CONCERNING ST. JOHN CALYBITES, A BEGGAR FOR CHRIST'S SAKE, AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
Fifth Century.
PrefaceJohn Calybites, Acoemetan Monk and Beggar for God's Sake, at Constantinople (St.)
From various sources.
Section I. The feast day, Life, and surname of St. John.
[1] Rome marveled at Alexius, who, having renounced his wealth and scorned honors, having abandoned his wife, a voluntary exile and then a stranger in his own father's house, destitute amid a splendid patrimony, cultivating a new form of philosophy, at the beginning of the fifth Christian century, under Pope Innocent I and the Emperors Honorius and Arcadius. An almost equal example, The feast day of St. John Calybites, January 15, about fifty years later, was witnessed by Constantinople, the new Rome — although, as we shall soon say, some claim him for the old Rome as well. Greeks and Latins observe his feast day on January 15, on which day the Menologium published by Henry Canisius records: "Of St. John Calybites, son of the Senator Eutropius and Theodora." Mention of him is also made in the Greek Menologium and its epitome compiled by Christopher the Patrician, and likewise in the Anthologion; but more fully in the Menaea, which, besides the eulogy once translated into Latin by our Matthaeus Rader and published in the first part of the Garden of the Saints, present the full ecclesiastical office of that day, woven together with various odes, hymns, and antiphons. The more recent Latin Martyrologies agree, which we shall cite below.
[2] Maurolycus, Canisius, and the Carthusians of Cologne in their Additions to Usuard, as well as Peter de Natalibus, and February 27, recorded his commemoration under February 27; we shall adduce the words of most of them below when we treat of John's homeland. Rader, in the book already cited, and our Rosweyde in his Annotations to book 9 of the Lives of the Fathers, no. 76, noted that he is venerated on September 15, not September 15, although we have not yet found his name inscribed on that day in any Martyrology or Calendar.
[3] His Life was translated from an ancient Greek manuscript of Grottaferrata into Latin by William Sirleto, then Apostolic Protonotary, the Life translated by Sirleto, who later became a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church. Aloysius Lipomanus, and from him Lawrence Surius, published it; from these it was taken by Zacharias Lippelous, Philip Ferrarius, Gabriel Flamma, our Pedro Ribadeneira, Jean-Francois Baudoin, and others. Peter de Natalibus had previously published a compendium of it in book 3, chapter 156. Galesinius writes that the author of his life is Simeon Logotheta, or Simeon Metaphrastes, as may be gathered from other places in his Annotations to his own Martyrology.
[4] That another, more ancient Life existed can scarcely be doubted; for since a temple was erected to him by his own parents, another by a contemporary, and other honors were paid to him, and, as is stated below, all his deeds from his entry into the monastery became publicly known, who would not suppose that panegyrics were delivered in his honor and a history of his life committed to writing? And perhaps the Logotheta transcribed from these: "I intend to narrate to you who have come together in harmony to this place the life of a just and perfect man, honestly, purely, and virtuously lived; for he lived in our times."
[5] Our Rosweyde had obtained another from a manuscript codex of the Vatican Library, another from a Greek manuscript, here first published, which we give here faithfully translated into Latin — much purer and more genuine than the other. For the former seems to have been interpolated with certain glosses by copyists or a translator. Whence Galesinius derived the claim that the Logotheta was the author of the former, we do not know; Baronius attributes it to Metaphrastes, whether as writer or compiler. The author of this one too was not unlearned. The same Baronius writes in his Notes to the Martyrology: "We have read other manuscript Acts, somewhat different from those." "Nicephorus mentions him in book 15, chapter 23. He flourished, according to the same author, in the times of the Emperor Leo, although the manuscripts say that he lived under Theodosius." We shall discuss the date further on. But since those Acts from the Vatican Library do not mention Theodosius, Baronius must have read other ones.
[6] John surnamed "the Beggar," John had a double surname: Calybites and "Beggar for God's Sake." The reason for both is by no means obscure. The two are sometimes joined together; at other times only one is expressed. The title of the Life from the Vatican codex reads: βίος καὶ πολίτεια τοῦ ὁσίου Πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ιωάννου τοῦ διὰ χρισὸν πτωχοῦ — "Life and conduct of our holy Father John, the Beggar for Christ's sake." Then in the preface to the Life: Ιωάννης ἐκεῖνος ὁ πτωχὸς μὲν ἐπικληθεὶς, πλούσιος δὲ γεγονὼς τὸν πλοῦτον τοῦ πνέυματος — "That John, surnamed indeed 'the Beggar,' but made rich with the riches of the Spirit." George Cedrenus in his Compendium of Histories, at the fifth year of the Emperor Leo, which was the year 461 of Christ, also calls him "the Beggar": Κατὰ μὲν γὰρ ἀνατολὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ νεωρίου ἐπεκτεινόμενος μέχρι τοῦ ἁγίου Ιωάννου τοῦ πτωχοῦ πρὸς δύσιν — "The fire, extending from the naval arsenal toward the east, reached as far as the church of John the Beggar, which is toward the west" — concerning which fire we treated on January 10 in the Life of St. Marcian the Priest, chapter 4, letter a. and Calybites; But Nicephorus, whom we shall cite below, and John Zonaras in volume 3 of the Annals, treating of that same fire of the city of Constantinople, which he writes extended in length from the Bosporus to the church of St. John Calybites — μέχρι τοῦ ναοῦ ἁγίου Ιωάννου τοῦ καλυβίτου — call him "Calybites." The Menaea combine both names: Μνήμη τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ιωάννου τοῦ διὰ χρισὸν πτωχοῦ, ὃς καὶ καλυβίτης ὠνομάσθη — "Commemoration of our holy Father John, Beggar for Christ's sake, who was also called Calybites." He is called Calybites ἀπὸ τῆς καλύβης, because he dwelt under a hut — a word derived from καλύπτω, "I cover, I conceal."
[7] In the Calendar prefixed to an ancient Missal of the Church of Besancon, which had formerly belonged to Charles de Neufchatel, Archbishop of that city, who died in the year 1498, it was written on this day: "St. John Calinitus" — a name which Molanus in the first edition of Usuard and Galesinius expressed; erroneously "Calinitus," although the latter warns in his Notes that "Calybita" should be written, and the former corrected it thus in the second edition. Evidently inscribed on the case of his relics in Greek letters — Ιωάννου Καλυβίτου — the Latins wrote it "Ioannis Caliuiti," and later readers read "Caliniti." More about these relics and inscription below.
Section II. The homeland of St. John.
[8] It often happens in Martyrologies that the place where a Saint's relics are located is attributed to him as though he had lived his life there or suffered martyrdom there. Thus on January 22: "At Rome, at the Aquae Salviae, of St. Anastasius the Persian monk," etc.; and on January 31: "At Rome, on the Via Portuensis, of the holy Martyrs Cyrus and John, who after many tortures for the confession of Christ were beheaded" — whereas the former suffered in Persia, and the latter in Egypt. The same happened to St. John Calybites, for whom a church was established at Rome with relics brought there, which persuaded some that he had lived in Rome. Although the Acts published by Lipomanus state that he was born whether John was born at Rome or at Constantinople, which is the New Rome in the city of Rome. But who is even moderately versed in history who does not know that Constantinople was called the New Rome and the Second Rome? Socrates, book 1, Ecclesiastical History, chapter 12: ἴσην τὲ τῇ βασιλευούσῃ ῥώμῃ ἀποδείξας, Κωνσαντινούπολιν ὀνομάσας, χρηματίζειν δὲ δευτέραν ῥώμην νόμῳ ἐκύρωσεν, ὃς νόμος ἐν λιθίνῃ γέγραπται σύλῃ καὶ δημοσίᾳ ἐν τῷ καλουμένῳ σρατηγίῳ πλησίον τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ ἐφίππου παρέθηκε — "Constantine made it equal to Rome the sovereign city and named it Constantinople, and by law decreed that it be called the Second Rome; which law, inscribed on a stone column, was publicly placed in the so-called Strategium, near his own equestrian statue." Sozomen also, book 2, chapter 2: νέαν ῥώμην Κωνσαντινούπολιν ὠνόμασε — "Constantine called Constantinople the New Rome." And so that name prevailed in the East, so that they commonly called the old Rome "Ancient Rome" or "Rome which is in Italy." Indeed Thrace itself, whose capital was Byzantium, was for this reason called Romania; the Greek language is commonly called ῥωμαἳκὴ — about which Simon Portius says more in the book he entitled λεξικὸν λατινικὸν, ῥωμαἳκὸν καὶ Ελληνικὸν.
[9] John's homeland was therefore Rome, but the new Rome — that is, Constantinople. He seems to have been born at Rome; Peter de Natalibus, book 3, chapter 156, wrote ambiguously: "John the monk, son of Eutropius, Master of the Soldiers of the city of Rome." Following him, the Carthusians of Cologne in their additions to Usuard on February 27: "Likewise of Blessed John the monk, son of Eutropius, Master of the Soldiers of the city of Rome, who, having lived in all holiness for seven years in a monastery, returned to Rome; he remained unknown in his parents' house, and revealing himself at the end of his life in their presence, he expired in their arms." Maurolycus also on the same day: "At Rome, of John the monk, who after a long pilgrimage remained unknown in his father's house, and before his death revealed himself to his parents Eutropius and Theodora." Canisius on the same day: "Likewise at Rome, of St. John the monk, son of Eutropius, a Roman Tribune, and Theodosia: at the age of fifteen he fled secretly from his parents to a monastery, where he spent seven years in all obedience and holiness. Then, returning to Rome, he lived unknown in his father's house, like a poor pilgrim, under a hut, devoting himself to continual fasts and prayers. At length he revealed himself to his parents and expired in their arms." But since Canisius reports the same story about the Calybites on January 15, he seems to have considered him a different person. Constantius Felicius on January 15: "John Calybites, a most noble Roman, son of a certain Tribune of soldiers, who became a monk; then, unknown for many years, he lived at Rome under a small hut in his father's house with the greatest poverty, where he also died most holily."
[10] And all these indeed, in simply assigning Rome as his homeland, understand old Rome. More explicitly, Baronius in the Martyrology: on the Tiber Island: "At Rome, of St. John Calybites, who for some time lived unknown to his parents in a corner of his father's house, then in a hut on the Tiber Island; recognized by them at the point of death and famous for miracles, he was buried in the same place, where afterward a church was built in his honor." Earlier he had written thus under about the year 1584: "At Rome, of St. John Calybites, who, having made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, long afterward returning thence, lay hidden in a hut near his father's house on the Tiber Island, where he is venerated with celebrated commemoration." But that edition was suppressed and corrected, omitting the pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
[11] Octavius Pancirolus, in his Hidden Treasures of the Noble City, region 9, by what argument? church 2, writes that he was Roman and that he became a monk at Constantinople in a monastery recently built; and then returned to Rome. He tries to prove that he was Roman by the argument that he is said to have given a hundred gold pieces for passage, so that the voyage must necessarily have been a long one. He could have urged — and perhaps more effectively — the point that in the Life published by Lipomanus, he is said to have approached the bank of a river and then to have gone to the bank of a river, although there is no river at Constantinople.
[12] But if we had been able to see the Greek codex of Grottaferrata itself, we might perhaps have detected that these were interpolated by someone. The price paid to the boatman was greater than what is usually given for a voyage of no great length — both so that the vessel might be entirely at his disposal not a strong argument and so that the boatman would not break faith. Yet who would believe that a sailor would be content with the small amount the parents had given for a boy's banquet to sail all the way from Rome to the mouth of the Black Sea and back again? And if the ship was found on a river at Rome, it was certainly not of a kind that could endure the storms of the Aegean and Ionian seas.
[13] Molanus therefore wrote better in his Annotations to Usuard, no. 7: "John, who inhabited a Calyba, or hut, was Roman by homeland — that is, as I judge, Constantinopolitan." Galesinius pronounces this expressly in his Notes: "He was," he says, "a citizen of Constantinople, born of the Patrician Eutropius and Theodora." Rather born at Constantinople, Nor will anyone call this into doubt who has weighed what was said above about the Acoemetae in the Life of St. Alexander. For if the one who led John from his homeland was an Acoemetan and brought him to Constantinople, as Pancirolus maintains, what reason was there for the journey — that he himself, intending to go from Constantinople to Jerusalem, should come to Italy and Rome? For it could be believed that he returned by that route for John's sake alone. But if there were Acoemetae elsewhere, in Italy or Gaul, where? Who mentions them?
[14] The Menaea assert that he was Constantinopolitan: Οὗτος ἦν ἐν Κωνσαντίνου πόλει, υἱὸς Ἐυτροπίου συγκλητικοῦ καὶ Θεοδώρας — "He was at Constantinople, born of the Senator Eutropius and Theodora." The Life from the Vatican manuscript states it much more explicitly: ἐν τῇ λαμπρᾷ πάντη καὶ βασιλίδι τῶν πόλεων, τῇ Κωνσαντίνου φημὶ, νέαν δὲ ῥώμην ὀιδε πᾶς ὀνομάζειν, as the Life testifies, ἀνήρ τις ἐκόμα πλούτῳ πολλῷ, ζῶν ἐπὶ γυναικὶ, καὶ τῷ τοῦ σρατηλάτου τιμώμενος ἀξιώματι· ὄνοματῷ ἀνδρὶ Ἐυτρόπιος, τῇ γυναικὶ Θεοδώρα. And in section 8 it says that the monastery of the Acoemetae was not far from John's homeland, and that therefore by divine providence it was kept hidden from him. Then his parents built a temple for him there after his death: Καὶ ναὸς αὐτῷ παρὰ τῶν τεκόντων ἱερὸς ἀνεγείρεται, καὶ τὰ ἐκείνου πάντα παρ᾽ αυτῆς τε τῆς ὑποδεξαμένης μονῆς, καὶ τῶν θεραπόντων πᾶσιν ἀνακαλύπτονται — and that temple was, as we said above from Zonaras and Cedrenus, built before the fifth year of Leo, the year 461 of Christ.
Section III. The dwelling and age of St. John.
[15] So much for John's homeland. Concerning the institute of the Acoemetae and the monastery in Bithynia built by the Abbots John and Marcellus, we treated in the Life of St. Alexander. St. John lived in the monastery of the Acoemetae in Bithynia: It was situated scarcely sixty stadia from Constantinople, at the very mouth of the Bosporus, in a place called Gomon, and was named Eirenaeion, because the monks seemed to have found peace and quiet there, far from the noise of the populace and those tumults which the devil had stirred up against them at Constantinople through wicked men; afterward it was called the monastery of the Acoemetae, or "Sleepless Ones." Opposite this same monastery, as is said on December 29 in the Life of St. Marcellus, lies Sosthenium on the Thracian shore, concerning which Peter Gyllius treats in book 2 of the Thracian Bosporus, chapter 14, and others. From this one may correct what our Brunner wrote in the Marian Calendar — that John practiced as a monk in Syria — and what is found in the French Martyrology published at Liege — that he dwelt at Jerusalem. For what Maurolycus says, that he made a long pilgrimage, is entirely untrue. That he sojourned in this monastery of the Acoemetae which we have identified is attested by Nicephorus in book 15, chapter 23: "A certain Studius," he says, "an illustrious man, came from Rome to Constantinople and erected a temple to the Holy Forerunner, into which he introduced monks from the monastery of the Acoemetae, which the most divine Marcellus had built, so that perpetual hymns might be sung to God, with the community of monks divided into three choirs. In that same fold John Calybites too was trained in monastic disciplines." ἐφ᾽ ᾗ δὴ μάνδρᾳ καὶ Ἰωάννης ὁ Καλυβίτης τὰ μοναχῶν ἐτελέσθη. What could be said more clearly?
