A brief history of St.John the Hermit. The church you are viewing is situated in Azogires ,Paleochora ,Chania ,Crete ,Greece.Right above the Alfa hotel near the main road. St. John came to Azogires according to legend in the 1300s, along with the 99 Holy Fathers . They were a group of holy men from many different countries. And they were travelling around the world making miracles such as curing diseases and corecting human mistakes. So the story of today starts in the island of Gavdos thats were they had come when they finaly decided that they were to old to do this anymore.So they asked God to give them a place rest and die. And he led them to Azogires .They came on shore at Anidri beach when they realized that they forgot their Leader St. John the Hermit. So they prayed to him and told him, place your coat, on the sea and we will bring you by prayer and so they did. When they finaly arrived in Azogires some stayed by the river where the monastery of the 99 is situated ,others went up to the world famous Holy Fathers cave, and the rest followed St. John to his cave in the neighborhood of Koukoustiana .As tradition tells us there was a prison with ill people near the modern Alfa hotel and the Hermit cured them so when they finaly got their freedom they built the church in his honour. Which was built on to the rock of the cave that he stayed in .The church originallyhad mosaics on its walls but after the second world war some women of the neighborhood thought to do something nice for the church by painting it white. Not realizing what damage they were causing. At some point St. John saw a vision on the rock of the holy plane tree which is the rock you see below and it said to him that he must leave the villaga and go to Akrotiri in Gouverneto. So he said goodbye to his brothers and off he went . When he got there he continued to live in a cave and making his miracles such as two snakes inside the cave that he turned into stone. At one point he was to old to stand on his feet, so he was walking on all fours. One night acording to legend he draged himself into a garden for some food but he was wearing a coat from sheeps skin so the farmer saw him and he thought that he was an animal. So he shot him with his bow the next day the farmer followed the blood into the cave and he saw a flash of light then he realized what he had done. So he went into the cave and asked for forgiveness, then St. John replied you are forgiven, but you must go to Azogires and tell my brothers that I have died and they must die too, that was the agreement.But go quikly out of the cave cause when the angels take me the light will vanish and you may hurt yourself going out . When the farmer came to Azogires by horse possibly two days later they were already dead, that remains a mistery. For more information and stories on St. John the hermit and the 99 Holy Fathers click on this link . http://www.azogires-alpha.blogspot.com/ Over the years St. John has continued to make many miracles in Azogires, some good and some strange . A few situations we will tell you now oe storie is during his festival when some people who were eating on that day started to doubt the saint. At that moment a donkey that was tied up below the orange tree lifted his back legs and the donkeys shoes or petals started to rotate in the air then the people started to make their cross and apoligize to the saint.Another story is of a little boy known as Leonidas Koukoutsakis was stealing money from the church. Then one night his mother heard shouting and crying from his room ,she ran in and saw the boy black and blue and a stick floating in the air. She asked her son what does he see and he told her I see the old men from the icon, meaning St. John. So she got on her knees and prayed to the saint and said to him leave him alone and I will make him a priest that never happend but the boy went to mount athos and became a holy chantor. He came back to Chania and was the only chantor on radio every Sunday with an angelic voice. Below the Alfa hotel there was a small olive oil factory of the Koukoutsakis family and they had a women who used to pick olives for them. She washed her hair on a Sunday which is forbiden to do in christian religions and she went out side to do her business. as she was doing so a cane stick came off the ground and started to hit her in the face. She prayed to St. John rubbed bread in her head and the stick fell on the ground again . If we continue writting this blog will never finish so we leave it at that and we hope that you will visit Azogires one day to experience your own miracle but whenevr you need help pray to St. John the Hermit. For further information contact us at alfacafenion@aol.com
