О том же авве Иоанне, игумене Синайской горы, то есть Лествичнике

(Narrated by one monk of Sinai, who, like Daniel of Raifa, was a contemporary of St. John) Once Abba Martyrius came with Abba John to Anastasius the Great; and this one, looking at them, said to Abba Martyrius: “Tell me, Abba Martyrius, where is this boy from, and who tonsured him?” He answered: “He is your servant, father, and I tonsured him.” Anastasius tells him: “Oh, Abba Martyrius, who would have thought that you tonsured the abbot of Sinai?” And the holy man did not sin: after forty years, John was made our abbot. At another time, Abba Martyrius, also taking John with him, went to the great John Savvait, who was then in the Guddian desert. Seeing them, the elder stood up, poured water, washed Abba John’s feet and kissed his hand; Abbe Martyria did not wash his feet, and then, when his disciple Stefan asked why he did this, he answered him: “Believe me, child, I don’t know who this boy is, but I accepted the abbot of Sinai and washed the abbot’s feet.” On the day of Abba John's tonsure (and he took the tonsure in the twentieth year of his life), Abba Stratigius predicted about him that he would once be a great star. On the very day when John was appointed our abbot, and when about six hundred visitors came to us and they were all sitting eating food, John saw a man with short hair, dressed in a Jewish shroud, who, like a kind of manager, walked everywhere and gave orders to the cooks, housekeepers, cellarers and other servants. When those people dispersed and the servants sat down to eat, they looked for this man who walked everywhere and gave orders, but they did not find him anywhere. Then the servant of God, our reverend father John, tells us: “Leave him alone; Mister Moses did nothing strange while serving in his place.” There was once a lack of rain in the Palestinian countries; Abba John, at the request of the local residents, prayed, and heavy rain fell. And there is nothing incredible here; for “the Lord will do the will of those who fear Him, and He will hear their prayer” (Ps. 144:19). You need to know that John Climacus had a brother, the wonderful Abba George, whom he appointed abbot in Sinai during his lifetime, loving the silence that this wise man had first disgraced himself. When this Moses, our venerable abbot John, departed to the Lord, then Abba George, his brother, stood before him and said with tears: “So, you leave me and go away; I prayed that you would accompany me: for I would not be able to lead this squad without you, my lord; but now I must accompany you.” Abba John said to him: “Do not grieve and do not worry: if I have boldness towards the Lord, I will not leave you to spend here even one year after me.” Which came true; for in the tenth month then this one also departed to the Lord 8 . (Biography of St. John Climacus, p. 12). In “The Spiritual Meadow” by John Moschus (chapter 125) and in the Prologue on the 17th day of March, a truly wonderful story is offered about this Abba George. One day on Holy Saturday he had a desire to celebrate Easter in Jerusalem and partake of the Holy Mysteries in the Church of the Holy Resurrection of Christ. The whole day the elder was occupied with this thought and prayed. On the Bright Day of Easter, by the power of Almighty God, he was caught up, installed in the Jerusalem Church of the Resurrection, and by the hand of the blessed Patriarch Peter, together with his elders, received the gifts of Holy Communion. When Sincellus, by order of the Patriarch, invited this Abbot of Sinai to eat food with the Saint, Abba George replied: “The will of the Lord be done!” But, having bowed to the Holy Sepulcher, he became invisible in the Jerusalem temple and saw himself in his cell. The Patriarch, saddened, sent a scripture to the elder, to which he responded with a description of the miracle that happened over him, and a prediction that both of them, after six months, would unite and see each other in the Heavenly Kingdom. Those who returned to the Patriarch said that the elder had not left the Sinai monastery for seventy years; and meanwhile all the bishops and clergy who saw him in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ testified and said: “We all kissed him.” After six months, Abba George’s prediction was fulfilled: both he and the blessed Patriarch Peter departed to the Lord. You might be interested in: