Chipul Sf. Mare Mucenic Ioan cel Nou de la Suceava reflectat în texte imnografice
The Face of the Great Martyr John the New from Suceava reflected in Hymnographical texts

Summary/Abstract: The service of the Holy Great-martyr John the New from Suceava (June 2) contains important references about the spiritual life of the aforementioned martyr, not only elements of explicit biography, but also highlighting his attitude towards martyrdom, his strong faith, strength in the face of threats, courage as exponent of a general correct and upright attitude, etc. All this is part of the spiritual pedagogy that the Church proposes and applies through its worship, especially through the impressive hymnographic resource of the Byzantine tradition, continued through the later hymnographic productions (such as the present one, dated no earlier than the XV-XVI centuries), which take up and perpetuate the same ethos.Honored especially after bringing his holy relics from the White Citadel to Suceava, Saint John is included in the category of ʻnewʼ martyrs, he is a ʻrenewerʼ of martyrs, confirming the honorable call and the power to confess Christ in any time and place. Like other martyrs, St. John is a ʻfollowerʼ of the passions of Christ, with whose power and according to whose model he also suffered the torments for the sake of the Truth and in the spirit of fidelity, thus being an ʻalter Christusʼ. The hymnography often emphasizes this ʻidentificationʼ, as well as highlighting the spiritual effects enjoyed by those who reverently honor the martyr.One of the hymns of the liturgical service on June 2 makes explicit reference to the protection that the saint grants to the church that received his holy relics, as well as to those who instrumentalized this translatio reliquarum, a starting point for the development of some considerations related to the obvious dynastic meanings with which the cult of the martyr is invested in Suceava and Moldova of those times. By extension, the descendants of those called by the hymnographer ʻLords crowned by Godʼ, are all those who, in the same spirit, ʻoveʼ him and ʻbring him giftsʼ, to whom the saint is asked to offer his protection.

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