The life of our revered father John the Sufferer

"We must enter into the kingdom of God through many tribulations". (Acts 14:22) According to the apostle Paul, the beloved disciple of Jesus, the virgin John, said: "I, John, your brother and companion in the tribulation" (Rev. 1:9).

The beloved disciple of the Most Holy Mother of God from the Cave Monastery, our Russian virgin John, who is nicknamed the Many-Suffering, agrees with them; indeed, he endured many sorrows for the promise of virginity given to the heavenly Bridegroom.

This is what he said about his life shortly before he died.

To this saint, who was confined in one narrow place, in the cave of St. Anthony, and spent his whole life there, often came one of the brothers, who was troubled by the devil's carnal desire, and he asked the saint to pray to the Lord to lessen his passion.

Be strong, my brother, and let thy heart be strong; be patient in the name of Jehovah, and keep his way; and he will not leave thee in the hand of our enemies, nor let them overtake thee.

And John the Baptist said unto him, Why wilt thou give thyself to the enemy?

You will be like a man standing on the edge of a precipice, whose enemy comes and suddenly pushes him down, and such a fall will be terrible that he will never get up again; but if you stay here in the holy monastery, you will be like a man standing far from the precipice, whom the enemy as if

And thou shalt not be able to endure, and thou shalt not be able to endure; for the Lord will deliver thee from the pit of desires, and from the filthiness of the world.

And he began to relate his whole life in detail. When I came to this holy cave monastery and began to work in the rank of a holy angelic female figure, I, greatly inflamed with lust, suffered a great deal for my salvation.

I fasted for days and nights, sometimes for two days and sometimes for three days, and often for a whole week. I was in this state for about three years, and yet I found no rest.

Then I went to the cave where our reverend father Antony was laid, and I spent day and night in prayer at his tomb; and then I heard the voice of the reverend to me:

John, John, you must stay here in the cave, so that, seeing nothing and being silent, you may overcome your passion.

And so I have been confined here in this narrow and sad place, where I have lived for thirteen years, and I have not soon attained peace.

For years I struggled with my sinful nature. I kept my body in bondage and torture. At first I fasted and watched. Then I was helpless, unable to control my sinful nature.

Even now I'm exhausted by the cold and the weight of the iron.

However, when all that was not enough, I thought of something else: I dug a hole up to my shoulders.

When the days of the holy Great Fast came, I went into the pit and covered myself with earth, so that I had only my hands and head free, and so I lay under the weight of the earth all the fast, not being able to move a joint; but even this did not cease my burning carnal passion.

And I was afraid of my enemy, the devil, who wanted to drive me out of it, and I felt his cunning. My feet burned at the bottom of the pit, my veins tightened, my bones trembled, the flame reached my belly and my limbs began to burn.

And I hid myself from the cruel pain, but rejoiced in my soul, rejoiced that my soul was kept pure; and I would rather be burned in that fire for the Lord's sake, than come out of the pit, cursed by the devil. And at the same time I saw a terrible and fiery serpent, whose breath was of fire, and it burned me.

I wanted to eat it.

He did that for days, trying to get rid of me.

Since the bright night of the Resurrection of Christ, that fiery serpent attacked me suddenly, grabbed my head and hands in his mouth, my hair on my head and beard fell out, as you can see now, and I, already in the mouth of that serpent, cried out from the depths of my heart:

Jehovah, God of my salvation, why hast thou forsaken me? Be gracious unto me, O Lord, for thou art gracious; deliver me from the wicked, for thou alone art perfect.

Deliver my soul from the wickedness of my transgression, and deliver me from the snares of the wicked; from the enemy, from the roaring of the lion, and from his devourer.

And when I had made an end of praying, behold, the light of God shone like lightning, and the fiery serpent was gone, and I had not seen him till then, because of the mercy of God.

And I fell on my knees, and said, Lord, why hast thou made me suffer this great affliction?

Because of your endurance, you have been given this gift, that you may be tested as gold is tested by fire. God will not allow anyone to be tempted beyond what is possible, lest he be tempted by the vicious serpent.

But as a wise master gives to the strong and strong slaves much and hard work and to the weak and weak slaves bad and light work, so understand about the fight against the fleshly desires, from which you pray for yourself.

But pray to the dead one who is close to you, that he may cure you from the lust of fornication. He made you greater than Joseph [Joseph, one of the 12 sons of the patriarch Jacob.

After being sold by his brothers to Egypt, he refused to yield to the temptation of Potiphar's wife, whose house he was in. - Gen., chap. 39.

And Joseph said unto his brethren, Behold, I am the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the Lord of hosts, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the Lord of lords, the king of lords,

"Lord, have mercy on me for the prayers of this saint!"

Then I was illuminated by an unspeakable light in which I am still, without need of light night or day, and all the worthy who come to me are content with this light and see my consolation, which illuminated me on that night of resurrection, giving hope for the light to come.

After telling this story of his life of suffering, our reverend father John turned to a man possessed by fleshly passion and said:

I say to you, brothers, pray for this man, and it will help you.

Then he prayed with the possessed, and took one of the bones from the dead body of the holy Moses and gave it to him, saying, "Put it on your body".

When he had done this, the brother immediately felt the fever in his flesh go away; the fornication desire no longer troubled John and died in his flesh; from then on he had no more torments from it.

Then the saint and the brother who was afflicted with the passion together glorified God because of the miraculous cleansing of the people who glorified him by their life and death.

Shortly after the story of his great sufferings, the long-suffering recluse, our reverend Father John, on July 18, surrendered his spirit into the hands of the Lord, to reign with the One with whom he suffered.

But the relics of his saints, who gave unceasing healing, as a pillar of protection from the face of the enemy, stand now unmoved where he first buried himself on his shoulders, when he went forth, and after he knew the time of his departure.

Through the prayers of this long-suffering prisoner, our holy father John, whose honorable body, as it had conquered the passions of the flesh through many sufferings, became a pillar in the house of God, may we also be guided, as the light with the pillar that appeared before Moses, into that heavenly land of promise, which is present.

and milk and honey, as the nursing mothers do, and this virgin John, as the breastplate of Christ, the grace and word of the glorious Trinity, to whom be glory now and forever. Amen.

I'm not going to lie to you.