[16] Now the date must be investigated. Ferrarius in the Catalogue of Saints of Italy writes in his Notes: "Under which Emperor he lived is not entirely certain, since in some sources he is read to have lived under Theodosius, and in others under Leo." I believe both to be true — namely that he lived both under Theodosius IV, who reigned for a short time, not under Leo the Isaurian, and under Leo III the Iconoclast, about the year of our Lord 707. But in the narrative of the life itself he had stated that he was born under Leo; how then can he have lived under Theodosius, who was Leo's predecessor? But he strays far from the truth. Baronius, in his Notes to the Martyrology, section 1, already cited, says that he flourished according to Nicephorus in the times of the Emperor Leo, but under Theodosius the Younger, although the manuscripts say he lived under Theodosius. He certainly lived under Theodosius; and under him, or perhaps under Marcian, he died. This can be established briefly as follows: a temple had been erected to him at Constantinople before that fire mentioned above, which occurred in the fifth or ninth year of Leo. Therefore he had died some time before. St. Alexander, the father of the Acoemetae, as written above, came to Constantinople about the year 425 and died about 430. Afterward his disciples migrated to Bithynia, over whom John presided; St. Marcellus succeeded him. From Marcellus the Calybites received the sacred habit; for since he so eagerly inquired of the Acoemetan monk about their institute and way of life, since the Acoemetae were not at Constantinople, it seems clear that there was no such monastery at Constantinople at that time — one which, on account of its unusual manner of divine doxology and sanctity of life, would have turned all eyes upon itself and could not have escaped the notice of a most perceptive young man. But the Acoemetae were brought back to the city by Studius, a man of consular rank, under Bishop Gennadius, who succeeded Anatolius in the year 458 and held the see for 13 years. From this it is established that John died either in the last days of Theodosius or during the reign of Marcian, under whom Studius founded a monastery there, having lived about twenty-two years. And perhaps the desire to build a monastery for the Acoemetae was inspired in Studius when the distinguished virtues of John were made known and it was established that he had been trained in the discipline of the Acoemetae. Cedrenus, at the sixth year of Leo, which was the year 462 of Christ, writes that the monastery of the Studites was built: Τῷ δ᾽ ἀυτῷ ἔτει Σούδιος τὸν ναὸν ἔκτισε τοῦ ἁγίου Ιωάννου τοῦ βαπτισοῦ, καὶ μοναχοὺς ἐκ τῆς μονῆς τῶν ἀκοιμήτων ἐν ἀυτῷ κατέσησε — "In the same year" (the next, as he reckons, after the fire mentioned above) "Studius built the temple of St. John the Baptist and placed monks from the monastery of the Acoemetae in it." Baronius placed this in the year 459. It is certain that those who placed the death of the Calybites at the year 467 or later are mistaken. The Archimandrite Marcellus lived to about the year 485 and beyond.
Section IV. The relics of St. John Calybites.
[17] Eutropius and Theodora built a temple at Constantinople for their holy son and magnificently adorned it. His relics were preserved in it; some were later transferred to Rome and to Besancon. Saussay testifies in his Gallican Martyrology that when Constantinople was subjugated by the Franks, the relics of St. John at Constantinople; the skull of St. John was brought from there to Besancon and deposited with the greatest honor in the basilica of St. Stephen, where it is still preserved among the most precious ornaments of religion and as a pledge and protection of public peace. Many Western provinces, and especially those of Belgium, were enriched with the sacred relics which had been gathered at Constantinople from the entire East in almost innumerable quantity, during the time when the Flemings held Constantinople from the year 1204 to 1261. Concerning these relics Molanus writes in his Additions to Usuard: The skull at Besancon: "In Burgundy, of St. John Calinitus the Confessor, whose holy body rests blessedly in the city of Constantinople, resplendent with many miracles; and the precious treasure of his head incomparably enriches the Chrysopolitan city." That Besancon is called Chrysopolis by various writers of the Middle Ages, we have noted elsewhere from the work of the distinguished Jean-Jacques Chifflet, Vesontio, part 1, chapter 12. The same Molanus in the later edition has this about John: "On the 15th day, of our holy Father John Calybites, with the precious treasure of whose head the Chrysopolitan city is incomparably enriched." Galesinius: "In Burgundy, of St. John Calinitus and Confessor, whose sacred body, famous for many miracles, rests at Constantinople; his head is religiously preserved at Chrysopolis." Canisius has nearly the same on the same day.
[18] Chifflet, in part 2 of his Vesontio, under Vitalis II, the 69th Archbishop, mentions his skull as follows: "John de Corcondray, Scholasticus and Canon, later Dean of Besancon, the inscription on the reliquary case examined: received from two Greek Bishops at Avignon an interpretation of certain Greek words inscribed in ancient characters around the case in which the venerable head of St. John Calybites was preserved in the church of St. Stephen at Besancon; for which purpose those Bishops drew up a public document at Avignon on April 17, in the year of Christ 1321, Indiction 4, under Pope John XXII."
[19] There exists at Rome on the Tiber Island a church of St. John Calybites, which Pancirolus discusses in region 9, church 2, and attests that it was handed over to the congregation some relics and a church at Rome founded by Blessed John of God, of whom we shall treat on March 8, and that a notable hospital was erected by them. He adds that when these religious Brothers were restoring their church about the year 1600, they found, together with relics of other Saints such as Marius and Martha, of whom we treat on January 19, also the body of St. John Calybites — that is, as we interpret it, some parts of the body. It is probable that these relics, like those of many others, were brought from Constantinople to Rome under the Iconoclast Emperors; yet some remained at Constantinople, from which the people of Besancon later obtained the skull. The same Pancirolus testifies that some relics of St. John Calybites are preserved in the church of St. Blaise, the third church of region 1.
[20] That others also followed the Calybiticam manner of life, Other Calybites, after the example of our John, may be gathered from the Historia Miscella, book 22, chapter 30, where the following is found concerning St. Andrew in Crisi, as he was later called from the place of his burial: "In the same year" (of Christ 761) "the persecutor Constantine put to death by scourging in the hippodrome of St. Mamas the memorable monk Andrew, who was called Calybites, near the Blachernae." We shall treat of him more fully on October 17.
LIFE, BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR,
from a Greek manuscript of the Vatican Library.
John Calybites, Acoemetan Monk and Beggar for God's Sake, at Constantinople (St.)
By an anonymous author, from a Greek manuscript.
CHAPTER I.
The birth and education of St. John Calybites.
[1] The love of parents is indeed a tyrannical force, and the bonds of nature are insoluble, and a desire always burning that can never be quenched. But the Lord exhorts us to despise these things readily, to take up the cross upon our shoulders, and to follow him eagerly, because he himself has shown us greater love than our parents have. John, St. John, called "the Beggar," of whom we now treat, fulfilled this precept of Christ with great eagerness of spirit — that John who was indeed called "the Beggar," but who was enriched with great riches of the Spirit. Therefore the narrative of his deeds must be traced from a somewhat higher point, and set before souls that love God as a kind of road to virtue, which he himself can point out to those who wish, having traveled it. The account runs as follows.
[2] Born at Constantinople, of noble family, In that most illustrious and queen of cities, Constantinople, which is commonly called the New Rome, a certain man abounded in great wealth, adorned with the dignity of Strelates, or Commander of the Army. The husband's name was Eutropius, the wife's Theodora — both pious, and distinguished not only for their secular authority but also conspicuous for their uprightness of character. They had three sons, of whom the two elder were received into the splendor of dignities and the other felicities of life. The youngest was this distinguished John, who was last in the order of birth, but who, to speak with the Gospel, became first. Matthew 20:16. From a tender age, brought up with the singular care of his parents, he devoted himself to learning and studies, and preferred these far more than to be enriched with money, not looking upon vanities and false follies, as the divine David excellently sings. When he had reached his twelfth year, he devotes himself to letters and piety: he diligently pursued his studies but frequented the churches night and day, like a noble shoot continually watered by hearing the divine oracles, which are truly streams of waters, and already bearing the sweetest fruit of virtue. Psalm 39:5.
[3] It happened that a certain monk from that congregation of monks whom they call Acoemetae — that is, "the Sleepless" — inflamed by a divine desire to visit Jerusalem, before undertaking that journey entered Constantinople on some business and lodged near the palace of the Commander. John caught sight of him, and at the single sight of the monk, as if a firebrand kindled by fire, he began to ask him why and whence he had come, what his monastery was, and who wisely presided over his congregation. The monk indicated both his community and its Superior, and revealed the reason that had summoned him to Constantinople, he resolves to leave the world: and also his plan for a future pilgrimage; for he perceived that his hearer thirsted for spiritual thoughts. The excellent youth, questioning him again, inquired how they lived in the monastery and what their exercises were. When the monk explained these things in detail, John was kindly affected by them, and the man's words were sweet to his palate and sweeter than honey to his mouth. And immediately a desire for such an institute seized him, and a longing for spiritual labors. At length, taking the monk's hand, he agrees with the monk on a secret flight: he bound him by a secret oath that on his return from Jerusalem he should by no means pass him by, but should take him along secretly, so that his parents might not at all perceive his departure; and then, once enrolled in the religious community, should give him the tonsure. "For my parents," he said, "are already planning to join me in marriage, and to raise me to dignities, and to bind me to worldly glory and vain things — which, for one who truly wishes to be and be called free, is open slavery. But a burning desire possesses me to live with you; therefore I earnestly desire to be admitted to your number, and I consider this to be true glory, and lasting honor, and a certain pledge of future blessedness." The monk agreed with him and confirmed the agreement with an oath; and so he set out on his journey.
[4] But the spark of divine love was nourished and grew in John's soul, he asks his parents for a Gospel book; and he burned with many desires toward Christ and wished to be present with him and to dwell with him in understanding. What then? He asked his parents to procure for him a copy of the divine Gospel — after the manner of those who are deeply in love, who constantly linger most delightfully over the words of those they love and consider this a sufficient consolation for their desire. His parents therefore, and especially his mother (for it is the warmest and easiest thing in the world to satisfy children's desires), gladly received their son's request — he obtains a most elegant one, especially since he was not asking for an exquisite garment, nor splendid and honorable footwear, nor anything similar, as are the desires of young men, but for something so serious and divine. They procured a Gospel book and adorned it inside and out with the excellence of its material, the beauty of its craftsmanship, and a certain admirable elegance of writing, so that the book might be in a way alluring and might attract John's mind to its continual use and study by its very appearance. Nor did they perceive what kind of inner spur — namely, a most keen love for Christ — was moving him to this; but, ignorant of this, they took care of it. For its constant handling and use was to bring about the forgetting even of his natural love for his parents, and contempt for so difficult and unconquerable a thing as nature itself. But he, as he had desired, received the Gospel from his parents.
CHAPTER II.
The flight and entry into the Religious life.
[5] And now the monk too had returned, not having failed his promise. He seemed to John a fountain of water, an eye of a deer, and filled him with a thousand pleasures. He flees secretly from his parents: Wherefore he hastened that the desire kindled in him might be fulfilled by action and that the longed-for end might at last be achieved. Taking the Gospel from the house, he awaited the monk as if he were going to school with him, as yesterday and the day before. For he feared the love of his parents toward him, and especially the tears of his mother, lest they extinguish the fire of divine desire in him. He therefore concealed his departure, and indeed did not go to school, but hastened swiftly to the sea. But one of the servants was following him. John dismissed him under some pretext of business — wisely and prudently indeed, arranging the matter, unknown to all, beforehand. He and the monk went to the shore; and immediately embarking on a ship and enjoying a favorable wind, they flew as swiftly as possible to the monastery, John's gold strengthening the hands of the sailors and thus making the ship's course swift.
[6] When they had disembarked and had gone together to the Superior of the monastery, he is admitted with difficulty because of his tender age, the monk explained in detail everything pertaining to John — his noble birth, the dignity of his parents and their love for him, the honors prepared for him, the marriage arranged for him; then the boy's zeal for divine things, the agreements made with himself and the oath, and finally the flight and departure. The Superior of the monastery, gazing upon John and weighing the weakness of his age and his former condition of life, and fearing lest one so delicately brought up and unacquainted with labor and hardship might not be able to sustain so laborious a way of life, but might shortly depart and cast off the yoke of discipline and the unstable impulses of youth: (for he knew that the fervent impulses of young men, toward whatever their inclination tends, are neither stable nor lasting, but fickle and changeable) — having weighed these things, he summoned him to himself, exhorted him paternally, and began to test his resolution: "You are undertaking, my son," he said, "a thing very much opposed both to your upbringing and your age; for you are still a boy and have hitherto been brought up comfortably and softly. Our life, however, is laborious and harsh, and joined with perpetual affliction. I fear therefore lest that weakness, hitherto ignorant of all hardship, when it encounters an abundance of labor, may immediately be broken by the excess and may embrace a negligence of virtue that shrinks from all endurance of labors — so that the contagion might not remain in you alone but might spread to many others. You must therefore dwell in the monastery for forty days and learn by experience itself what is done in it. And if afterward you find that these things suit your spirit and your strength, then it will be permitted you to approach our institute and fulfill your desire."
[7] At this, John, fervent in spirit, was greatly distressed and left nothing undone that might soften and bend the Superior's mind. With incredible fervor he obtains He entreated insistently; he confirmed his perseverance with an oath, prostrating himself on his knees; and from the burning passion of his soul he dissolved entirely into tears, thinking that no delay should be granted in the matter, but demanding to be tonsured at once and joined to the choir of Brothers. He did this not simply because of his great desire for the thing, but so as to elude the efforts of his parents, prudently judging that as soon as it was understood that he had already been tonsured, all hope of return to them would be cut off. The Superior of the monastery, therefore, having nothing to oppose to so many entreaties and burning tears, to be clothed in the monastic habit yielded: and having recited the customary prayers over him and fulfilled everything that the rule prescribes for monks, he immediately cut the boy's hair and at the same time — to speak truly — and tonsured: cut away every worldly and earthly sense. He clothed him in the monastic habit and enrolled him in his flock, so that on the same day John both came to the monastery and was made a monk, not only in dress but in reality.
[8] There is no need to recount how the parents searched for their son. For it is obvious if these were the parents and he he is sought by his parents, in vain their son, and the dearest and most excellent of their sons. But perhaps a doubt may arise from this as well. For if a search was made, how could the boy remain hidden to the end, since the monastery was not far away and was not at a great distance from the city? But it is easy to say — the reason being taken entirely from the work and its end — that he remained hidden because God concealed him and governed this matter, lest the nobility of the soul should remain hidden, willing and able to direct this good design.
CHAPTER III.
Temptation. Departure from the monastery.
[9] John had now been living with the monks for six years, he lives holily and in an exemplary manner: providing others with examples of humility and obedience rather than receiving them, and becoming a rule and model of the other virtues — wonderful to all, imitable by very few. This greatly tormented the common enemy of the human race. Unable to endure it any longer, he turned to his customary arts, laying traps and snares for him and desiring to overthrow and conquer one who simply detested evil — he who from the beginning has always opposed the good. But he was repulsed in exactly the same manner, for John was protected by heavenly aid and the armor of the virtues.
[10] He therefore waged another war upon him — a war indeed grievous and formidable. He is tempted by desire for his parents: For he brought back to his memory the love of his parents, the tenderness of his father, the sorrows of his mother, and the other bonds of nature. He provoked in him a desire for the sight of his parents, most dear and sweet to all. And now the love of them, deeply impressed upon the young man's soul, consumed his body and powerfully wasted it, already worn by much abstinence, so that death seemed already to be threatening him. Therefore the Superior of the community, seeing him so wasted, reproved his excessive fasting, thinking this to be the cause of the wasting, asserting that to lay violent hands upon oneself was not a mark of virtue but of the utmost madness. But John, living by the truth and free from all deceit and pretense, said: "It is not from abstinence, nearly wasting away from that struggle, O Father, nor from excessive austerity that my body wastes; but certainly from a most grievous war which the enemy — he who was expelled from heaven by war — has waged against me through nature itself. For moving me somehow to a desire for my parents and casting into me a keen longing to see them, he consumes me, as you can perceive, and wastes me as wax is melted by fire; and he does not allow my mind to take even the briefest rest. Therefore I beg you, he asks permission to depart: Father, to allow me to return to them. For the enemy hoped in this way to overthrow me and to disturb my steps as they tend toward God. But I trust that by your holy prayers it will come to pass that I both fulfill my desire of seeing my parents and, with Christ fighting alongside me, not only shatter the enemy's hope but inflict defeat upon him."
[11] When the Superior of the monastery heard these things, beyond all expectation, he was utterly stricken prayers are ordered for him and began to recall to John's memory his former fervor: how he himself had been inexorable at first and had not wished to admit him to the monastery; what words he had spoken to him; what warnings and exhortations he had given him. Then pausing for a moment and weeping at his own words — giving this evidence of his inwardly afflicted soul — at dawn he summoned his monks and, when all had prayed together for him, sighing something bitter and confused, he burst into copious tears. For John had driven so deep a goad of longing into his heart, encouraged by the Abbot, he departs: and he was truly a sheep desirable and inseparable from the shepherd. "Go forth, my son," he said, "with God as the guide and leader of this journey, by his command and will." John, weeping together with all the Brothers who were weeping for him alone, and not so much leaving those who were letting him go as being torn from them against his will by the longing for his parents, and deeming this a work of tyranny rather than of his own purpose, embracing each one while they grieved, he himself too weighed down with vehement sadness, departed from the monastery — looking back toward it again and again, until at last it was removed from his sight, the memory meanwhile of the spiritual combats undertaken in it and of the sweetest companionship of the Brothers tearing his very entrails.
[12] When the monastery had entirely ceased to be visible to him, he immediately recovered his spirits and gathered himself from all that grief and disturbance. Then he encountered a certain poor man clad in rags upon the road he exchanges garments with a poor man and said: "Greetings, brother, and companion of the way." He then took off his tunic and clothed the poor man with it, while taking the man's rags for himself. And now the poor man was clad in the torn mantle, while John was dressed in the beggar's garment; and both rejoiced — the one looking at what was present before him, the other at what he hoped for, imitating the poverty of Christ and embracing humility.
CHAPTER IV.
Life under a hut in the courtyard of his parents.
[13] John had now crossed the sea and, drawing near to his father's house, he cast himself upon the ground, he comes to his homeland: and with his mind raised upward to God, his heart and eyes moved to tears, he said: "Lord God, who govern this wonderful and harmonious creation; who fashioned the heavens with your own hand — your wise and illustrious and glorious work; who implanted in nature a strong and unconquerable love for parents, yet commanded that you be esteemed more highly than nature itself, both to show that reason is stronger than natural affections and that the noble resolve of the soul can conquer nature; who created all things for the sake of our hearts alone; whose eyelids examine the children of men — you, Lord, know that from boyhood my soul thirsted for you, and I forgot nature for your sake and had no regard for the love of parents; but I despised riches, honors, and delights for your cause, placing everything second to my love for you. Help me now also, afflicted as I am in tyrannical fashion by the evil one, and do not forsake me; but may it please you that through those things by which he laid snares for me, I may nobly cast him down."
[14] Having devoutly prayed thus to God, he threw himself down like a beggar and a stranger at his parents' door, he lies at the door of his father's house: desiring to be entirely unknown to those whom he himself well enough recognized, and thus most wisely to heal and overcome the force of nature. When day had dawned and the courtyards had been opened as usual, the steward of the house, catching sight of him, miserably covered with rags and torn in garments and squalidly lying there, asked who he was and whence he had come. For the excessive wasting of his body had obliterated the marks of his appearance and had quite obscured all signs of recognition. "How is it then," he said, "that you lie thus prostrate at the entrance through which my lords are accustomed to go out?" John confessed that he was a poor man, and his garment proclaimed this even had he been silent. He also indicated his need of food and his lack of a roof under which to lodge. "Do not therefore drive me away," he said (for I, a beggar, shall remember you), "but moved by compassion for my destitution, allow me, wretched as I am, to lie in this corner." Thus the master begged the servant, and was not ashamed of begging, and did not reveal himself as master — he dwells in a corner of his father's courtyard: wishing to imitate him who concealed the riches of his Divinity and his lordship in the poverty of the flesh; for he too was, as David sings, instructed in heart in wisdom, and strove to destroy the one who is wise in malice by the understanding of the good spirit. Psalm 89:12. The steward of his father's house therefore took pity on him because of his worthless and utterly tattered clothing and his shadowy and wasted appearance, and went away, allowing him to remain there.
[15] He builds himself a hut: The son therefore lay in the courtyard of his parents, covered by a narrow hut. But this contest was even greater — a kind of arena in which divine love and natural love fought against each other: natural love, at the going out and coming in of his father and mother, stirring a more vivid memory, overturning his very entrails and dissolving his heart, sweetly caressing him and forcing him to come to recognition; divine love, on the other hand, resisting and striving in the opposite direction, restraining his soul, vehemently agitated and inclining toward natural things, he endures an immense struggle: with reason as a bridle, and thus making him the victor beyond all expectation. What a struggle he had! What waves of the heart he endured, seeing the slaves abounding in delicacies in his father's house, while he himself was starving, filthy, and destitute of shelter and clothing! John bore these things with a brave spirit, strengthening himself with the love of God; and therefore he prayed continually thus: "Lord and Master, who have granted me to look upon this paternal home again, and to enjoy the very sight of my parents — you who are truly my father and creator — grant me strength to overcome the enemy by your power and utterly to cast him down; lest the longing for my parents strip me of longing for you and break my hope in you." Praying to God with these and similar words, that magnanimous man spent an entire year at his parents' threshold, neglected and despised — the enemy perhaps arranging this contempt for him in order to press more heavily upon his truly great and admirable spirit.
[16] When he had spent a full year here, and had lain exposed to everyone's mockery, he is treated with ridicule: his father began to wonder at his patience, not suspecting in the slightest that he was the parent of that exile, that stranger without a roof, that beggar. Then a thought came over him that it was not reasonable for a godly man to lie in his courtyard, food sent by his father and therefore he judged that he should henceforth take care of him (that is, of his son). And he sent abundant food to John daily from his own table. But John, is distributed to the poor: tasting only a little, barely enough for the necessary sustenance of his body, bestowed the rest upon the poor, preferring that others eat sumptuously rather than himself. And he so macerated his flesh with fasting that his interior form seemed almost to shine through in his exterior appearance, as in a mirror.
[17] His mother, meanwhile, with a bitter grief lacerating her inmost being, did not know that the one whose loss she lamented was close by; and she utterly shrank from being so affected in spirit as afterward happened to her. It was indeed a heavy and bitter thing for a mother, carrying much repentance after the recognition, and admitting no remedy at the time. For on a certain occasion, going forth from the house magnificently and splendidly with attendants and handmaids, she saw John, exhausted by a foul wasting and clad in tattered rags, covered with filth and squalor, and gazing at her with a certain grim and wild look from excessive fasting. And immediately, as if it were some evil omen, she turned away from her longed-for (alas!) son; his mother orders him driven from there, so as not to see him daily, and she commanded her attendants to drag him from the middle of the way and remove him to some corner, "lest," she said, "he fill me with great disgust as I pass by." She said this in complete ignorance that she was driving away the one whom she perpetually carried in the center of her heart; and she could not bear to see the one without whose sight she considered the sweet sun itself bitter and a mournful spectacle to the rest. Thus John was miserably cast out from his mother's sight; yet he did not cease to lie by the house, but again lay nearby, having built the narrow little hut of which we spoke.
CHAPTER V.
The conversation with his mother. The Gospel returned to her.
[18] For a third year the athlete persevered thus, powerfully assailed by love for his parents yet expelled by them, despised without pity by the household, abused by the servants, and — most intolerable of all — held in abomination by his mother. And not even when thus abased did this great man bring himself to utter a bitter lament, endowed with remarkable patience, or to speak a word to move compassion, or to reveal his family at all. For this was truly wonderful: that the one whom they desired and who was himself more desired by them, being held in execration by them through ignorance, expelled, and able to free himself with a word, patiently endured all things, opposing himself to so difficult a war of nature. Seeing this, God, the inspector of hidden things, appeared to him in his sleep, he learns from Christ that he will die within three days: and having most kindly greeted him, announced his death within three days, and promised abundant rewards for his labors, illustrious crowns, and an honorable and complete recompense. Upon waking, he immediately began to weep from pleasure, affectionately and sweetly, giving thanks to God at the same time for that blessed message and vision, and at the same time earnestly praying for his parents.
[19] Then he summoned the steward of the household and asked him to report this to his mistress: he summons his mother to him: "The poor man who lies before your entrance beseeches you by your kindness not to be afraid to approach him because of his lowliness and destitution, out of reverence for Christ who assumed his form — whom you know to say clearly to those who stand on his right: 'I was sick and poor, and you visited me.' Moreover," he said, "I have a word to speak to you which, I know, will not seem idle or unprofitable." Matthew 25:36. The steward, moved by the poor man's words, reported everything to his mistress. She pondered long and much within herself what the poor man could wish to say to her; she also reported the matter to her husband and asked whether it was proper for her to visit the poor man. He promptly urged her to go to the poor man and said: "O woman, God has chosen the poor." But when she delayed and hesitated he has her asked again to come, as she hesitates: and, as the divine David says, was ashamed of the counsel of the poor (for a poor man is a despised thing, even if he has something worthy of attention and surpasses many others), John, feeling that death was approaching and was now almost at the doors, wished to be humble and abject even after death and to lack all honor, as will be said shortly. He again sent this message to his mother: "I am now setting out upon my last journey. Psalm 13:6. But if you no longer deem me worthy of a glance, a late and useless repentance will at last overtake you." Then the mother began to reason at length whether he might perhaps have something necessary to tell her; for her heart was somehow striking her, anxious whether the poor man might be able to bring her some news of her dearest son.
[20] She therefore commanded some of her servants to take the poor man from his hut and bring him to her. He is brought to her: John, brought to her — a son now close to his mother, desiring in return the one who desired him, returning with a mutual glance of the eyes the greeting of the one who was greeting him — still however restrained his tongue and spirit and checked the impulse of nature. A truly great and admirable spirit! Then in a humble voice and manner he said: "What has been bestowed by you upon me, a poor man and a stranger, you know passes on to the common Lord; for this is his own saying: 'Whatsoever you did to one of the least of these my brothers, you did to me.' Matthew 25:40. Since now the end of my life is at hand, I wish to ask this last thing of you before God, the searcher and witness of all: Do not bury me in other funeral trappings, nor inter me in another place; he asks to be buried in his tattered garments and hut: but allow me to be wrapped in these same torn rags in which I now am, and to be entombed where I built the hut with my own hands." The mother consented and gave him a sure pledge, by no means thinking herself a mother. For his mind had foreseen the need to seize the occasion to obtain her word before he was recognized.
[21] Having therefore entreated and obtained these things as one poor in spirit, he gave her the Gospel: "Let this be for you," he said, he gives the Gospel to his mother: "for you and my lord your husband, a sure protection in this mortal life and a pledge of future salvation." His mother gladly and kindly received it from him. But she wondered greatly whence and how such a thing had come into the possession of that poor man. When therefore she turned the book over and over in her hands, she said: "This is very like the one we once procured for John." And at the same time she recalled her son to mind, and the grief was renewed, and she called out for him affectionately and kindled her mourning more intensely. And not even then did John succumb to nature so as to confess his family. At length, slowly and with difficulty collecting herself, the mother went to her husband and showed him the gift, saying that it was very like the book of their dearest son, or certainly the same one they had procured for him. When he saw it, he immediately recognized it, and his heart was stirred and trembled within him, and he said: "This is the very one, O woman, and by no means another; it is the same one that we once procured for our dearest son. But let us go to that poor man the father recognizes the book once given to his son and inquire whence and how he came by it, and how much time has elapsed since he became its possessor. For we shall quickly learn from him also the other thing that we are seeking."
CHAPTER VI.
The revelation of himself. Death. Burial.
[22] Immediately therefore, approaching John, they questioned him, examined him, and bound him by oath to reveal everything sincerely and to conceal nothing from them. He, now near his end and thus taken by surprise, being above all cautious not to be caught in perjury, groaning deeply and tearfully and dissolving in tears, he reveals to his parents who he is: truly stronger than human affections, disclosed to them the John who had been hidden from them: "I am John," he said, "whom you have long sought; and this Gospel is the very one which you procured for me when I asked for it at the time of my departure from you." When the father and mother understood these things, they carefully observed the marks of their son with their eyes, and recognizing him for certain by his face, his voice, and other signs, they nearly fainted, overwhelmed at once by immense joy and grief — joy indeed that they had found the one so desired by them; but grief that as soon as they had found him, he was slipping from their very hands.
[23] He is received with tearful cries by his parents: And so, embracing him for the last time and clustering around him, they called out to him with great feeling and lamentation: "O son, much longed for and mourned by us! O dissolution of our bowels! O wound of your parents! O sting fixed deep in the very center of our heart! How much more cruelly have you now, once found, wounded our spirits than when you were first lost! For then some hope of your return caressed us, and the vehemence of grief was softened by the sweetness of hope; but now you take from us even the comfort of hope itself, as if you had been found only to torment us more, and only to show us that your return was beyond hope. Would that you had died in silence! Would that dying you had remained as hidden as when living! For then you would not have sharpened our feelings; you would not have inflicted a wider wound. O discovery more unfortunate than loss! O longed-for sight that has cheated those who desired it! Surely you should either have been recognized immediately upon your return, so that there might be occasion for joy — lest grief follow upon grief, but rather some pleasure — or have died unknown. But now we hang uncertain whether we should first rejoice at your return or mourn your death. O most wretched of the most wretched that we are! How is it that the one we sought throughout the whole world, we drove away though we had him in our hands? O vault of the heavens! O sun, inspector of all things, can you bear to behold such a spectacle? What bitterness of groans, what fountains of tears will suffice for so great a grief? You should have taken your parents, my son, as companions of your departure, so that we might have the fellowship of our dearest one as a provision for the journey, and so that you, who deprived us for no small time of the joy we hoped for from you, might also free us from the tears to be shed on your behalf. But now, what stone, what iron, what nature anywhere will bear the weight of so great an evil?"
[24] And they, clustered around their son, spoke these and other things which feeling prompted, he dies, and drew out their lamentation for four hours. But death, gradually approaching him, took away his senses. And soon the illustrious victor breathed forth his very soul amid the dear hands of his parents. A certain new and varied emotion — pleasure, wonder, and tears — seized the entire city. They rejoiced at the discovery of the distinguished youth; they marveled at the unconquered endurance of the athlete; they mourned with the parents the death of their most wished-for son.
[25] Finally, the mother, forgetting her son's commands, or rather overcome by love for him, soon stripped him of those tattered rags the mother, dressing him in a precious garment, is struck with paralysis: and clothed him in a fine and splendid garment. But immediately a paralysis of her limbs seized her, the son punishing the deed. O fervent love for Christ — in that even the very tokens of his combats seem to have been far dearer to the athlete than his own mother! The father, therefore, seeing his wife in this condition, recalled to her memory the commands of their son; she is healed when the old rags are restored, and as soon as the son was stripped of the precious garments and clothed in his accustomed ones, the mother was freed from the paralysis. Thus the son was in a manner the censor and admonisher of his parents — God signifying, as it seems, that not only must children observe the commands of their parents, but parents too must observe the requests of their dying children, when these pertain to the honor of God.
[26] The valiant wrestler was therefore buried in the very hut, as he had requested. For he knew that such humility reaches the heavenly tabernacles far more easily than extraordinary glory. A temple was then built for him by his parents, and all his deeds from his entry into the monastery a temple is built for him became publicly known.
[27] After this, his parents too, having put their affairs in excellent order, departed this life, the parents spend all their possessions on pious causes, having consecrated part of their wealth to the temple and distributed part to the needy — so that the tree itself might also have something in keeping with its fruit, to the glory of God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is owed all honor, dominion, magnificence, and majesty, now and always and for ever and ever. Amen.
ANOTHER LIFE
translated from a Greek manuscript by Cardinal Sirleto, published by Lipomanus and Surius.
John Calybites, Acoemetan Monk and Beggar for God's Sake, at Constantinople (St.)
From Lipomanus.
CHAPTER I.
The education of St. John. His desire for the monastic life.
[1] I intend to narrate to you who have come together in harmony to this place the life of a just and perfect man, honestly, purely, and virtuously lived; for he lived in our times. Having despised the business of this life with singular wisdom and with faith and piety in Christ, he obtained heavenly goods. What the matter is will be explained by this narrative.
[2] St. John, born of noble parents, There was in the city of Rome a certain man very rich and endowed with the dignity of those who command armies. The man's name was Eutropius, and his wife was called Theodora. He had three sons, of whom two had been placed by him in civil offices. The youngest was called John. His father gave him to a teacher for the study of letters. And so, having learned the first elements of education, he devotes himself to letters and piety: he went on to study the books of Rhetoric and Philosophy. When he reached the age of twelve, having learned nearly everything to perfection — for the boy was of a good and refined intellect — and keeping the faith of Christ, he devoted himself especially to the holy churches and never left his books for a single hour, so that men of letters marveled at the young man's perseverance.
[3] On a certain day, a certain Abbot from the upper regions, from the venerable monastery of those who are called Acoemetae — because they were never accustomed to lie down to sleep — having made a vow to go to Jerusalem, came to that house in which John was being taught and entreated those who dwelt there to allow him to lodge with them. When Blessed John saw the man's habit and the method of his ascetic life, he converses with an Acoemetan monk: inflamed by the Holy Spirit, he began to ask him whence he came, where he was going, and what was the method of the religious discipline practiced in the monastery from which he had set out. The monk, questioned by the boy, narrated the whole manner of life and the rule of their discipline. He also revealed his own affairs — namely, that he was traveling to Jerusalem out of devotion, to pray to God there and venerate the holy places, and then to return to the holy monastery from which he had set out.
[4] He desires to become a monk: When John heard these things, he took the monk by the hand and led him aside, and bound him by a very solemn oath that after he had completed that journey, he would return to him and take him along to that holy monastery. Then Blessed John said to him: "Listen, I beseech you, my Abba, and let compassion for me move you. For my parents, loving me above my other brothers and all other members of the household, and taking care to have me instructed in many branches of learning and education, intend to raise me to some high rank of dignity. For as my lord and father says, he wishes to promote me to a dignity greater than the rank held by Military Tribunes. After that he has it entirely in mind to join me in marriage. But I, partly from coming to the holy church and partly from what I have read and pondered within myself, have come to know that all things in this life are vain, and that he alone is saved who, having despised the things of this life, constantly serves Christ in that habit of yours. Wherefore I humbly beg you, Lord, to take me and enroll me in that holy monastery." When the monk heard these things, he promised with an oath that he would return and take John with him to the monastery.
[5] When they had so agreed between them, each went his own way. He asks his parents for a book of the Gospels: When the monk had departed, Blessed John said to himself: "Meanwhile, I shall do this first: I shall ask my parents for a holy book of the Gospels, from which I may learn the teachings of Christ and how I may do the things that are pleasing to Christ." And so, approaching his parents, he said: "I cannot go to school for shame, since all who study letters with me, after they have finished the exercises done in school, have their Gospels with them and sit reading them; but I am as one of those who have no parents, since I lack a Gospel. Therefore I humbly beg you, my lords, to order that a Gospel be given to me as well, so that I too, holding it in my hands, may learn from it." When his mother heard this, she rejoiced greatly that her son was possessed by so great a zeal for learning, and speaking with her husband, she said: "Come, my lord, see to it that such a book of the Gospels be written he receives a very precious one and given to our son, one that not only arouses our son's desire by the shapes of its letters and what is written inside, but is also so beautiful in its binding and outward appearance that it excites his desire the more." His father immediately ordered a goldsmith to be called and told him to take as much money as was sufficient for binding a Gospel book for his son. The goldsmith, having taken five hundred coins and precious gems and pearls, bound the book for John. When John himself had received the Gospel and held it in his hands, he diligently studied it, waiting until the monk spoken of above should return.
CHAPTER II.
The flight to the monastery of the Acoemetae.
[6] After an interval of time, the monk returned, as he had promised to do. He arranges with the monk to depart secretly: When John saw him, he rejoiced greatly and, running to meet him with a most happy spirit, embraced him and addressed him with these words: "My lord, no one knows as I do the affection of my parents and their excessive goodwill toward me. For I know my mother especially to be such toward me that if she should detect anything of this sort, she would impede the course of my resolution with her tears. Therefore I beg you that we depart silently, so that no one may know what we are doing." Then the monk said: "Let us do, my son, what you wish; for God will satisfy your desires." And so John, taking the monk with him, went to the bank of the river, and finding a certain boatman, he said: "We ask you, brother, that we may hire your vessel, that you may carry us to the monastery of those who are called Acoemetae." The boatman replied: "I am sitting here for the purpose of taking on some cargo and filling my vessel, and its price is a hundred coins." Then John said: "Wait, brother, until the third day, and the vessel will be hired by me." When they had so agreed, he seeks an opportunity for sailing: they departed. Then John said to the monk: "The price for hiring this vessel will be great; but I am very pleased with this plan, that we devise a way to prevent my parents from impeding my departure. I shall therefore go and under some invented excuse ask my parents to give me money; and with it we shall hire the vessel." Then the monk said: "Go, my son; may the Lord direct every good plan of yours."
[7] John therefore went and said to his mother: "My mother and lady, he extracts from his parents the money needed for passage: who from the beginning have so raised me that very few mothers have raised their sons in like manner, and who because of your great goodwill toward me have given me whatever I myself wished — there is one thing more that I ask of you and my father, and I desire it for your glory." To this his mother replied: "Ask, my son, whatever you wish." Then John said: "My mother and lady, all the boys in the school have invited me to a banquet, not once or twice but often; since I cannot entertain them in return, I cannot go to school, and so I am flooded with much shame." She answered: "Wait, my son, for today, and I shall persuade your father to give you money with which you may invite whomever you wish." The mother said this, and in the absence of her son, she told her husband everything she had heard from John. Her husband said: "Let us give him a hundred gold coins and a servant boy to guard and watch over him, lest the young man somehow become wayward and spend and squander the money on some sordid and base use." Both approved of this plan.
[8] When therefore they had summoned John, they gave him the money and the servant as a guard. John, having received those hundred gold coins and greatly rejoicing at it, came to the monk together with that servant and said: "My lord, he hires a vessel: this man is mine; he will remain here with you. I shall go to my companions to learn from them the certain day on which I am to entertain them at a banquet." He went therefore and, having the money with him, approached the owner of the vessel and said: "I ask you, brother, to hire the vessel to me and the monk only." The owner of the vessel said: "I told you that the vessel is hired for a great price; but if you wait, I shall take you together with the rest of the cargo." Then John said to him: "Accept your payment from me, only carry us safely." Having said this, he counted out to him a hundred gold coins. And as he gave them, he said: "I ask you, brother, to look well at the sky, and when that wind begins to blow which is suitable for carrying us, then, standing in your vessel, summon us with a nod; for we are suspicious of certain people and wish to flee." The boatman, having received the hundred gold coins and greatly rejoicing, said: "Go, my lord, and be assured that I shall carry you safely." John therefore went and told the monk the matter, secretly from that servant boy whom his father had placed as a guard.
[9] After some interval of time, John said to the monk and the servant: "Let us go to the bank of the river, since within two days I am to entertain my companions at a banquet, they flee secretly, having dismissed their guard, and therefore we need some good fish as a dish." When they had come there, by the will of God it happened that a wind suitable for sailing began to blow. And so the boatman was calling them from the vessel itself with frequent nods. Since they could not escape the servant's notice if he remained there, they said to him: "Go, boy, to the school and see what those young men are doing, and come back here where you will find us." The servant went away. But John and the monk boarded the vessel and, sailing from there, were carried safely to that holy monastery.
CHAPTER III.
The monastic life. The desire to revisit his parents.
[10] The monk narrated to the Brothers the entire truth of the matter and how great the boy's faith was. When the Archimandrite had examined him, he said: "You are too young, my son; and it is our custom that one who wishes to profess the monastic life should stay at the monastery for forty days, and after considering the rule of our discipline, should then be tonsured." To this John replied: He is tonsured and clothed in the monastic habit: "I beseech you by the most pure Trinity to tonsure me today, since I vehemently desire and long to be clothed in that Angelic habit." Then the Archimandrite blessed the boy, and having tonsured him, clothed him in the habit. And he devoted himself to the monastic discipline with much zeal and eagerness of spirit, praying to God himself night and day. He remained six years in that monastery and was an example to all who were there of how they should practice humility and pray to God.
[11] He lives with wondrous abstinence: He prescribed for himself such abstinence that he tasted nothing but the precious Body and Blood of Christ, so that the Archimandrite marveled and said: "You, though still a boy, have imposed much labor upon yourself, so that your body becomes too weak to suffice for the ministry of divine worship; for abstinence, fasting, and many vigils are consuming it."
[12] He is tempted by longing for his parents: Now the devil, the enemy of good things, seeing the young man's great zeal and the earnest course of his holy purpose, began to rage vehemently against him. Being most bitterly disposed toward him and unable to overcome his noble mind and thoughts or to remove him from the hope of Christ, he cast into that young man's mind such sorrow and such great longing for his parents that night and day he thought of them and had before his eyes the great retinue and service of attendants his parents enjoyed; in short, all the deception and vanity of this life was set before him. And so it came about through many fasts, vigils, and excessive longing for his parents that his body seemed not flesh but as thin as a shadow. When the Archimandrite saw the young man so wasted and afflicted that he was thought to be on the point of death, he said: "Did I not tell you, my son John, that God asks only this of his servants — that they worship him according to their strength? But you, using a discipline beyond your strength, he reveals the temptation to the Archimandrite, have made yourself excessively wasted and thin." To this John replied: "Know, Father, that I am not subdued by fasting, but my sins bring me an impediment. For many days now the devil, the enemy of good things, has troubled my heart and has suggested to my mind a longing for my parents and for seeing my family. And that wretched enemy does not see this: that, with my God willing it and your prayers assisting me, even though I go to see my parents, I shall nevertheless trample him underfoot and show his attempt to be feeble and vain." Then the Archimandrite said to him: "Did I not tell you, my son, when you first wished to be initiated into the monastic profession, that the contest of this our discipline is great and the labor much?" Having said this and having wept for the young man's sake, he blessed him.
[13] On the next day John went to the Archimandrite, and casting himself at his feet, he begged him not to be angry with him, but to pray to God for him, and to allow him to go and see his parents, and by that means — with the Lord's help — to trample the devil underfoot. He obtains from him permission to depart, The Archimandrite, having gathered all the Brothers who were in that monastery and having prayed earnestly to God for the young man, said with groaning and tears: "Go, my son, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and may you have the Lord Jesus Christ coming with you, to lead you on this way as he himself wills." He seeks a blessing from each of the Brothers. When John had risen from the ground, going around to all the Brothers and kneeling, he asked each one to extend their hands and bless him. And greeting them thus, he said: "Be safe, all you Fathers and Brothers; be safe, praiseworthy and holy company, who received me well; I am wholly unworthy of your roof."
CHAPTER IV.
Return to his father's house. Dwelling under a hut.
[14] He departs from the monastery weeping: When therefore he had been commended to God by those holy Fathers, he went out from that monastery, and having gone some distance from its door, he turned and, looking upon the holy monastery, uttered a sad and bitter groan. Kneeling down, he so prayed to God that his tears flowed upon the ground. And so he saluted that neighboring region and, not ceasing his tears, departed and made his journey. When he had completed half the journey, he saw a destitute man clad in a tattered garment, to whom he said: "Greetings, brother and companion of the way. Does it please you that we travel together?" "Very much," the man said, "this pleases me." As they traveled together, John said: "I see, brother, that your garment is so torn that you can scarcely bear it. I therefore ask you to take off that garment and take mine; and I shall put on yours." He exchanges garments with a poor man: When they had come to a certain place, greeting each other, each went his own way.
[15] When John had come to the place from which he could see his parents' house directly opposite, he threw himself upon the ground and prayed to God thus: "Lord Jesus Christ, do not forsake me." He lies at the door of his father's house. When he had gone to his parents' door late at night, he again prostrated himself on the ground and, weeping, prayed to God thus: "Lord Jesus Christ, behold the house of my parents, which you have shown me. But lest I fall from your grace, grant me, I beseech you, that having overcome the devil, dying well in this place, I may suffer temptation no longer." And so he remained there that entire night.
[16] When day dawned, the doors of the courtyard were opened, as was customary, since his parents were shortly to go out. He dwells in a corner of the courtyard: The steward of the household came out, and when he saw him clad in a tattered garment, he said: "Who are you, and where are you from, and why, being as you are, have you dared to come here? Depart from here, for my lords are about to go out." Then John said: "I beseech you, lord, to show me mercy; for I am a poor man. Allow me therefore to remain in this corner (for I do no harm), and expect your reward from God himself, if you permit me, a poor man, to remain at the doors of this courtyard." The steward allowed it and went away.
[17] His parents then came out into the courtyard. When John saw them, he was entirely filled with tears he receives food from his father, who admires his patience, and said to himself: "Behold, O devil, I have also looked upon my parents, God so willing, and I despise your flaming arrows, aided by the help of Christ." And again he said: "Lord Jesus Christ, do not forsake me." And he remained in that corner. His father then began to send him food from his own table, saying: "The patience of this poor man is great, for he stays in this courtyard so patiently and bravely through so much rain and so much ice. God himself can bring us salvation through this man. Surely this man was sent here so that we too might obtain salvation through him."
[18] But one day his mother, going out of the house and seeing him lying there so abjectly, stopped in indignation, at his mother's command he is moved further away, since she seemed to have seen something dreadful, and turning to her servants said: "Take that man away from here, for I cannot pass with him lying there like that." Immediately therefore the servants dragged the man away by force. He asks that a hut be built for him: But when he was a little distance from those doors, he remained there and did not go anywhere. And when the steward of the household was once going out, John said: "I ask you, just as you showed me mercy from the beginning, so also now build me some small hut, so that I may be protected from the ice and never be seen by your mistress." When the steward heard this, he wasted no time but constructed a small hut for him, in which he remained, praying to God. His father sent him food daily. But what was sent by his father he distributed to the poor, he gives his food to the poor, eating nothing of it nor drinking, so that all the poor ran to him and were fed by him. And so his body was so wasted that the joints of his bones could be counted — with such great abstinence had he afflicted himself.
CHAPTER V.
The revelation of himself. Death. Burial.
[19] In the third year after this, when the benign God had looked upon his great labor he learns from Christ, appearing to him, that death is near and seen him perfected in the exercise of virtue, he appeared to him and said: "Greetings, John, who are truly called by this name; for by what you have done, you have shown yourself like that John who was a virgin; for having left all things, you have followed me. The time of your discipline, therefore, and the contest of your labors is complete. In three days you will come to me, to that rest of the just." When John awoke, he began to weep and to pray to God thus: "I thank you, Lord God, that you wish to deem me, an unworthy man, worthy of that rest of the just. But remember, I beseech you, my parents also, and show them mercy, not reckoning their sins but blotting them out, for you alone are merciful and compassionate."
[20] When he had completed these prayers, he summoned the aforementioned steward of the household to himself and addressed him thus: "As you have shown me mercy from the beginning until this hour, he summons his mother to himself a second time: so, I beseech you, do also now. There is one thing I ask of you: that what I say may be conveyed to your mistress." The steward said: "Go on, say what you wish." Then John said: "Go therefore and tell her this: 'The poor man, whom you ordered to be driven from where he lay at the door, begs you through me not to despise a poor and destitute man with a proud spirit, having regard for Jesus Christ the Lord; but to condescend patiently to come to him, for he has certain things to say to you.'" The steward went and reported to his mistress what he had received from John. She said: "Is there really something that poor man has to say to me? I cannot go to him, nor can I look at him." But she went to her husband and told him this. He said to her: "Go, my wife, and do not despise a poor man; for God has chosen the poor." But she still delayed her journey. Again John sent someone to say in his words: "In three days I shall die; but if you will not come here and see me, at the last you will repent." When she heard about his death, she went out and ordered her servants to carry the poor man to her.
[21] But since he was so covered up, he could not be recognized. He said this: "Your reward, O Lady, is complete, as the Lord said in his Gospels, where he says: 'Whatsoever you did to one of the least of these my brothers, you did to me.' Matthew 25:40. But I, being poor and having nothing, wish to leave you a certain blessing; but you must promise with an oath he asks to be buried in the same garments and in the place of his hut to do what I say, and so receive the blessing." She swore that she would observe what she heard. Then he said: "I adjure you by him by whom you also swore: do not order me to be buried covered in any other garment than this one which I now have; and in this very place where my hut is, cause me to be interred; for I am worthy neither of other garments nor of any nobler place." Having said this, he handed her the Gospel and said: "Let this be a defense for you in this life, and a provision for that future age, as much for you as for my lord your husband." When she received the Gospel and turned it over on every side, she said: he gives his mother the Gospel, "This Gospel is like that one which my lord once gave to our son." She ran therefore and showed the book to her husband. When he recognized it, he said: "Truly this is that very Gospel, and no other. But whence did he get it? It is right to ask him where our son John is."
[22] When therefore they had come to him, they said: "We adjure you by the most pure Trinity to tell us truly and confesses that he is their son: whence you have this Gospel and where our son John is." He, unable to bear the force of his tears, said: "I am John, your son; I am the cause of many tears for you. This Gospel is the one that you gave me. But desiring my Christ, I have borne his sweet yoke." He dies. When the parents heard this, they threw themselves upon their son's neck, and from the first hour to the sixth they wept so that all who inhabited the city wept together with them over the son now recognized. But so that his upright and holy manner of life might not be stained by any disturbance of this life, aided by the power of that Spirit who spoke within him, he gave back his soul to God.
[23] His mother, clothing him in golden garments, becomes paralytic: But his mother, forgetting what she had sworn, stripped him of his tattered garments and clothed him in golden ones. When he had been so dressed, his mother was suddenly struck with paralysis. But when his father recalled the man's words, he said: "Let what the will of our holy son demanded be observed." When therefore they had stripped him of the golden garments and clothed him in those tattered ones that he had been accustomed to wear before, restoring the tattered ones, she is healed, his mother was immediately healed. His parents deposited the relics of that holy man in that hut and built a sacred church for him there, and dedicated all their goods to that holy temple. And having devoted much money to the service of pilgrims, they died in peace. This was the training of John, this was his life, a temple is built for him, and this the manner of his holy discipline. He, I say, having trampled the devil underfoot, was deemed worthy of the prize of the heavenly calling, by the grace and kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.