Who is John the Long-Suffering?
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The devil tempts a person throughout life. Each of us faces temptations. But how to avoid them? The answer may be the life story of John the Long-Suffering.
John already lived in the monastery at a young age. He was known as a hardworking and clean young man. But John experienced attraction to the opposite sex, a passion that he could not control.
To protect himself from temptation, he left the walls of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra and settled in solitude, in caves. But even here passion did not give the body rest.
In vain did the hermit torture himself with hunger and exhausting work. His body desired carnal pleasures. Then John buried his body up to his neck in the ground. But even in this situation, passion did not let him go.
The martyr called on the Lord and prayed. Prayers strengthened his spirit and gave him strength to fight temptation.
But the devil did not give up. Turning into a fiery serpent, he descended to the ground and captured John’s head in his fire-breathing mouth. The sufferer cried out to the Lord with his last strength. And the Heavenly Father destroyed the serpent with lightning.
The hermit asked the Lord why he tormented him for so long and did not deliver him from his destructive passion? Christ answered: “I brought temptation so that you might know the power of patience.”
So in worldly life we have to fight our passions. But the struggle is given only to strong and patient people who are ready for hardships.
Memory 31 July
This monk endured many sorrows for the sake of virginity dedicated to the Heavenly Bridegroom. The Long-Suffering One himself, already at the point of death, related his entire life for the following reason.
Often one of the brethren came to this monk, who had shut himself up in one dark place in the cave of St. Anthony and spent his whole life here, struggling with the devil’s suggestion to carnal lust. And he begged the saint to pray to the Lord to weaken his passions. The Monk John said to him: “Be of good courage, brother, and let your heart be strong; be patient with the Lord and keep His ways, and He will not leave you in the hands of our enemies, and He will not give you over as a prey to their teeth.” His brother, tempted by passion, answered him: “Believe me, father, if you do not give me relief, then I will never calm down and will move from place to place.” The Monk John said to him: “Why do you want to give yourself up to be devoured by the enemy, to become like a man who stands near an abyss, to whom the enemy came and suddenly pushed him down, and such a person’s fall is severe, so that he can no longer get up. If you stay here, in the holy monastery, you will be like a man standing far from the abyss, whom the enemy, although he drags with effort, cannot push, and so the Lord, with your patience, will lead you out of the pit of passions and from the slough of uncleanness. But listen to me, brother. I will tell you everything that happened to me from my youth.” And then he began to tell his whole life in detail, saying this: “When,” he said, “I came to this holy Pechersk monastery, began to work according to the order of the holy angelic monastic image, I endured a lot, tormented by the urge for fornication, and I don’t know , what I did not suffer for the sake of my salvation. He spent two days, sometimes three, without food, often ate nothing for the whole week, starved himself with fierce thirst, stayed awake all night, and spent three years in such misery, but still did not find peace. I went to the cave where our venerable father Anthony was buried, and remained at his tomb in prayer day and night. And I heard the voice of the monk to me: “John, you need to shut yourself up here in a cave, so that the warfare will cease through invisibility and silence, and the Lord will help you with the prayers of His saints.” So, from that hour I shut myself up in this cramped and sorrowful place, where I have now been for thirty years. And only very recently I found peace, and all those years I struggled with passions and bodily thoughts. And living a cruel life, at first for several years he restrained his body only by fasting and vigil. Finally, not knowing what to do, and unable to endure carnal warfare, I decided to live naked and put heavy armor on my body, and from then until now I have been exhausted by the cold and the gnawing iron. But when all this was not enough, I did another thing: I dug a deep hole up to my chest. And when the days of Holy Great Lent approached, I entered a hole and covered myself all over with earth, so that only my hands and head were free, and so, oppressed by the earth, I spent the entire fast, I could not move a single joint, but Thus, carnal desires and the burning of the body did not cease. In addition, the enemy the devil frightened me, wanting to drive me out of there, and I experienced the full power of his deceit: my legs in the pit began to burn out, so that the veins in them twisted and the bones cracked, the flames had already reached my womb, and my members were burning . I did not pay attention to the fierce pain, but I rejoiced in my soul that it kept me clean from filth. For the sake of the Lord, I preferred to burn in that fire than to come out of the pit disgraced by demons. And at the same time I saw a terrible and fierce serpent, breathing fire and scorching me with sparks, and wanting to swallow me, and he did this for many days to drive me away. When the luminous night of the Resurrection of Christ arrived, a fierce serpent suddenly attacked me and swallowed my head and hands in its mouth, and the hair on my head and beard was singed, as you see me. And I, being in the throat of that serpent, cried out from the depths of my heart:
“Lord God, my Savior, where You have left me, have mercy on me, Master, since You are the only Lover of mankind. Save me, a sinner, O One Sinless One, deliver me from the filth of my iniquity, so as not to get stuck forever in the net of the evil one. Deliver me from being consumed by this enemy. For like a lion he roars, though he may devour me. Raise up Your power and come to save me, flash Your lightning and drive him out, so that he disappears from Your presence!” When I finished the prayer, suddenly the Divine light flashed like lightning, and that fierce beast disappeared, and by the grace of God I have never seen it again until now. Then I heard the voice of the Lord to me: “John, John! This was help for you, then be attentive to yourself so as not to suffer worse in the next century.” I bowed and said: “Lord, why did you leave me in evil torment?” And he answered me: “Temptations were brought upon you according to the strength of your patience, so that, tempted by fire, you would appear as pure as gold. For beyond His strength, God does not allow temptation to man, so that, having become weak, he would not be mocked by the evil serpent, but He, as a Wise Master, entrusts great and difficult tasks to strong and strong slaves, and insignificant and easy ones to the weak and weak; the same is true in the battle of bodily lust, for the sake of which you pray for yourself. But pray to the deceased, who lies opposite you, that he will relieve you from lustful passion; for he has done more than Joseph, and can help those who are seriously suffering with such passion.” I, not knowing the name of this deceased, began to call: “Lord, have mercy on me through the prayers of this saint.” Then I found out that it was Moses, originally from Ugrin. And an indescribable light descended on me, in which I remain now, not needing light either day or night. And all who come to me worthily are saturated with this light and clearly see the consolation that illuminated me on that night of the Resurrection, like the hope of future light.”
Having thus completed the confession of his long-suffering life, our reverend father John, turning to the one struggling with passion, said: “We, brother, have nailed our minds to the love of the flesh, therefore God allows passions to befall us with His righteous judgment, because we have never brought forth fruits worthy of repentance. But, brother, I tell you: pray to this Reverend Moses, and he will help you.” Then he prayed together with the struggling passion and, taking one bone from the relics of the Monk Moses, gave it to him with the words: “Apply it to your body.” Having done this, he felt how the liquefaction suddenly faded away, the desires stopped and all the lustful passions died in his body, and from then on he had no temptations. Then, together, the saint and the one struggling with passion gave praise to God for the fact that those who in their lives glorified Him with purity, He glorifies after death with miracles that bestow purity.
The long-suffering recluse, our reverend father John, soon after confessing his many sufferings, on the 18th day of July, gave up his spirit into the hands of the Lord, with whom he suffered, in order to reign with Him.
The relics of his saints, sharpening endless healing, like a pillar of a fortress in the face of enemies, stand unshakably to this day where he himself buried himself up to his chest - first, when he labored, and then, when he learned the time of his repose.
The relics of St. John rest in the Near Caves. On the map of 1638 we read: “St. John, extremely patient, and to this day, rooted to his waist, stands in the ground, a miracle worker.”
In 1647, the engineer Boplan recalled the Near Caves: “They show the famous St. John, who is waist-deep in the ground. The monks told me that St. John, anticipating his death, dug a deep grave for himself. Having prepared for death and saying goodbye to his brethren, when the hour of death arrived, he sank into it, but, according to the Mercy of the Almighty, no more than waist-deep, although the grave was deeper.”
Archdeacon Pavel of Aleppo (1653) left a similar testimony: “One buried himself in the ground up to his waist, spent his life in this position and died. Even now he stands there, as if alive, with his face turned to the east.” On maps of 1661–1703 and the 19th century. the ascetic is mentioned as “John the Long-Suffering.”
His memory takes place on July 31st (18th Old Style).
Lesson for the younger generation
Photo: Msdm.ru
John’s feat serves as a lesson for people, and especially for the younger generation. What passions take hold of modern people?
- gluttony;
- addiction to alcoholic drinks, intoxicating substances;
- passion for gambling, etc.
Passion is expressed in a wide variety of addictions. They manifest themselves in everyday life. What do we do in every free minute? Let's go surf the Internet! Wouldn't it be better to devote this time to prayer? Take care of your soul?
Appeals to the Lord, calls to strengthen the will, work miracles. People cope with the most destructive addictions.
An example is the lives of some drug addicts. By giving up use and turning to the Lord, they overcame physical and mental torment. Moreover, they fight cravings every moment. After all, passion cannot pass overnight.
The life of John the Long-Suffering serves as a consolation to those who have embarked on the path of struggle with their passions, including fornication.
No one, not even the most skilled doctor, can drive away the prodigal demon.
Paul also notes: “Every sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the fornicator sins against his own body” (1 Cor. 6:18). Indeed, fornication heads a relatively small family of sins, which in themselves carry punishment - not only the soul, but also the human body is destroyed. Such is drunkenness that turns a flourishing man into a trembling insect. This is drug addiction, drinking all the vital juices from the body. This is gluttony, because of which the flesh goes berserk. But fornication is worse than them, because it cannot be cured by human means. No one, not even the most skilled doctor, can drive away the prodigal demon. Only when Christ and His Most Pure Mother stand between a person and his passion will it become easier for the person. But even in this case, the cunning and terrible demon of fornication will not go away completely, but will only wait for an opportunity.
By the way, according to the Apostle Paul, one cannot even write on the topic of fornication. “Fornication and all uncleanness and covetousness must not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints” (Eph. 5:3), said Paul. How far we are today from these words! In our confessions, sin is rarely not mentioned, with the addition of the word “mental.” But, at the same time, there is a positive side to our deplorable state. Christ promises a better fate to repentant harlots than to the high priests (Matt. 21:31).
Run, don't test your strength
Today fornication has a completely different arsenal of weapons than in the time of Paul. Modern man is attacked by fornication from all sides. It penetrates through the eyes - helped by the computer monitor, the TV screen and the usual shamelessness of a feral European who goes out into the street half naked. Fornication flows through the ears - a depraved song, a vulgar joke, an indecent joke. Fornication enters through the nostrils - special spirits that excite human flesh. Fornication lurks at every turn, for they speak and sing about it with delight, write apologies in its honor, film it, photograph it, draw it. Therefore, Paul is a thousand times right when he says: Flee fornication. Run, don’t test your strength and don’t tempt God. Don't play with leviathan. Don't put your hand into the lion's cage. Be afraid to fall - who knows if you will rise?
Let's stop talking about this. This is not a topic that is useful to talk about much. The danger is obvious and vigilance must be proportionate to the risk of falling. Saint John, help. Our holy reverend fathers of Kiev-Pechersk, pray to God for us. Lord, save Your people from all the diseases of this age.
*This is discussed in Irina Siluyanova’s book “Anthropology of Disease”, chapter “Diversity of forms of “monocohabitation” of soul and body.”
Healing a monk
After what happened, John began to help other people obsessed with the lust of the flesh to overcome their sinful passion. And none of those who visited the saint left without receiving liberation from the shackles of vice and without cleansing their soul. Church tradition describes a case when one of the brethren of the Pechersk Monastery, similarly burned by the fire of carnal passion, began to visit the long-suffering John often. This monk repeatedly asked the monk to pray for his soul and for the weakening of lust. John taught the young monk that one must endure and realize what a great feat it is to resist a destructive passion and defeat it in the end. And he also said to the unfortunate man: “Pray to the Monk Moses.”
After these words, John and his brother offered up prayers to God’s saint and the Lord himself, then he took one of the bones from the relics of the said ascetic, gave it to the sufferer and ordered him to apply it to his body. The unfortunate man obeyed and - oh, miracle! - at that very second the lust in his body died away, all vicious feelings died at once. Together the monks praised heaven and thanked Saint Moses for his quick help.
Death of the Reverend
John the Long-Suffering, shortly before his death, felt the approach of his death. And he wanted to end his earthly existence where he got rid of the destructive vice of the flesh: in a hole he dug with his own hands in the cave with the relics of St. Anthony. The ascetic climbed into the pit and rested in peace. This happened around 1160, on July 18, old style, as mentioned above.
The relics of the saint today are in the very place where the Monk John spent 30 years trying to mortify his own flesh. Prayer offered at the body of the saint and simply to the saint of God himself helps in the fight against worldly destructive passions, and not only with the one that overwhelmed the owner of the sacred remains, but any that can cast the human soul into hell.
Historical chronicles describe many cases confirming the special grace exuded by the incorruptible relics of St. John the Long-Suffering. So, for example, in the story of miracles in the caves of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery (written in 1629-1631), it tells about a certain Jan Piglavsky, a Polish nobleman, who, while visiting the nearby Anthony Caves, began to mock the relics of the ascetic and even tried to tear off the head of the righteous man who rested. After a short time, the wicked man's neck and shoulders began to hurt. Not a single doctor could relieve the nobleman’s suffering: only sincere repentance for the blasphemous act and fervent prayer helped.
In 1643, Meletius Sirig, exarch of the Patriarch of Constantinople, compiled a canon for the venerable fathers of Pechersk, where in the 4th troparion of the 4th canto the venerable John is glorified: “John the long-suffering one, whose humble body was crushed by unrelenting enslavement and was buried alive, wanting to be separated from Christ Unite, deliver me from aphids.” Church-wide veneration of the saint was established by decrees of the Holy Synod of 1762, 1775 and 1784.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, the relics of St. John were in the pit where he died.
Afterwards they were transferred to a shrine, in which they are kept to this day. SOURCE: https://www.inmoment.ru/holidays/long-suffering-john-caves.html
