Память преподобного отца нашего Иоанна, ученика святого Григория Декаполита

We know of two countries named Decapolis 2616. One of them was in Palestine, near Galilee 2617; The holy evangelist Matthew mentions her, saying: “And a multitude of people followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan” (Matthew 4:25). Another small country located in Isauria in 2618 was named after Decapolis. From this last Isaurian Decapolis came the Monk Gregory, the teacher of this Monk John, whose memory is celebrated on this day. From a young age, having renounced this world and loved Christ, the Monk John retired to his mentioned teacher Gregory Dekapolitus and, having received monastic vows from him, labored with him, pleasing God with his virtuous life. He achieved such humility, obedience and overall spiritual perfection that his teacher Saint Gregory himself rejoiced and glorified God for him. When the wicked emperor Leo the Armenian 2619, renewing the iconoclastic heresy, initiated a persecution against the Church of Christ, this Venerable John arrived at that time together with his teacher Gregory and Saint Joseph the Songwriter. Walking around the city, they strengthened the Orthodox, exhorting them to firmly preserve and courageously profess the holy Christian faith. Soon after this, Joseph went to Rome 2620, but on the way he was captured by heretics and imprisoned in Crete 2621. The Monk Gregory Decapolis died in Rome after the removal of Joseph in 2622. While in Byzantium, the Monk John labored as before, caring not only for his own salvation, but also for the salvation of other people. After several years, when blessed Joseph, having been released from prison, returned to Byzantium, the Monk John had already departed to the Lord 2623 in order to receive from Him a reward for his labors, and was buried by the hands of Joseph near the tomb of his father, also in the name of Joseph. Then his body was transferred to another place, as reported in the life of St. Joseph the Songwriter: “Having entered the city,” it says here, “Joseph did not find his dear mentor, Saint Gregory Decapolite, alive. The latter has already gone to the Lord. He saw only Gregory’s disciple, Blessed John, and he cried for Gregory for a long time, because he was not worthy of meeting him again. He stayed near his tomb along with Saint John; but after some time, John also departed to the Lord, and Joseph buried him near the tomb of St. Gregory. After this, the Monk Joseph moved to another secluded and silent place, located outside the city not far from the church of St. John Chrysostom. Having settled here, the Monk Joseph created a church in the name of St. Nicholas of Christ and transferred the relics of Saints Gregory and John into it. Some claim that this Venerable John, a disciple of Saint Gregory the Decapolite, after the repose of his teacher, withdrew to Palestine and here labored in the monastery of Saint Chariton, where he rested in the Lord. But this refers to another saint named John, who actually labored in the monastery of Saint Chariton at a time when this monastery was in a flourishing state 2624. The now remembered Saint John lived many years after that John, during the reign of the iconoclast emperor Leo the Armenian, when there was no longer even a monastery of Saint Chariton in Palestine. This latter was completely ruined by the Mohammedans during the reign of Constantine and Irene 2625, who lived many years before Leo the Armenian; This devastation is mentioned in the story of the suffering of the venerable fathers who were beaten in the monastery of the Monk Sava in the Sukki monastery of St. Chariton, the “Old Lavra.” It is reported here that at the time when the beating of the fathers of the monastery of St. Sava took place, the monastery of St. Chariton was also completely ruined, which after that was never resumed, but fell into final desolation; from here it is clear how the now remembered Saint John could have stayed in that completely ruined and deserted monastery of Chariton and died in it; Moreover, in the life of the Venerable Joseph the Songwriter, it is narrated that this blessed Joseph with his own hands buried the body of the now remembered Saint John in Byzantium and then transferred it to another, not far from the first, place. The memory of Saint John of the Old Cave is celebrated on April 19. Decapolis is a decapolis, a union of several cities. Galilee (region, district) is a country located in the north of Palestine. Its borders were: in the north - Syria and the Lebanese mountains, in the west - Phenicia, in the east - the Jordan River and in the south - Samaria. Galilee was divided into upper (or northern) and lower (or southern). Isauria is the southern mountainous part of Lycaonia, the Asia Minor region. Emperor Leo (Vth) the Armenian ruled the Byzantine Empire from 813 to 820. Rome is the main city of the Italian state, standing on the Tiber River. Crete is one of the large islands of the Mediterranean Sea. The death of Saint Gregory Decapolite followed ca. 820 The death of Saint John followed ca. 820 Here, of course, John of the Old Cave Emperor Constantine ruled Byzantium from 780 to 797, and Saint Irene (his mother) from 797 to 802. You might be interested in: