John the Silent

John the Silent (Silent) ( dr. Greek Ἰωάννης ὁ Ἡσυχαστής ), or John Savvayt ( 454 - 558 ) - reverend .

The Monk John the Silent (recluse) was born about 454 in the city of Nikopol of Armenia in the family of the military commander Yekratii and his wife Euphemia. The boy began to study the scriptures early and with all his heart fell in love with solitude and prayer.

On the part of the estate that he received after the death of his parents, the young man John built a church in the Name of the Most Holy Theotokos. From the age of 18, John, along with ten monks, lived at the church in fasting, prayer and abstinence. At the request of the citizens of the city of the Colony, the Metropolitan of Sevastia ordained 28-year-old John to the bishop of the Colonial Church. Having accepted church rule, the monk did not change the strictly ascetic way of life. Under the influence of the saint, his relatives lived in a Christian way - brother Pergamy (close to the emperors Zeno and Anastasia) and nephew Theodore (close to the emperor Justinian).

In the tenth year of the bishopric of John, Pazinic, the husband of the saint’s sister, Mary, took power in Armenia. The new ruler began to imperiously intervene in spiritual and church affairs. The Church began to disorder. Then St. John went to Constantinople and through Archbishop Euthymius asked the emperor Zeno to protect the Armenian Church from gross encroachments.

Dejected by worldly abuse, John secretly left the bishopric and sailed to Jerusalem. With tears, he prayed to God to indicate the place where he should live and be saved. A bright star appeared, which led John to the Monastery of St. Sava. John, hiding his episcopal dignity, was accepted into the fraternity as a simple novice. On behalf of St. Abbot Savva (Comm. 5 December), St. John spent more than 4 years doing the most difficult work on the construction of a strange house and monastery for the novice monks. Seeing the humility and industriousness of John, Saint Sava considered him worthy of the ordination as presbyter. The saint had to reveal the secret to the patriarch of Jerusalem, Elijah (494-517). With the blessing of the First Hierarch of the Church of Jerusalem, the Monk John took a vow of silence. Soon the Lord revealed the secret of John to Saint Sava. Rev. John spent four years in the cell, not accepting anyone and not even going out to church.

Desiring even more solitude and pure abstinence, the Monk John left Lavra and retired to the desert, where he spent more than nine years eating grasses. Here he survived the devastating raid of the Saracens and did not die only because the Lord sent him a protector - a ferocious lion, at the sight of which the enemies, who repeatedly wanted to kill the reverend, scattered in fear. Tradition tells of many miracles revealed by the prayer of St. John during his life in the desert.

When Saint Abbot Savva, who was leaving for a long time in Skifopol, returned, he persuaded the Monk John to leave the desert and again settle in the monastery. After that, the Lord miraculously revealed to all the inhabitants of the Lavra that John was a bishop.

When the Monk John was seventy years old, the holy and God-bearing Father, Abbot Savva, died. The saint deeply mourned the deceased. Saint Sava appeared to him in a vision and, comforting, predicted that John would have to work hard in the fight against heresy. And, indeed, John had to leave his cell to strengthen the fraternity in the fight against the heresy of Origenites.

The Monk John the Silent spent 66 years in the Monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified. By relentless monastic feat, vigilant prayer, humble wisdom, John received the grace of the Holy Spirit: through his prayer many miracles were performed; the secret thoughts of the people were clear to the saint; he healed the sick and the possessed; while he was still alive, he saved from the imminent death those calling upon his name; from the seed of a fig tree thrown by the saint into dry soil, a beautiful tree grew and bore fruit.

At the age of 104, the Monk John the Silent peacefully departed to the Lord.