Saints of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

St. John of Suchava (“the New”) is the Patron of Bukovina and a New Martyr.  He lived in the fifteenth century and was actually a merchant by trade.  It is clear that he was also a respected Churchman with theological training, as he attended Church Councils in an official lay capacity. 

A fellow merchant became jealous of John’s success in business and told the local Muslim authorities that John had publicly maligned their Prophet Muhammad.  The punishment for this was death, but John was offered his freedom if he only rejected Christ and accepted the Muslim faith.  He refused and, after four days’ torture, was beheaded.  St John was Glorified as a New Great-Martyr, or a martyr that suffered many things for Christ before expiring. 

Alexander the Good, Prince of Moldavia, had St. John’s relics brought to Suchava where His Shrine continues to this day.  Ukrainians in Bukovina and Bessarabia made regular pilgrimages to St John’s Shrine on his Feast Day, June 15^th.  Ivan Franko, the Ukrainian poet, referred to one of these pilgrimages and exclaimed, “Look how they gather ‘round the Relics of the Martyr-Saint!”  

Olha Kobylanska, a famous Bukovinian writer, also made many pilgrimages to St John of Suchava and wrote about them.  It was very often the case that the throng of people were so great in the Cathedral that someone was known to faint at almost every pilgrimage!  Ukrainians from Bukovina emigrated to Canada and established the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St John of Suchava in Winnipeg.  The street on which the Cathedral stands is also named for him.