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Fr. John Karastamatis was born in 1937 in the Greek village of Apoikia, on the island of [[Metropolis of Syros, Tinos, Andros, Kea, and Milos|Andros]]. The atmosphere of this village was permeated with the age-old Orthodox way of life, which was followed according to the Church calendar and the cycle of feast days. Living from day to day amidst the simple and natural faith of the villagers, the young John was imparted a sense of holiness, which kindled in his idealistic heart the flame of love for God and all that is His. As a boy on the island of Andros, John witnessed many miracles with which [[God]] blessed the pious villagers, and thus he was made aware of the closeness of God to the lives of those who seek Him. The heavenly [[saints]], especially the local ones, also manifested their closeness and the power of their intercessory [[prayer]] by appearing to and helping the people.

John nourished his young soul by learning about the lives of these [[saints ]] and [[martyrs]], whose unquenchable desire to be faithful to [[Christ]] in the face of deprivation, torment and physical death inspired him to also be a servant of God. Although he did not attend any theological school, he wanted to put his faith into practice by someday becoming a [[priest]].

In 1957, at the age of twenty, John came to the United States. Five years later he [[Marriage|married ]] a young Greek woman, Athanasia Matsellis, and soon became the father of two children, Maria and Photios. The cities of the United States were in sharp contrast to the village of his birth, but his acute awareness of the nearness of [[God]] and the other world, given to him in childhood, never left him. He now found himself in the midst of those who not only did not want to be close to God, but who actively fled from Him. Still he hoped in God, knowing that the freedom of [[Christ]] can be found even in the most stifling and evil surroundings.

He then moved to Santa Cruz, California, which had been named by the Spanish [[Missionary|missionaries ]] after the Holy [[Cross]] of the [[Lord]]. There he labored with enthusiasm to provide a haven of [[Orthodox Christianity]] for the faithful in the area, who had long been without a nearby church.

===A Pastor at the Foot of the Holy Cross===Because the community in Santa Cruz was too small to immediately acquire its own Orthodox church, Fr. John began to serve the [[Divine Liturgy]] in the nearby town of [[w:Aptos, California|Aptos]], in the [[chapel]] of a [[w:Poor Clares|Poor Clare]] convent. The [[nuns]] would have their services very early on Sunday morning, leaving the church free for Fr. John and his parishioners to use afterwards. The parishioners were at first hesitant: they would come to Liturgy late, and would all sit at the very back of the chapel, as if they were spectators and not participants. Fr. John knew that he had much work to do. He was sometimes disappointed at the lack of active interest among his flock. His was a burning faith, and lukewarmness had always been foreign to his soul. His task, he knew, was to ignite this fire within each of his parishioners, so that they themselves would struggle for the [[Paradise|kingdom of heaven]], ''the one thing needful'', and not sit in the background and expect their priest to do their work for them. He could not demand too much at once, but had to be a gentle and loving pastor, condescending to the weaknesses of his flock so as not to overwhelm them and cause them to abandon the Orthodox faith altogether. The gap between shepherd and sheep had to be bridged gradually and carefully, and Fr. John had to spark the kinder in the hearts of his flock without scorching them with the consuming fire within him.

Fr. John by no means wanted his Orthodox community to be a closed one, and he rejoiced to discover any fervent young souls which came to him in search of the fulness of [[Introduction to Orthodox Christianity|Christianity]]. Santa Cruz has been a gathering place not only of the darker and meaner elements of society, but also of idealistic young people who have desired something more meaningful than the American values of materialism and competition. By the time Fr. John started his church in Santa Cruz, a small but significant "Orthodox Christian movement" had already begun at [[w:University of California, Santa Cruz|the university there]]. This was primarily the result of the [[missionary]] work of Hieromonk Anastassy(Newcomb) . Through him, many Santa Cruz university students embraced the Orthodox faith and dedicated their lives to serving [[Christ]].

