John the Kushnik biography

Rev. John was born in the capital of Byzantium - Constantinople, in the first half of the 5th century. He was the youngest of the three sons of a noble and influential Senator Evtropy, which made it possible to get the best education from famous teachers. From childhood, John was a model of piety - he loved worship and devoted time to reading church books. Once, when the boy was twelve years old, he met an elderly monk from the monastery of the vigilants, who was preparing for pilgrimage to Jerusalem and stayed for the night in the house of the senator.

John began to ask the old man about monasticism, asceticism and prayer, freed from all earthly concerns. The monk’s story about angelic life touched the youth so much that John persuaded the elder to take him with him on the way back. Under the pretext of reading with his teacher, the boy begged his parents to buy him the gospel. He constantly carried this book decorated with gold and precious stones.

When the elder returned from the Holy Land, then John, secretly leaving his father’s house, ran away with him to the monastery of the vigilants. On the day of arrival at the monastery, with his tears and spiritual fervor, the young man convinced the hegumen to tonsure his monks, despite his young age and without a preliminary monastery test. The young monk completely plunged into ascetic exploits and soon began to surpass experienced monks.

For three years, he ate only on Sunday after the sacrament. From such a strict fasting, the body of John was so dry that no one could recognize the young aristocrat in him. Seeing the successes of St. John in the monastic life, the enemy of the human race began to wage a fierce struggle against him, inspiring the thoughts of his parents and the return to them. Neither posts nor confession helped John to get rid of these thoughts.

Having received the blessing of the confessor, the young monk returned home so that one -on -one with the help of God to fight the devil. On the way home, John exchanged with poor clothes, putting on his rags. After a multi -day foot, a strongly exhausted and exhausted monk arrived at the parental estate. In it, no one recognized the son of a noble senator.

The servants were forbidden to accept the houses of wanderers, but they took pity on the poor fellow, and in order to somehow protect him from the bad weather, they settled near the palace in a wretched hut or tent on Church Slavonic-heaps; Hence the nickname of the saint - an anchidor. Once, the mother of John, after the loss of her son always walking saddened, went to church.

She noticed a beggar in which she did not recognize her son. On the contrary, he caused a woman aversion, so she told the poor man not to leave her hut so that he would not be driven out at all. Having regarded this as obedience, the Monk John was in a kind of shutter for three years, to endure, ridicule, both his parents and their servants and passers -by. The saint reinforced such hardships with fasting and prayer.

Once the Lord Himself appeared to him and said that he patience defeated the devilish intrigues. The Savior also informed John about the imminent death, which will happen in three days. The next day, the saint handed over to the hostess a request so that, if she was able to visit him before his death. The woman was very surprised at this request, but still came to the hut. John warmly thanked her for his hospitality and asked for mercy to be buried in the same predatory in his worn clothes.

In gratitude, the saint gave the woman the very precious gospel that his parents once bought. At the sight of the book, the woman’s heart fluttered. She hastened to show the manuscript to her husband, and they both began to ask the beggar where he took this valuable thing. Crying with the joy of meeting with his parents, the saint admitted that he was their son. Feeling both joy and sadness at the same time, the parents spent the time allotted by God with his son, asking everything that happened to him over the past ten years.

When the saint moved to the Lord, his parents wash the body of the righteous with their tears. The story of the son of noble citizens stirred the entire Constantinople, so that people sympathized with them. A lot of people came to the saint’s funeral to his hut. Icon with part of the relics of St. John the Kushnik in the monastery of St. Nicholas in Fort Maires the veneration of the Monk John as a saint began shortly after his death.

In place of the hut, parents erected a temple in which they contained a strange house. This church of St. John is mentioned during a fire in Constantinople that happened in the year. During the Crusades, the relics of the saint were transported to Rome, where they were put in the temple dedicated to the Monk. Today, St. John’s hand is stored in Crete, parts of the relics are also located in Greece, on Athos and in Cyprus.

Part of the relics is located in the St. Nicholas Monastery in Fort Maires pcs. An interesting fact. The memory of St. John the Kushnik is celebrated on January 28.