The paper studies the history of the relics of St. John the New of Suceava as a resource for the formation of a religious center, the Ruthenian parish in Zhovkva near Lviv, in the first half of the 18th century. The presence of the relics for a little less than a century in the royal city of Zhovkva in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and in the Kyivan Metropolitanate – that is, outside Moldavia – was an attempt by local Ruthenians, under the patronage of local authorities, to form a “new” cult of the saint, unrelated to the previous place and region in which he was present. Thanks to King Jan III Sobieski, through the king’s privilege that legitimized the transfer of St. John’s relics to Zhovkva, the cult became a decisive resource for the formation of the local parish, as documented in a dispute between the Basilians (monks) and the Lviv Uniate bishops. In addition, the cult became trans-confessional, as the Orthodox saint was not canonized by the Catholic Church but, during the 18th century, was publicly venerated by the Ruthenian Uniates (Eastern Catholics). Eventually, attempts were made to introduce the cult at a regional level, to the south-eastern region of the Kyivan Metropolitanate, but in 1783, the Habsburgs returned the relics to Suceava, which led to the cult not being fully realized.