Fr. John was not at all ethnocentric, and to him, Orthodox Christianity was not just something "for Greeks," but rather was universal. His love for God induced him to earnestly desire to bring forth fruits for Him, as a son strives to please his father, and this made him a zealous [[missionary]] to all peoples. He had services in public parks, where the townspeople would stop to attend something, which, although foreign to them, they found to be divinely beautiful. Hearing Fr. John, with his full and resonant voice, chanting the ancient [[Byzantine Chant|Byzantine melodies]] along with his [[cantor]], would unexpectedly catch a vague and half-remembered glimpse of that sacred realm which their souls knew but their minds had never been exposed to. In such a way was Fr. John able to introduce the riches of Orthodoxy to the spiritually impoverished American people. This was the only "[[ecumenism]]" he believed in, for he was too firmly grounded in the Orthodox faith to be caught up in the false ecumenical movements of his day.

While Fr. John's fervent pastoral work served to [[Conversion|convert ]] many non-Greek people, his first job was, of course, to "convert" many of his own people - those who were [[Cradle Orthodox|baptized Orthodox]] but whose commitment to Christ meant, at most, only an external commitment to church attendance and activities. By his own faith he demonstrated to them that Orthodoxy is not merely a ritual, a system of [[Dogma|dogmas]] or a behavior pattern, but is instead a transforming power, which is tapped by conscious spiritual struggle. Through the struggle to conquer the passions which separate us from God, he wrote, "we allow the essence of His rejuvenating powers to flood our hearts with joy for the total freedom we can obtain." Fr. John spared nothing to make this living reality inwardly known to his flock. He preached to them the Loves of his beloved [[Saints]], hoping thereby to make them more conscious of the degree of sanctity that man is able to attain on earth by acquiring the [[grace]] of the [[Holy Spirit]]. Fr. John was by nature an artist and a poet, and had a profound sense of beauty. Like his Master [[Christ]], the source of all divine beauty and truth, he loved the simple, the humble, the quietly noble things of life. This love he expressed both in his [[Homily|sermons]] and in his Greek and English poems, which he transcribed with his own elegant calligraphy. His sense of beauty made him yet more cognizant of the ugliness and madness of our post-Christian era. He would speak of the confusion that is caused when men forget God and pursue their own selfish interests.

The good works of Fr. John were too numerous and his outreach too extensive not to evoke malicious actions from the haters of God. <ref group="note">For, as our [[Lord]] has told us, ''"If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you."'' (St. John, 15:20).</ref> The visibility of Fr. John and his church in the middle of Santa Cruz made them more accessible not only to those in need of help, but also to those who wished to destroy all that is holy. A few months before Fr. John's death, the church was desecrated by unknown occultists, who painted "[[666]]" and the five-pointed satanic star on the front entrance. When the desecration was discovered, Fr. John [[Consecration of a church|reconsecrated the church]].

He advised the faithful to guard themselves against the pitfalls of the [[Antichrist]] and not to take the mark. Then the telephone threats on his life become even more intense, however Father John did not fear any of this. He proved himself to be a faithful shepherd of [[Christ]], one who was willing to sacrifice all and even lay down his life for his flock because of his love for them.

Because Fr. John's face and fingers were so disfigured and mutilated, his [[relics]] could not be displayed at the funeral service, therefore his body was covered in the usual gold-[[vestments]] and the coffin was sealed. Several priests attended Fr. John's funeral, coming from the many and various Orthodox churches in the United States.

The criminals responsible were Edward and Anna Bowman. Edward Bowman , an ex-Marine, was eligible for the death penalty, but pled guilty to avoid execution. Bowman was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison in 1988. However he was eligible for parole in 2010. In February 2010, the Santa Cruz District Attorney's Office reported that he was denied parole, with the Parole Board ruling that he will not be eligible again until 2015.<ref>Jennifer Squires. [http://www.orthodoxnews.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=usnews.one&content_id=18416&CFID=72092943&CFTOKEN=53644936&tp_preview=true Man who killed Santa Cruz priest denied parole for five years]. Santa Cruz Sentinel. February 8, 2010.</ref>