This event was recounted to a small gathering of his spiritual children by the now‑reposed Father Theodoros. The venerable priest, Fr. Theodoros, spoke continually for many decades and regularly informed his flock about the Holy King, about his coming, and about his resurrection from the dead according to the forerunning (and not the final) eschata.
The holy elder Theodoros narrated the following to the small gathering: “At the beginning of the 1990s, a group of us pilgrims traveled to Holy Constantinople for pilgrimage. The driver of the tourist bus told me not to wear my cassock during the trip for safety reasons, or, if I insisted on wearing it, I would have to sign a paper stating that the tourist company would bear no responsibility for any potential problems. So I did, I signed.
When our group of pilgrims was in the courtyard of Hagia Sophia, a well‑mannered and well‑composed young uniformed guard approached me and said to me in almost flawless Greek: ‘Father, I am a Romios! I am the key‑holder here of the Holy Church of Hagia Sophia, a crypto‑Christian myself, as is my entire family, out of necessity. If you wish, I would like to show you something that concerns all of you Greeks without exception. It is a very great blessing.’
Saying the Jesus Prayer silently within myself, continues the devout Fr. Theodoros, I felt a great certainty in my heart and that, in the end, I should follow the uniformed Romios guard in his invitation. And I replied: ‘Alright, let it be blessed.’ The Turkish guard‑keyholder then told me to follow him, and I did.
Through a certain entrance we began descending into the underground areas of blessed Hagia Sophia. For a long time we walked through dark rooms, damp corridors, unlit and forgotten chambers, rusted and cobwebbed doors, and a series of unfamiliar sights, abandoned lower quarters, old furniture and objects that time had completely forgotten. At some point the Turkish guard told me to prepare myself for an unimaginable surprise.
Arriving now at a somewhat different space, with a tidy and well‑arranged atmosphere of a noble residence, adorned with fabrics and furniture of another era, and a very large room, the Romios guard of the Holy City pointed with awe and fear and said to me with an almost trembling voice: ‘Father, look at this man who stands before you, seated upon his throne!’ And what did I see? I was stunned! Speechless and dumbfounded!
Before me I saw the very person whom for decades I preached about, awaited, and spoke of! I saw the Saint for whom, for years, I felt immense awe even by merely bringing him into my thoughts! It was the Holy King John! Before me! As if he were truly alive! He simply was not breathing. Rosy. Serene. Very beautiful. Majestic. Dressed in his royal garments. A different beauty, super‑worldly, radiant beyond measure, and beyond reason. My beloved Saint and Greek King!
I knelt with indescribable awe and reverence before the Holy King, and the earth was filled with my endless tears. I wept bitterly and could neither stop nor recover from this gigantic gift that I felt the Lord Jesus Christ was granting me at that very moment! I remained kneeling for a long time. I felt within me that heaven and earth were now fully united as one. I lived between heaven and earth. I had truly received from on High a unique blessing and an indescribable paternal gift.
Afterwards I said to the Romios guard from Turkey: ‘We are late. I will lose the other pilgrims traveling with us. We must return.’ And so it happened. In the same way, along the same but reversed path, we began ascending. At some point we reached the same spot from which we had started with the key‑holder guard, but now, after 3 to 4 hours had passed, the group of pilgrims was no longer there.
The Turkish guard, blessed and secretly a Romios, greeted me reverently and warmly, kissed my right hand with respect, and departed like a young eagle. And now, I wondered: What do I do? Where should I go now? I said within myself. Immediately I took my prayer rope from my pocket and began saying the Prayer, making knots and walking around Hagia Sophia, saying within myself: ‘Lord, arrange everything now, my Father! You know!’
I continued making the prayer rope and circling Hagia Sophia for quite some time. And suddenly, somewhat startled, I heard a young man from a group a little further away ask me with a somewhat strong and puzzled tone: ‘What’s wrong, elder, you’re walking around the Church with your prayer rope in your hands without stopping? Are you alright?’
I answered the young man: ‘I am fine, my child, but where am I now?’ And the young man, with angry confusion and a somewhat ironic tone, replied: ‘Elder, what are you telling us now, are you trying to drive us crazy? You’ve been walking for over an hour making your prayer rope and circling nonstop around the Metropolitan Church here in Alexandroupolis, and now you’re asking us where you are? You’ll drive us crazy!’
Immediately then, my children, I understood that the Paraclete Spirit had “taken” me from the Queen of Cities and “brought” me to the city of… Alexandroupolis. I thanked the Lord Jesus Christ with tears at once, and then I took the local bus (KTEL) and returned alone to Athens. Fortunately, the other pilgrims had taken my belongings, which I collected when I arrived in the Greek capital.”
This are excerpts from the Book: The Way to the Queen City - by: Elias Kallioras (2024).
The prophecies excerpts translation were prepared by The Holy Wisdom on August 22, 2026.