Crowds at the Holy Shrine of Saint John the Russian in Neo Prokopi, Evia

Two days before the celebration of the memory of Saint John the Russian, on Sunday, 25 May 2025, His Eminence Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Chalkida officiated at the Matins, presided over the Divine Liturgy and preached the Holy Sermon at the Pilgrimage Church of Saint John the Russian in Neo Prokopi, where his incorruptible and miraculous holy relics are kept.

Since last week, the Holy Pilgrimage Site has been properly prepared to receive the thousands of believers, who, for the most part, hike from Chalkida or from North Evia, fulfilling their annual vow and expressing their great reverence for the patron saint of Evia.

From very early Sunday morning, the Holy Church of the Saint was flooded with believers, who had been walking all night, and during the Divine Liturgy, a river of people then surrounded the Holy Church.

His Eminence Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Chalkida, preaching the holy sermon, developed interpretatively the gospel passage of the miracle of the healing of the man born blind (John 9:1-38), while shortly before the dismissal of the Divine Liturgy he wished all the pilgrims and viewers of the national radio and television, from which all the holy services were broadcast, to receive the protective care of Saint John the Russian.