Житие преподобного отца нашего Иоанна Прозорливого, пустынника и затворника Египетского

In the Egyptian city of Lycopolis 2210 there lived a certain man named John, who was engaged in carpentry from a young age. When John was twenty-five years old, he decided to renounce the world; after this, for fifteen years he labored in monastic labors in various monasteries; then, looking for a secluded place for the exploits of desert life, he went to a mountain called Volcheya and located not far from Lycopolis. Here he built himself three cells with one roof, located one next to the other, and shut himself up in them for the feats of fasting and prayer, and in one cell he prayed, in another he did handicrafts, and the third served him for food and for sleep. The saint remained in such solitude for fifty years, until the very end of his life, never leaving his cell, but eating and talking with people who came to him through the window. When the thirty years of Saint John’s stay in this seclusion had expired, he was vouchsafed to receive the gift of prophecy from the Lord. The saint predicted a lot to Emperor Theodosius - namely, that he would defeat the persecutor of Christians Maximus and take possession of Gaul 2211, that he would also defeat the persecutor of Christians Eugene and then end his life and transfer the reign to his sons. Thanks to such foresight of the saint, his fame spread everywhere as a holy man, and Emperor Theodosius himself revered him as a prophet. At the beginning of John’s desert exploits, a certain commander came to him and asked the saint if he would defeat the Ethiopians who came to the city of Siena in 2212. The Monk John commanded him to go fearlessly against the Ethiopians and said that he would defeat them and would be rewarded for this with honors from the king. Everything happened as Saint John predicted. After this incident, the king learned about the saint and always, when he went on a campaign against enemies, he asked the saint for prayers and predictions about the success of the campaign. Saint John had the great grace of prophecy, as reported by the fathers who labored with him (notes Palladius 2213, a describer of the life of the saint); the holy life of these fathers, filled with virtues, assures us of the truth of their words. Here are a few examples of the saint’s wondrous foresight. One tribune 2214, having come to the saint, asked him permission for his wife, who really wanted to see him, to come to him. Saint John did not give him consent to this, not wanting to see women or be seen by women, since he only talked with men through the window. But when the tribune long and persistently asked the saint about this, the saint, seeing the faith of his wife, promising to show himself to her in a dream vision, said to the tribune: “That same night I will appear to her so that she will not beg me to appear before her bodily eyes again.” The tribune conveyed to his wife the words of the monk. Indeed, the tribune’s wife saw a saint in a dream at night, who approached her and said: - “What do you and I need, wife?” (John 2:4). Why did you want to see my face? Am I a prophet? Am I a holy man? I am a sinful person, servile to all other people. But I prayed to God that it would be according to your faith and the faith of your husband. Having said this, the saint left the woman. When the tribune’s wife woke up, she conveyed to her husband the words that the saint had told her in a dream and described to her husband the saint’s face and his clothes, and then asked her husband to thank the saint for the mercy shown to her. When that woman’s husband came to the saint’s cell, he had not yet had time to say one word to the saint, when the latter said to him: “Behold, I fulfilled your request and appeared in a dream to your wife, so that she would no longer beg me to appear before her bodily eyes.” Another time, a certain military commander, who had a pregnant wife, whose time was approaching to give birth, came to Saint John and asked him to pray for him and his wife. It happened that at the very time when the military leader came to the saint, his wife was in great agony due to childbirth and was already approaching death. The Monk John said to that man: “If you knew the mercy of God in giving you a son, you would glorify God, but the baby’s mother is not far from death. When you leave me, you will find a baby already seven days old 2215. Call him John and, when he is seven years old, send him to the desert to the monks for his exploits. St. John gave such and similar predictions to many people who came to him from distant places. In the same way, the monk predicted many things that would happen in the future to his fellow citizens, the residents of the city of Lycopolis, who constantly came to him for the sake of their spiritual benefit. He revealed to them both what was to happen in the future, and what was done by someone secretly from others. The Monk John predicted, for example, about the flood of the Nile River in 2216, about fertile years; in the same way, the saint predicted the executions of God that would take place and denounced those who brought the wrath of God upon the country with their sins. Although Saint John did not personally perform healings, he gave consecrated oil to the sick, by anointing with which they were healed of their illnesses. So, for example, the wife of a Roman senator, who had lost her sight and had thorns in her eyes, asked her husband to bring her to the monk for healing. But her husband told her that no woman had ever come to Saint John and that women could not see Saint John at all. However, that woman begged her husband to at least convey her request to the saint to pray to God for her. The husband fulfilled his wife's request. After this, Saint John sent to that woman some blessed oil, with which she anointed her eyes three times a day. On the third day after this, the woman received her sight and glorified God. In the Nitrian desert in 2217 there were seven desert dwellers; I (narrated by the descriptor of the life of St. John - Palladius) and the disciples of Evagrius, Alvian and Ammon. They all wanted to know more about the virtuous life of Saint John, and Evagrius said: “I will go first and find out from someone about the life of St. John.” But even if I don’t find out anything about him, I won’t go further than Mount Lycopolis. “Hearing this,” Palladius narrates, “I rested for one day, and the next, without telling anyone anything, trusting in God, I went to Thebaid 2218.” When I reached the mountain and John’s cell, his disciples told me that from Sunday to Saturday the monk did not accept anyone who came for conversation. So I had to wait until Saturday. On Saturday, at two o'clock in the afternoon, I went to the saint's cell and found him sitting at the window and talking with people who came to him. Having said greetings to me, the monk asked me through one of his students: -Where did you come from and why? It seems to me that you are from the Evagrius Monastery. During our conversation, a military leader of that country named Alimpius came to the monk; John interrupted the conversation with me, and I moved a little away from him so as not to interfere with his conversation with the military leader. Due to the fact that the monk talked with the military leader for quite a long time, I was offended and began to mentally condemn the honest old man, who, having despised me, showed honor to the military leader. Having reached the extreme point of impatience, I was about to leave the monk without saying goodbye. But Saint John, understanding my thoughts, called his disciple, named Theodore, to him and said to him: “Go and tell your brother not to be angry, because I will now release the governor and talk to him.” When these words were conveyed to me, I was very surprised that the Monk John recognized my thoughts and was convinced that he was a holy and perspicacious man. When the military commander left John, the saint called me and said to me: - Why are you angry with me? Did you find anything offensive in me? Why did you think about me something that neither I nor you should even think about? Haven't you read what the Holy Scripture says: “It is not the healthy who need a physician, but the sick” (Matthew 9:12). I can find you whenever I want; and you will find me whenever you want; Yes, even if I had not consoled you, then other brothers and fathers would have consoled you: the military leader, having given himself up to worldly concerns and being in the power of the devil, only for a short time came to the knowledge of the truth and, like a slave fleeing from a cruel master, came to me, fleeing from the devil, in order to receive benefit from me for his soul. It would be unfair on my part to continue talking with you without paying attention to him, since you always take care of your own salvation. After listening to this, I (Palladius narrates) was finally convinced that this was a holy man, and began to ask him to pray for me. He, speaking affectionately to me and lightly touching my left cheek with his right hand, said to me: “Many sorrows await you ahead, and you have already endured a difficult battle, struggling with your desire to leave the desert; you did not fulfill this desire, despite the fact that the devil gave you a plausible excuse for leaving the desert, reminding you of the love of your father and brother for you. I will tell you good news: both your father and your brother are both healthy and have renounced the world; your father will live another seven years. And you, armed with courage, continue to struggle in the desert and do not think about returning from here to your fatherland, since it is written: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). Listening to the words of the saint and strengthened by them for exploits, I (says Palladius) thanked God for the fact that He, through the mediation of this holy man, revealed to me the machinations of the devil and helped me defeat them. Another time the monk, talking affectionately with me, asked me: - No, because I am already a bishop. - In what city are you the bishop? – I supervise 2219 the kitchen, meals, tents, tubs; I try, for example, wine, and if it is sour, then I pass it by, but if it is sweet, then I drink it; I also look into the cauldrons with food, and if there is a lack of salt or other seasonings, then I add these seasonings to the food and then eat the food, which has become tasty from the seasoning. I do the same in other cases, choosing the best for myself everywhere. This is my bishopric, to which voluptuousness has placed me. The monk smiled and said to me: “Stop joking, because you will really be a bishop and will have to endure many toils and sorrows; if you want to avoid these labors and sorrows, then do not leave the desert, because here, in the desert, no one can make you a bishop. Leaving the monk, I (Palladius narrates) went to my desert to my place of permanent residence and told all the brethren about the honest and holy man, the Monk John. But I, a sinner, then forgot the words spoken by Saint John regarding me: three years after that, I fell ill with my stomach and, on the advice of the brethren, went to Alexandria 2220 to see doctors. But since my illness did not go away, but developed more and more, the Alexandrian doctors advised me to go to Palestine, since there is a warm and healthy climate. Having gone to Palestine, I stayed there a little and, having recovered somewhat from my illness, went from there to Bithynia 2221 and here, I no longer remember how - whether by human will or God's will - God knows how, I was awarded the rank of bishop. After this I fell into sadness, since this dignity was beyond my strength. Then I remembered the prophecy of the Monk John about me, but at that time the monk had already died. I then remembered what the monk told me, exhorting me to stay in the desert: “I have been in this cell for forty years, and during all this time I have not seen a woman’s face, nor any coin, nor anyone eating or drinking; Likewise, no one saw me eating or drinking. After that conversation with Saint John, when I returned (Palladius narrates) to my usual place and when I told the brothers and fathers everything that I had seen and heard from the saint, all of us, seven in number, two months later went to the monk. When we arrived at the monastery of St. John, he received us kindly, greeting each of us individually with a smile on his face. As soon as we arrived, we began to beg the saint to pray for us, as is the custom among Egyptian ascetics. But he asked us: - Is there a cleric among you? Looking carefully at each of us, the saint recognized among us one hidden cleric, since one of us was a deacon, and none of us knew that he was a deacon, except one brother; but that cleric, out of humility, hid his rank, and forbade his brother, who knew his rank, to say about him that he was a deacon, because, striving to become like the holy ascetics, that brother considered himself unworthy to bear the name of a Christian. The Monk John, pointing his hand to this brother, said: But when this brother denied that he had the rank of deacon, Saint John, stretching out his hand from the window through which he talked with us, took the brother deacon by the right hand, kissed it and said to him: – Do not reject the grace of God. Do not lie, brother, by hiding the gift of God, because lies should be alien to Christians; You cannot praise it in you either, whether it be great or small, because, as the Savior says, lies are from the devil: the devil is a lie and the father of lies (John 8:44). The deacon, denounced by the monk, remained silent, listening attentively to the saint’s instructions. When we had all prayed (Palladius relates), one of the brothers, who was suffering from a fever, asked St. John to heal him. The monk told his brother that this illness was good for his soul, but still ordered that brother be anointed with consecrated oil, wanting to heal not so much his illness as his lack of faith. Soon after this, that brother became completely healthy. We were honored to see the Monk John (Palladius narrates) even when he was ninety years old; his body was so exhausted by the feats of fasting that he did not even grow a beard, he ate nothing except the fruits of trees, and then after the sun had set; Having become accustomed to fasting from a young age, in old age he never ate bread or any other food cooked over a fire. When he invited us to sit down, we thanked God, who had vouchsafed us to see the monk and talk with him. He, having received us as his beloved children, told us with a smile on his face: -Where did you come from, children? From what country did you come to me, a sinful and humble man? We, having named the place of our homeland and indicating our permanent residence in the Nitrian desert, said that we came from Jerusalem precisely in order to see the saint for spiritual benefit, about whom we had heard a lot from others. Blessed John told us: - Dear children! What wonderful things did you hope to see when you took such a difficult path! What benefit will it be to you if you see a sinful, humble man who has nothing worthy of surprise? There are holy prophets and apostles worthy of admiration and praise, whose writings are read in churches; They should be surprised and imitated, but not me. I was very surprised to see your zeal, which prompted you to come to us for the sake of spiritual benefit from afar, neglecting the dangers of such a difficult path. We, due to our