Память преподобного отца нашего Иоанна Ветхопещерника

The name of the “Old Lavra” was given to the monastery of St. Chariton, located in the Palestinian desert near Jerusalem. It was called the “Old Lavra” because it was built by Saint Chariton before other laurels, as it is written in detail in his life 2640. It was in this Old Chariton Lavra that the now remembered Venerable John labored in fasting. Burning with love for the Lord from a young age, Saint John clung to God with all his soul, in accordance with what is written in the Holy Scripture: “And it is good for me to draw closer to God!” (Ps. 72:28). Disdaining the vain worldly life, Saint John withdrew from his fatherland and, having taken upon himself the cross of monastic life, wandered to different places in the name of the Lord, Who, from the day of His birth until His death, “had no place to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20). Having reached the holy places of Jerusalem, Saint John bowed to the life-giving Sepulcher of the Lord, then came to the aforementioned Lavra of Blessed Chariton, where for his virtuous life he was awarded the holy rank of priest. Curbing carnal passions with great abstinence, Saint John appeared here as an imitator of the great ancient fasters: through all-night vigils and constant remembrance of the saint’s death, he achieved the perfect mortification of his flesh and was, as it were, an Angel in the flesh. Having lived for quite a few years and pleasing God all the time, the saint reposed in the Lord 2641. In the arms of the holy disembodied Angels, his soul was carried to the eternal heavenly abodes. Saint John is called the “Old Cave-monger” instead of the “Old Lavra” because the Old Lavra of St. Chariton was originally located in the robber’s cave. The Monk Chariton was imprisoned in this cave by robbers. But after the robbers, having drunk wine poisoned by the snake’s poison, died, the Monk Chariton freed himself from them. Having found a lot of gold in the cave, looted by robbers, the Monk Khariton built a church next to the cave; when the brethren gathered to him, he built a monastery over the cave. And since the Monk John lived in that ancient cave, performing divine services in the cave church, that is why he was nicknamed “the old cave dweller.” The Monk Chariton labored in the century. III century and beginning IV century in Palestine, where he founded three monasteries: Sukkah (“Old Lavra”), Paran and Jericho. – Her memory is celebrated on September 28 The death of Saint John of the Old Cave followed in the second half of VIII. You might be interested in: