelling?

Pilgrimages have been made by believers of various religions since time immemorial.

One of the five pillars of Islam is to make a "Haj" or pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in one's lifetime.

Greek Orthodox Christians who made the dangerous journey to Jerusalem in former times prefaced their first names with "Hatzi -" to indicate their status as a "Pilgrim of Jerusalem."

Pilgrims to Santiago in Spain to the Tomb of St James received a conch shell that became the western pilgrim's symbol par excellence.  They were most valuable and were passed on in wills.

Pilgrims received a special blessing from their bishop, promised to fast and pray as much as possible along the way, carried a special staff, clothing and a "scrip" or container for water.

Pilgrims to Christian Rome to visit the Tombs of Sts. Peter and Paul and also of the many Martyrs in the Catacombs took the additional name "Roman" which became a surname to their succeeding generations.  

My ancestors were frequent pilgrims to Rome starting in the ninth century and thus the origin of my surname!

My grandfather was born unable to walk, the only one in a family of 25 children!  A great uncle had holy water that he had brought from Rome, from the spot where St Paul the Apostle was beheaded.

My great grandfather brought his son, John, and the holy water before the people of the village in the Carpathian Mountains where he lived.  He made a public vow before God that should John ever walk, he would dedicate him to God's service as a priest.

Then, rather dramatically, he dipped John into the holy water three times and put him on his feet.  John walked perfectly to everyone's amazement.  He later wanted to go into law, but his father reminded him of his public vow.  John became a priest and served the Lord for seventy years (unlike his father, he only had seven children).

Ukrainians in the Bukovina region venerate highly their patron, St John the New of Suchava.

An Orthodox merchant, St John actually participated in the theological discussions at the Council of Florence!

On his way back home, a business competitor decided to try and take John's "market share" away from him by reporting him to the Muslim authorities.

It was said of John that he blasphemed the Muslim prophet, Muhammad.  Once he was brought before the courts, John denied he had ever done that.  But, just to remove all doubt, he was asked to accept the Muslim faith.

John refused and so was tortured for four days.  He endured the "phalanga" or the torture where the bare feet are tied to a pole and the soles are beaten with a stick.  The Turkish police still employ this form of torture and we know that twenty strokes are enough to cripple a person for life and that forty strokes can kill a person.  John was finally beheaded and so gave his life for Christ.

His relics were brought back to Moldavia by Alexander the Good and were enshrined at the Monastery of St John of Suchava.  

Pilgrimages to him were made famous by Ivan Franko ("Do you see them gathered together so tightly around the Ark of their Saint?") and the Bukovinian writer, (my great aunt), Olha Kobylansky. She went there on pilgrimage herself and noticed that at least one person usually fainted from the great heat and oppressive throngs of people.

Ukrainians of Bukovinian origin who arrived in Canada built their Cathedral in Winnipeg in St John's honour and the street on which the Cathedral stands is likewise named for him.

Pilgrimages to the Kyiv Caves Lavra were also very popular and to the relics of St Barbara, a patron of Kyiv as well.

The impact of the pilgrimage and of the shrines were celebrated by the Ukrainian bard, Taras Shevchenko, who once wrote about an officer who was about to commit suicide.

The officer looked up and saw the magnificent domes of Kyiv's Churches and Cathedrals. Soon a spiritual calm enveloped him, he made the Sign of the Cross and walked into Kyiv to make his pilgrimage.

Entire cities and towns were built around industries that emanated from pilgrimages.  Everything from tourism to religious goods to hotels and hostels to the food industry all have their foundation in the ancient Christian pilgrimage.

In Constantinople, the icon of the "Hodegitria" Mother of God, or "She who shows the way," was said to have been the patronal icon of the Tourist Guild of that city.  She is known in the West as "Our Lady of Perpetual Help."

What is a pilgrimage, however?

It is a realization in time and space of the meaning of our entire Christian life.

Our life in Christ is one of feeling at home in homelessness, the experience of constant shifts of fate and of continual movement toward Something.

It is a walk in the Spirit in the awareness of God's strength to help us along the way.  The Spirit is our support or Staff as we take the Cross as our Lord asked us to and follow Him.

As pilgrims throughout our lives, we realize that our home isn't here.  We are, in fact, on our way home which is the end of the road we travel.  And the end of the road is with God.

Christian shrines and relics of saints underline that our God is an Incarnate God Who has sanctified matter and Who comes to us through matter.  Our bodies are real Temples of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit continues to live in the physical remains of His Saints and works miracles from and through His Temples.

Like the pilgrims of old, we approach what is holy to touch it and pray before it.  Christ Himself bent the heavens and came down to physically touch us as God Incarnate.  It is that touch that heals by imparting to us the Grace of the Holy Spirit.

Having been touched ourselves, we are called to reach out and touch others, allowing them to feel the warmth of God's love through us.

Nothing engenders love more than the touch.  Nothing reassures people that they are loved for what they are, rather than for what we would like them to be, more than the touch in the here and now.

All the Sacraments/Mysteries of the Church are imparted through the touch.  So great is the power of the touch that Christ was careful to tell the Myrrh-bearers who saw Him not to touch Him just yet, for He had not yet ascended to the Father.

And when Christ fed the multitudes with a few loaves and fishes, each morsel, of which there were twelve baskets afterwards, was lovingly touched and broken by the Lord Himself.

The irony of the pilgrimage and of the pilgrimage, which is our life in Christ through the Spirit to the glory of the Father, is that while we seek to touch God, it is He Who is already touching us and calling us to come to Him to be in intimate union with Him for all time.

He gives us the strength to make the pilgrimage which is our life on Earth, even as we are asked to take up the Cross and follow after Him in the knowledge that a glorious Resurrection awaits us and eternal life with Him in His Kingdom.

Dr. Alexander Roman  alex@unicorne.org