laziness, do not even leave our cells. However, remember that even if your work was worthy of praise and approval, you yourself should not consider yourself people who have done anything good and praiseworthy; imitate to the best of your ability the virtuous life of your fathers, and if you fulfill everything (which, however, hardly happens often), then do not rely on yourself and do not boast about yourself. There are many people who, having achieved perfection in virtue and became proud, fell from the heights into the abyss. Observe carefully: are your prayers fervent, is the purity of your heart not violated, is your mind not occupied with extraneous thoughts during prayer; Observe whether you have rejected the world with all your soul, whether you go to observe the virtues of others, while at the same time vainly boasting about your own virtues, whether you are concerned about setting a good example for other people; Be careful not to imagine yourself righteous, do not become proud of any of your good deeds; make sure that during prayer, thoughts about worldly things do not enter your head, because there is nothing more foolish than to talk with God with your lips, but be far from Him with your thoughts. This often happens to those who do not so much renounce the world as care about pleasing the world. A person who thinks about many things indulges in worries about the worldly and perishable; but, indulging in the care of worldly things, man can no longer see God with his spiritual eyes. A person who always thinks about God should be alien to thoughts about everything worldly and vain, according to what is written in Holy Scripture: “Stop and know that I am God” (Ps. 45:11). To the same person who has achieved some knowledge of God (no one can achieve complete knowledge of God), the secrets of God are revealed, and he sees the future as the present and, like the saints, works miracles and receives through his prayer everything that he asks from God. The Monk John said this and much more to the brothers who came to him, comforting and instructing them, like a father to children. Then he offered them several stories about people who became proud and dreamed of themselves; among other things, he offered them the following story: – A certain monk labored in the outer desert 2222 in a cave, feeding on the labor of his hands, constantly praying to God and excelling in virtues. Realizing himself as a man leading a pure and virtuous life, the monk became proud, began to consider himself a righteous and holy man, and thought to himself that he would never again fall into sin. By God's permission, one late evening a demon came to the monk, taking on the appearance of a beautiful woman, as if lost in the desert; The imaginary woman, finding the doors of the cave open, entered it and, falling at the feet of the monk, begged him to let her into the cave, pointing out that night had already fallen. The monk, taking pity on that woman, let her into his cave, without fear of temptation, since he had great confidence in his own strength. The monk asked the newcomer where she was coming from and how she got lost in the desert. The demon, taking the form of a wife, talked a lot with the monk, challenging him to sin. The monk, who listened with attention, already began to lean towards sin; after many fornicating conversations and mutual laughter, the monk became more and more confused by his thoughts; the flame of fornication flared up in him more and more and he was about to commit lawlessness, when suddenly that wife, screaming loudly, disappeared like a shadow from his hands and became invisible; Immediately after this, the voice of many demons was heard in the air, laughing at the monk and reproaching him with these words: – He who exalts himself will be brought down; You exalted yourself to heaven, and therefore are now cast down to hell. Seeing himself ridiculed, the monk fell into despair and, leaving his cell and desert, returned to the world: his high opinion of himself had reduced him to such a fall. Teaching repentance and reasoning that, just as demons lead us to despair and destruction, so we can defeat them, so that they will no longer be able to overcome us, St. John offered the following story: – In one city there lived a young man who committed many of the most serious sins, but then this young man, under the influence of the fear of God, repented. In order to mourn his former sinful life, he went to the cemetery and here he fell to the ground, not daring either to call on God or to pray because of his many sins. Then the young man entered the tomb and imprisoned himself here, sobbing and lamenting over his sins. When the young man had been in the grave for seven days, the demons who had previously led him to sin came to him and cried out loudly: - Woe to you, nasty, wicked, fed up with fornication, and so unexpectedly for us has now become a virtuous man and our enemy! What good do you expect for yourself after you have been filled with our filth? Why don’t you rise from the grave and go with us to your usual affairs, because fornicators and drunkards are eagerly awaiting you! Why don’t you go to satisfy your lust, since now you