life.john_kal.02 Chapter 1

And when the hater of what is good, that is to say, the Devil, saw him, he became angry with a very great anger, for he could not contain himself when he saw the great ascetic labours which John performed in his daily life, and the great renown (which he obtained).

Therefore the Devil brought into his mind the remembrance of his parents,

and he endeavoured continually to make him remiss in his exercises. And moreover he made him to become more and more apathetic in the observance of his frequent fastings, and his vigils which lasted the whole night long.

And the body of John became weak and infirm, and he became more and more emaciated.

And when the Archimandrite saw him he marvelled at the weakness which had come upon him, for he was wellnigh ready to die,

and he said unto him, ' Have I not told thee from the very beginning that God doth not demand from us anything which is beyond our strength,

and yet thou hast made thyself weak and helpless through the exhaustion caused by thine excessive labours?

And John said unto him, 'Forgive me, O my lord father, it is not the excess of ascetic labour which hath increased weakness in me, but the remembrance of my parents which Satan hath cast into my heart, and the thought of the misery which is in my house.

And besides there is this matter also which I do not understand.

The (Devil) maketh me more and more apathetic so that I may depart to them.

But I believe in Ood and in thy holy prayers : that I shall trample down all his power, and that I shall not go aside from that which is between me and God.

And, moreover, I know that God shall put him to shame.'

And the Archimandrite said unto him, 'Have I not told thee already that the Devil possesseth multitudes of wales? But thy crown of patient endurance is great.'

Then the old man, the Archimandrite, wept for the blessed man John, because he thought that perhaps he might turn aside from his patient endurance.

And on the morrow John rose up and came to the Archimandrite,

and cast himself down at his feet, and wept, saying, ' O my lord father wish to see my parents,

but I entreat thee to I pray for my wretched state, and perhaps thou wilt continue to do so, that God may make me perfect in patient. endurance until I trample upon all the powder of the Enemy; besides the command (hath come) to me to go.'

Then the Archimandrite assembled all the brethren that they might pray mighty prayers over him, and weep over him many tears,

and after that he sent him away, saying, 'My son, go thou in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost

for it is He Who shall go with thee, and it is He Who shall guide thee.'

And John rose up and took the Gospel of gold which his parents had prepared for him,

and he entreated the remainder of the old men to pray for him.

And they all together spread out their hands on the head of John, saying, The prayers of the saints shall go with thee, and shall make thee to tread upon all the power of the Enemy.'

And at that moment John rose up, and saluted all the brethren, saying, 'Pray for me, O my fathers and my brethren

I salute you all, O ye blessed people, who did pwfe receive me, and did feed me with holy doctrine.

I am not worthy of you.'

And having received the salutation of the brethren he came forth from the monastery and departed.

And when he had travelled a short distance from the monastery he turned his face round

and looked at the monastery,

and he wept bitterly and shed many tears.

And after the weeping he went on his way until he drew nigh to the entrance of the city.

And whilst he was travelling along he met a very infirm man who was dressed in ragged garments, and in pieces of shrivelled leather(?).

And John said unto him, ' Hail, my brother!

Come and walk with me.'

And the brother said unto him, 'Hail, my lord brother!

As soon as ever I had seen thee I rejoiced. Let us walk together.'

And John said unto him, 'I see that thou art exceedingly weary, and that the apparel which is on thee is in rags.

I beseech thee to give them to me, and I will give unto thee the apparel which I am wearing.'

And straightway John stripped his apparel off him and stood naked, and gave it unto the infirm man.

And the infirm man blessed John,

and they marched on together until they arrived at the city into which the infirm man was going;

and they straightway saluted each other, and each man went his own way.

And when John had arrived at the city wherein his parents were

he cast himself down upon his face and wept,

and he worshipped the Lord, saying, ' O my Lord Jesus the Christ, forsake Thou me not.'

And straightway he came into the gateway of his parents, and he cast himself down by the threshold of the door,

and he worshipped the Lord, saying, ' O Lord Jesus the Christ, behold, it is the house of my parents which I see ; do Thou give me strength until I trample upon all the might of the Enemy.'

And straightway John sat down by the door of the gateway of the house of his parents,

and he slept there until the morning.

And on the following' morning- the porter opened the door of the gateway, according to custom,

and when he saw John sitting by the door, dressed in very ragged apparel,

he said unto him, ' O man, what hath come to thee that thou darest to come into this place,

and to sit down herein dressed in such filthy garments?

Get up out of the place wherein thou art sitting, and let me clean it before my master cometh down,

for if thou do not, and he see thee, he will quarrel with me.'

And John said anto him, 'I entreat thee, O my brother, do not cast me outside, for I am an infirm and miserable man.'

And the porter had compassion upon him,

and allowed him to sit inside his parents' gateway.

And at the time of dawn his parents came out,

and John saw them,

and he wept tears in such great quantities that his whole body was soaked thereby,

and John communed with himself, saying, 'Behold my parents!

Thou hast seen them.

Now I believe that thou shalt trample upon all the might of the Enemy.'

And straightway John wept another flood of tears, saying,

My Lord Jesus the Christ, forsake Thou me not.'

nd he sat in the gateway of his parents for a full year.

And his father sent unto him his food every day from his own table, not knowing that he was his son.

And his father used to say, 'As the Lord liveth, my heart troubleth me I about this infirm man, who sitteth naked outside in the cold by day and by night without clothes.'

And John stayed in that place, and did not wish to come forth therefrom,

and his father said, 'The Lord is merciful, and He will deal graciously with us for his sake.'

And he gave him a little clothing to put on for God's sake, for he was naked by day and by night.

And it came to pass on a certain day that his mother came down,

and she saw the wretched state in which he lived, and the filthy state of his body,

and her stomach turned, and she vomited because of the loathsomeness of his body.

For his body was pinched and shrivelled up, and was covered with putrefying sores caused by the severe and prolonged labours of asceticism which he practised, and by the affliction of heart wherein he lived;

and he was like unto a dead man.

And she said unto her servant, 'Cast, this man forth from this place so that I can go out,

for unless ye cast him forth from this place I shall not be able to pass by the spot wherein he is.'

And straightway the servants cast him forth from the place where he was.

And he rose up from that place,

and he withdrew himself a short distance,

but he did not go away as if he were leaving the place, for he kept near the gateway.

And when the keeper at the door saw him he disputed with him, saying, ' Go away from this place, O man, because of my mistress, for she must not see thee or she will turn back because of thee.'

And John said unto him, 'My brother, I beseech thee do not thou withdraw from me thy gracious kindness which thou hast shewn me hitherto,

but do thou make for me a little hut, and a little space wherein I can go, so that thy lady may not quarrel with thee.'

And the doorkeeper was not indifferent about the matter, but he prepared a small hut for him, and he remained therein, and his father sent to him his food daily from his table.

And the things which were sent unto John every day he gave away in charity to the poor and to those who were in want, and he ate no part of them himself except bread and salt.

And the brethren in the city who were helpless came to him, and he fed them.

And the body of John through his excessive labours became so greatly emaciated that his bones became ever more and more apparent (through his skin).

And after ten years of days, when the Good God had seen the greatness of his self abnegation, and his ascetic labours, and his fortitude, the Lord appeared unto him by night in a vision, and said unto him, 'Hail, John!

Inasmuch as, according to the name which hath been given unto thee, that is to say, John, thou hast lived the life of a virgin as did he (i. e. John the Apostle), and hast forsaken this world, and all the glory thereof,

behold, the period of the sufferings which thou hast suffered hath come to an end, and all the contendings which thou hast undertaken in My Name.

Three days longer remain unto thee in this world before thou art to come up to Me in the heavens, wherein thou shalt rest with My saints,'

And John rose up from the vision,

and he wept, saying, ' I bless Thee, my Lord Jesus the Christ.

I am wholly unworthy to live, (and I am not) worthy to look upon the faces of the saints.

But I beseech Thee, my Lord, on behalf of my parents, that Thou mayest incline to be gracious unto them, and to forgive them their sins, for Thou, O Almighty God, art alone sinless.'

And when the blessed John had said these things he called to the gate-keeper

and said unto him, ' I know that thou hast shewn thyself careful to do good unto me.

There is, however, yet one other thing which I would ask of thee, namely, that thou wouldst go and inform thy mistress of a small matter which I will declare unto thee.'

The gate-keeper said unto him, ' Everything that thou wishest to tell me I will declare unto her.'

And John said iinto him, ' Go, and say unto her thus : This poor and diseased man, who is outside the door, and of whom thou didst say, 'Cast him outside,'

saith : 'I beseech thee, my lady, even though thou dost loathe me because I am sick and diseased, yet grant unto me that for which I ask, for God's sake, and consider it worth thy while to come to me in the place where I am, for I have a matter to declare unto thee.'

And the door-keeper went in and told the lady everything which John had said unto him.

Then she said unto him, 'What is it that this beggar wisheth to say unto me?

I cannot bear to look upon him or to see him.'

And she went in and told her husband, and the members of her house, what John had said to the door-keeper.

And her husband said unto her, 'Go to him, my sister, so that thou mayest learn what it is that he hath to say unto thee.

And do not treat him with scorn, for he is a human being like unto ourselves,

for it is the weak ones of the world whom God hath chosen.'

But she did not wish to go to John.

And again John sent a message unto her a second time, saying, 'I would have thee to know that there remain unto me in this world (only) three more days.

If thou wilt come I will talk with thee, and will tell thee the matter before I die

and if thou wilt not come thou wilt grieve when I am dead.

And when she heard about his death she rose up and came down,

and she said unto her servant, 'Go on, take me to this place.'

Then the servant called John unto her, but his mother did not recognize him by reason of the excessive ascetic labours which he had been in the habit of performing.

And John her son said unto her, 'Have not the good things which thou hast done ascended unto God,

even as it is written, 'That which ye have done unto one (of these), it is unto Me that ye have done it?'

I am a sick man, and poor, and I have nothing whatsoever wherewith to reward thee and my lord the Archon in return for the things which ye have done for me, but ye will remember me after my death.

Now rise up, and swear an oath to me that whatsoever I say thou wilt do,

and that thou wnlt not neglect it,

and I will give unto thee whatsoever the Lord shall allot me.'

And she said unto him, 'As the Lord liveth, I will do whatsoever thou tellest me.'

And he said unto her, 'First of all swear an oath unto me '

and she swore an oath.

And he said unto her, ' I adjure thee by the Living God that, when I shall be dead, thou wilt not strip off me the clothes which are on me, leaving me naked,

but that thou wilt bury me inside this little hut just as I am.'

And when John had said these things unto her he brought forth the Gospel of gold,

and gave unto her the book which had been made for him before he had become a monk, saying, 'Let this be unto thee a remembrance both of this world and of that which is to come.'

And she kept turning over the Gospel from side to side, saying, 'This Gospel is like unto the Gospel which my lord had made for my beloved son John.'

Then she remembered, and she wept bitterly, and her heart was disturbed exceedingly,

and she went straig'htway to her husband,

and she shewed him the Gospel, saying, ' Is this thine?

Find out to whom it belongeth.'

And he recognized the Gospel immediately, and he said, ' Verily, this is the Gospel of our beloved son John, and besides this there is no other.

Where did this sick man find it?

In any case lie must certainly know where our beloved son John is.

Then the two of them came out, and they were greatly moved;

and they came to the place wherein their son was lying asleep.

And they said unto him, ' We adjure thee by the Unchangeable and Holy Trinity, and by the great need which thou art surrounded, to inform us where thou didst find this Gospel.'

And their hearts were beating wildly within them, and their tears were flowing on the ground,

and they were not able to stand upright by reason of excessive weeping.

And John said unto them ' Do ye not know who I am?

And they said unto him, 'How is it possible for us to know thee?

And he said unto them ' I am John, thy son, and this Gospel of gold is that for which I entreated you,

and I took it to the place whither I went

but I desired the Lord, and I arrayed myself in His holy strength, in this humble garb.'

And when his parents heard these words their bowels were greatly moved, and they were unable to keep back their tears, and they wept bitterly.

Then they threw themselves on his breast, and they mourned over him for a very long time, from the first watch of the night until the sixth hour. And at length all the nobles of the palace a came and wept with them because John had been found in such a miserable condition.

And at the very moment when his parents cast themselves upon him the blessed John opened his mouth, and yielded up his spirit into the hands of God.

O how great was the mourning which took place in all the city on that day!

O how great were the outbursts of grief which took place among the nobles of the city! And rich and poor, and men and women, and little and great,

all came wishing to see the blessed John.

And his mother, through the greatness of her sorrow, and through the disturbance caused by the multitude, forgot the oath which she had sworn to her son,

and she had the ragged apparel which was upon him stripped off, and the pieces of old skins, and she arrayed him in fine raiment, such as befitted (his position) in the state.

And straightway an angel came

and touched the feet of his mother,

and they struck together violently causing her great pain, because (she had broken) the oath which her son John made her swear, and which she had forgotten.

Then his father came and saw her as she was suffering torture, and he said unto her, ' In truth, O my sister, this hath happened unto thee because thou hast treated lightly the oath which our son John made thee to swear.'

Then this matter caused them anxiety,

and they removed the goodly apparel which was on him,

and they dressed him again in his ragged garments as before ;

and straightway the pain ceased in her feet.

And she lifted up her face and wept, with great sorrow of heart, saying, ' Woe is me, O my beloved son John ! Alas, for what hath happened unto thee ! Thou wast the light of mine eye until thou didst enter upon this great state of humility wherein I see thee, and this great poverty.

Blessed be my womb which bore thee, and my breasts which suckled thee, O my holy son !

And all the multitude marvelled how it was possible for so young a man to have attained to such a degree of patient endurance (or, self-abnegation), and they glorified God.

And his parents buried him in the hut according to what John had said unto them, and they built over him a martyrium.

And they took everything' which belonged to him

and distributed it among the poor and the needy.

And afterwards his parents lived a holy life, and they ascribed glory to God, and to the prayers of our holy fathers.

Here endeth the strife of Saint John, wherein he was mig-hty and prevailed.

He became a servant of the Lord Jesus the Christ in patient endurance, in order that he might receive favour on our behalf before God, and that He might forgive us the multitude of our sins,

to Whom, and His Good Father and the Holy Sjiirit, be glory for ever and ever! Amen.

Written on the twenty-third day of the month Mesore (August 16) of the First Indiction, in the seven hundred and nineteenth year of the Era of the Martyrs (i. e. A. D. 1003), year (of the Saracens) 363 (i.e. a. d. 985).

I, the wretched sinner, the least of all men, Victor the deacon, the son of the blessed Mercurius the deacon, the son of the blessed Eponuchos, archdeacon of the church of Saint Mercurius, the general-in-chief, of the city of Latopolis (i. e. Esna, or Asna), wrote [this] book. Remember Thou me, O Lord, when Thou eomest into Thy kingdom ! Amen.

by the zeal and care of our God-loving brother Zacharias, the deacon and monk of Saint Mercurius, in the Mountain of Atbo (Apollinopolis, Edfu, or TJtfu). He had this book made with (the fruit of) his own labour, he gave it to the sanctuary of Saint Mercurius in the Mountain of Atbo,

wherein he lived, for the salvation of his own soul, in order that Saint Mercurius, and all the other saints whose memorials are written in this book, one by one, according to his name, may bless him with every spiritual and celestial blessing and may graciously grant unto him the power to endure patiently, and may deliver him from all the wiles of the Devil and of evil-doing men, and may enable him to fulfil the serviee in the Holy Place, with him that hath inherited it, that is to say, as deacon and monk.

And when he shall have fulfilled the disposition of this life in accordance with what is ordered in respect of every man, may Saint Mercurius and the other saints whose names are written in this book beseech the Christ on his behalf, (so that) He may set him in the bosom of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; and that he may receive an inheritance with the fathers of the community (namely), Palamun, Pahomio (Pachomius), and Horsiesios, and Apa Petronius, and Theodore, and Apa Shenoute, and all the saints; and that he may be worthy to hear (the words),

Well (done), thou servant good and faithful. Since thou hast been faithful in little things, I will set thee over many. Enter into the joy of thy Lord.'

Amen. So let it be! Amen.