Martyr
Martyr John of Merv
время жизни точно не известно (IV в. или кон. X — нач. XI в.)
Also known as: Мч. Иоанн Мервский, Иоанн Мервский
An ancient martyr of Merv (present-day Turkmenistan) whose name survived in a Central Asian Christian calendar quoted by al-Biruni; his veneration was restored in 2004.
The Martyr John of Merv is one of the ancient saints of Central Asia. He suffered for Christ in Merv, an ancient city in present-day Turkmenistan and the seat of a Christian metropolitan see, where Orthodox (Melkite) Christians lived alongside the Church of the East throughout the Middle Ages.
No life of the saint survives. His name is known from the calendar of the Central Asian Melkites quoted by the Khwarazmian scholar al-Biruni in his "Chronology of Ancient Nations" (around the year 1000). Metropolitan Vladimir (Ikim) of Tashkent found the name in the works of Muslim historians and petitioned the Synodal Commission for Canonization to include it in the Church calendar.
The date of his martyrdom is uncertain: Metropolitan Vladimir placed it in the 4th century, during the Persian persecutions of Christians in Merv (possibly under Shapur II), while the list of the Synaxis of Central Asian Saints gives the late 10th to early 11th century. His veneration was restored in 2004 with the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II, with his feast on 14 (27) July. He is also commemorated in the Synaxis of the Saints of Central Asia on 26 August (8 September).