have no hope of salvation? Now you are ours, because you have done every sinful deed, and in vain you want to be saved from us: now you will not get rid of our hands! The young man did not answer the demons, not wanting to listen to them, but cried all the time about his sins. The demons spoke these and similar words to the young man for a long time, enticing him to sin; but when they saw that he was not afraid of them and did not think of running away from the cemetery, they began to beat him severely and wanted to completely kill him, if this had been allowed by God. Then the demons left the young man, leaving him barely alive. He, after lying on the ground for a long time as if dead, as soon as he came to his senses, again began to cry and sob about his sins. When his relatives, who were looking for him in all places, found him in the cemetery, they begged him to return home; but he did not want to listen to them, saying that he agreed to die rather than return to his former life. The next night, the demons approached the young man again, saying the same thing as the first time, and again torturing him; then the demons left the young man. And on the third night the demons made an attempt to defeat the invincible, but, despairing of success, they fled from him, being driven away by his patience; At the same time, during their flight, the demons cried out: – You won, you won, you defeated us! Thus, repentance, combined with humility, and patience, combined with courage, led the demons to despair and they could no longer do any harm to the young man. That young man spent the rest of his life in deeds of virtue and showed himself to many sinners who despaired of their salvation an example of true repentance. Discussing about arrogance, which lowers a person into the abyss of destruction and deprives him of the grace of God, and humility, which lifts a person to God, the Monk John offered the following story: – There was one monk who lived in the inner desert, who spent many years of his life in virtue, but in his old age he was tempted by the cunning of demons, and almost died because of his arrogance. That monk labored in great silence, spending all his days and nights in prayer, singing psalms and contemplating God. During his virtuous life, he was even rewarded with divine visions, some of which he had while awake, and others in his sleep (however, his sleep was very short and subtle, so that it can hardly be called a dream). This monk strove so diligently for an incorporeal life that he did not care at all about food for the body, so he did not cultivate the land and did not grow garden trees; relying entirely on God, from the time he settled in the desert, he never cared about how and what to nourish his body. Having left all earthly attachments, he burned with a desire to get closer to God, eagerly awaiting his departure from this corruptible world. Constantly thinking about invisible and heavenly things, the monk spent a lot of time living a virtuous life, and his body was never exhausted from his ascetic life and his soul was never embarrassed by the difficulty of his exploits. His life was located, as it were, in some convenient middle between carnal and incorporeal existence; That monk was, as it were, neither a completely incorporeal nor a completely fleshly person. For his virtuous life, the monk was rewarded from God by having bread brought to him by an invisible hand: entering his cave, he found clean bread on his table in an amount sufficient for two or three days. When that monk felt the need to strengthen himself with food, then, having prayed to God, he ate that bread, and then sated his soul with hymns, constantly being in prayer and contemplation of God, improving himself day by day and surrendering entirely to the hope of future blessings. And he already began to think about his retribution and reward from God for his virtuous life, and he imagined this retribution as if it were in his hands, but this was the reason for his fall. The thought occurred to him that he was more worthy than others before God and, more than all other people, had the right to receive grace and heavenly blessings from God; at the same time, he thought to himself that in no case could he fall into sin and leave such a high virtuous life. When the monk thought about himself in this way, a slight despondency soon arose in him, then laziness began to develop, and soon despondency and laziness fully developed in him, he began to get up from sleep and sing psalms every day later and later, his prayers became shorter every day. His thought told him: it was necessary to rest a little, and he deigned to his thought and was troubled in heart; Having made an effort, he conquered laziness and confusion of thoughts, but then again indulged in the same confusion and laziness. After the usual prayers, once entering the cave, he still found on the table the bread invisibly sent to him from God, but not as clean as before. Having strengthened his body with bread, the monk did not reject unclean thoughts from himself, did not realize that he was harming his soul with them and did not try to find a cure for this first ulcer, considering the habit of