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The Cypriot Saint, John the Merciful
Saint John was born around 555 AD in the city of Amathous in Cyprus. Αfter the death of his wife and two children, John devotes his life to God.
During the years 610-616 AD he became Patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt. Because of his rich charity action, he gets the nickname “merciful”.
After the conquest of Alexandria by the Persians , he went to Rhodes and afterwards to Cyprus, where he died on 12th November 619 AD. During the Frankish rule of Cyprus, his relic was transferred to Constantinople. In 1489, the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II gave it to the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus, who placed it in the royal chapel of Buda Castle.
Today, a part of the relic is preserved at Saint Martin’s Cathedral in Bratislava, Slovakia, and another part at Saint Giovanni’s Cathedral in Brakora, Venice.
*The text is part of the writer’s article “ The relic of saint John the Merciful” in Giorgos Georgis-Georgios Kazamias (ed.), Linked by History. United by Choice. Cyprus and its European Union Partners, Nicosia 2012, p.386.
Posted by
Maria Chara