containing sinful thoughts and enjoying them as a trifle. The next day, after the usual prayers and psalmody, in the evening, having come to his cave in order to refresh himself with food here, he still found bread, but already dirty and unclean, which he was much surprised at and about which he grieved a lot; however, taking the bread, he tasted it and strengthened his strength with it. When the third night came, to one evil he added another: unclean thoughts troubled him more and more, and he was so embarrassed by the lust of fornication that he imagined himself lying next to a woman. When the night ended, in the morning the monk performed his usual prayer rule, already greatly embarrassed by unclean thoughts. In the evening, he entered the cell to taste the bread, but found it not only unclean, but also as if eaten by mice and dogs, since only the remains of the bread were lying on the floor. Then the monk sighed and shed tears, but was not as contrite in his heart as would be necessary to overcome unclean thoughts and the lust of adultery. Picking up the grains of bread lying on the floor, he tasted a small part of them; Not having had enough of them, he went to bed. Immediately his head was filled with many unclean and vain thoughts, drawing him from the desert to worldly life; At the same time, carnal lust was greatly inflamed in him, and he could no longer fight with himself. By the permission of God (who deigned this for a time to turn the monk away from his arrogance), the monk got out of bed and went into the desert at night, hoping to meet some worldly village somewhere. When day came and the sun began to scorch unbearably, the old man was tired of the journey, since he was no longer young, and yet the path he had outlined was still far from completion. Therefore, he looked around to see if there was a monastery where he could rest. It happened that, at the discretion of God, he encountered a certain monastery on his way. When the elder entered it, the brethren of that monastery very kindly and with honor received him as if they were some great ascetic, washed his face and washed his feet and, having prayed, offered him to taste, for the sake of love, something of what was offered to him. When the elder had somewhat refreshed himself, the brethren began to ask him to give them a word of instruction on how they could get rid of the wiles of the devil and how they could overcome unclean thoughts. The elder began to teach them, instructing them like a father to children, and admonishing them to be firm and courageous in their exploits, since not for a long time they would be calmed down from their labors in the abodes of Christ; The elder said many other things to the monks, teaching them to be firm in the feats of fasting. When the elder finished his conversation and lay down to rest for a while in a secluded place, he began to think about why he teaches others, but does not care about himself at all, offers others a conversation for spiritual benefit, but seduces himself, instructs others on the path of salvation, while he himself moves further and further away from salvation and is drawn towards destruction. Thinking in this way, the elder realized himself defeated by unclean thoughts, after which he returned again to the desert, no longer walking quietly, but as if running to his former place of residence, crying about his fall and saying: “If the Lord had not been my helper, my soul would soon have entered hell” (Ps. 93:17). And what the Wise One said to the monk came true: “We help brother from brother, like a city that is strong and high, and like a kingdom that has been founded, it is strengthened” (Proverbs 18:20). From then on, the monk completely corrected himself and was cleansed of his sin; Having shut himself in his cave, he fell to the ground, covering his head with earth, crying and sobbing for many days, and the old man did not get up until he was notified by an Angel that God accepted his repentance. But despite the fact that the elder’s repentance was accepted, he no longer received the bread previously sent by God, and had to eat from the labors of his hands. So arrogance humbles a person! When the Monk John finished this story, he said to the brethren who came to him: – Be always humble, children, both in great and small things, because this is the first commandment of the Savior, who says: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:3); to be “poor in spirit” means to be humble; do not be seduced by demons who entice you to sin with thoughts and ghosts. Whoever comes to you, whether a brother, a friend, a woman, a husband or a teacher, a mother or a sister, first of all raise your hands to pray - if it was an apparition from demons, then it will disappear from your eyes. If anyone praises you, demon or man, do not listen to him and do not become exalted in your mind, because demons often tempted me at night, not allowing me to pray in peace or sleep, presenting to my eyes various kinds of ghosts throughout the night; When morning came, the demons bowed down to the ground with abuse before me, saying to me: - Forgive us, Abba 2223, for bothering you all night! - Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness! Do not tempt the servant of God! Therefore, children, love silence, always being in the mind of God and always praying to God that He will grant you a pure mind, free from sinful thoughts. The ascetic, of course, is also worthy of praise who, while living in the world, practices virtue, showing hospitality to strangers or giving alms, or helping others in their labors, or constantly remaining without anger; such a person is worthy of praise because he remains in virtue, fulfills the commandments of the Lord, without abandoning earthly affairs. But better than this and worthy of greater praise will be the one who, constantly being in the thought of God, ascends from the material to the immaterial, leaving the material to the care and concern of others, while he himself strives for the heavenly, constantly standing before God, renouncing everything worldly and no longer being tied back to the world by worries about the earthly: such a person is close to God, whom he glorifies incessantly in his prayers and psalmody. I know one man who labored in the desert, who for ten years did not eat earthly food at all, but an Angel of God two days later on the third brought him heavenly food, and this was both food and drink for him (Reverend John, apparently, spoke about some other ascetic, but it was himself). I also know,” he said, “and that the devils once presented to that man in a ghost a regiment of Angels, a chariot of fire and many armor-bearers, as if some kind of king, who said to him: - Oh man! You have led your life righteously and virtuously: now bow to me, and I will exalt you like Elijah. But the monk said to himself: – All the days of my life I worshiped my King, Jesus Christ. If it were He, he would not demand worship from me. Then the monk said to the devil: – I have a Lord and King, God, whom I always worship; You are not my king. Immediately after this the demons disappeared. The Monk John taught everyone with such and similar instructions and stories, showing everyone an example of an equal-angelic life by his own example. Therefore, John greatly contributed to the spiritual salvation of many people. Having pleased God with his holy life, Saint John approached his death. In the ninetieth year of his life, he commanded his disciples not to come to him for three days. When the brethren came to the monk after three days, they found him kneeling, standing as if in prayer, his soul having gone to the Lord 2224 in order to appear, together with the other saints, at the throne of God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, glorified in the Trinity, to whom glory is given forever. Amen. Lycopolis is one of the oldest cities in Central Egypt. The actual name of Lycopolis in ancient times, as now, was Siut. Siut was the sacred city of the ancient Egyptians. The Egyptian deities Anubis and Wepuat - the patrons of this city - were depicted here with the heads of jackals; Thanks to this circumstance, the Greeks began to call this city Lycopolis (Greek - wolf, jackal). In ancient times, Siut was an important political and commercial center (this city was located on the left bank of the Nile River). Christianity penetrated here in the 3rd century. Currently, Siut is one of the busiest cities in Egypt with a population of up to 30,000 people. Gaul - present-day France - is a country bordered by the Mediterranean Sea, the Pyrenees, the Atlantic Ocean, the Rhine River and the Alps. The city of Siena was not far from Lycopolis and was located on the eastern bank of the Nile. This city was remarkable in ancient times as the location of huge granite deposits. Currently Siena bears the name of Aswan or Aswan and has 4,000 inhabitants. Palladius, a contemporary of John the Visionary, left us a description of the lives of many ascetics in his work: “προς Λαυσον Ιστορια” (Lavsaik). Tribune - military leader, own. commander of a tribe (tribus) - a group or department of the Roman army. Apparently there was a seven-day journey from the military leader’s place of residence to the monastery of St. John. The Nile River periodically overflowed and flooded Egypt, which was very important for the Egyptians who were engaged in agriculture, since the river floods served as the main, if not the exclusive, source of soil irrigation. This desert was located in Lower Egypt. Thebaid was located in Middle Egypt. I supervise - in Greek. – επισκοπεω, and hence the word “bishop” (επισκοπος), i.e. observer, guardian. Alexandria is the most famous Egyptian city in ancient times in terms of trade and education, located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. In the history of the Christian Church, Alexandria is known as a place of religious controversy and the birthplace of many heretics. Currently, Alexandria bears the Turkish name “Iskander” and is a fairly large commercial and administrative center. Bithynia is a region of Asia Minor. The desert of the Egyptian hermits was divided into two parts: internal and external. The former was more inland, while the latter lay closer to the Nile River. Ava is a teacher, mentor. The death of St. John followed at the end of the 4th century. You might be interested in: