(A.D. 616.)
[S. John died on Nov. 11th. But as that is the feast of S. Mennas,
among the Greeks, they commemorate him on Nov. 12th; and as the
11th is the feast of S. Martin among the Latins, the commemoration
of S. John is transferred in some Martyrologies to Jan. 23rd, in
others to Feb. 3rd, and in others again to July 13th. Authority,
his life by Leontius, Bishop of Cyprus, and S. John Damascene,
Orat. 3; also a life in Metaphrastes. Leontius wrote from the
account of the priests of Alexandria, who had been under S. John.]
John the Eleemosynary, or the Almsgiver, was a very wealthy native of
Amathus in Cyprus, and a widower. Having buried all his children, he
employed his whole fortune in relieving the necessities of the poor.
On his election to the metropolitan see of Alexandria, he at once
ordered a list to be made of his masters. When asked what he meant, he
replied that he desired to know how many poor there were demanding his
services in the great city, for, like his Lord, he had come to minister
to their needs.
As many as 7,500 were found without a livelihood. John at once undertook
to relieve them. Finding that their poor little savings were wasted by
the fraud of tradesmen, who used unequal balances and unjust measures,
he at once began an attack on such dealings, and thereby stirred up no
small hostility against himself on the part of the petty shopkeepers.
Twice in the week he drew his chair outside the church door, and placed
two benches before it, that he might hear the complaints of the
oppressed, and remedy them, as far as lay in his power. One day he was
found softly crying. "Why these tears?" he was asked. "None seek my
assistance this day," he replied. "Thou shouldst rather rejoice that
there is no need," said his interlocutor. Then he raised his eyes to
heaven, with a joyous smile, and thanked God. He built hospitals for the
sick and visited them, "not as captives, but as brothers," says
Leontius. He was discreet in his charities. To women and girls he gave
twice as much as to men, because they are less able to earn a living.
But he would not allow anything to be given to those who were dressy and
adorned with trinkets. But it was not the poor alone that he assisted. A
merchantman, having been twice ruined by shipwrecks, had as often relief
from the good patriarch, who the third time gave him a ship belonging to
the church, laden with corn. This vessel was driven by a storm to
Britain, where raged a famine. He was therefore able to sell the corn at
a good price, and brought back a load of British silver.[115] A nobleman
having been greatly reduced, the patriarch ordered his treasurer to
give him fifteen pounds of gold. The treasurer thinking this too much,
reduced the gift to five. Almost directly after, a wealthy lady sent him
an order for five hundred pounds. The patriarch, who had expected more
from that quarter, asked her to come to him. "May it please your
Holiness," said she; "I wrote the order last night for fifteen hundred
pounds, but this morning I saw that the 10 on the cheque had
disappeared." S. John at once concluded that this was God's doing. He
turned to the treasurer and asked how much had been given the poor
nobleman. On the hesitation of this man, he sent for the gentleman, and
found that his liberal orders had not been complied with. "What is sown
to the Lord, the Lord restores an hundred fold," said the patriarch. "I
knew that five pounds alone could have been given, when He returned me
only five hundred."
Nicetas Patricius, sub-praetor of Africa, saw the lavish charity of the
patriarch with a jealous eye. The state exchequer was without funds, and
he thought to appropriate the wealth of the patriarch to such purposes
as the state required. Accordingly, one day he visited John the
Almsgiver, with his attendants, and peremptorily demanded his money.
"Here is my strong box," said the patriarch; "but the money belongs to
the church, not to the state. If you choose to take it, you may do so,
but I will not give it you, for it is not mine to give."
Nicetas, without more ado, ordered his servants to shoulder the money
chest, and take it away. As he opened the door to leave, he saw some
domestics bringing up a number of pots labelled "VIRGIN HONEY." "Hah!"
said the sub-praetor, "I wish you would give me a taste of your honey!"
"You shall have some," said the Patriarch. Now when the pots were
opened, it was found that they contained a contribution in money sent
to the Bishop; as indeed those who brought them announced.[116] When
John saw the amount thus supplied to his pillaged treasury, he ordered
one of his servants to take a pot, labelled as it was, to Nicetas, and
to put it on his table, saying, "All those pots you met coming upstairs,
as you went out, were full of the same sort of honey." And John wrote a
note, which he attached to the pot, to this effect: "I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee, said the Lord; and His word is true, and no lie.
Think not that mortal man can restrain the everlasting God. Farewell."
Now, Nicetas was sitting at table with friends at supper, when it was
announced that the patriarch's honey awaited him. He ordered it at once
to be set on the table, and said, "That patriarch is out of temper with
me, that I can see, or he would have sent me more than one miserable
little pot." But when he opened the jar, behold! it was full of money.
Then he felt compunction for what he had done, and he ordered his
servants to haste, and return to the patriarch his cash-box, and all the
contents of the honey-pot.
Nicetas, after this, became friendly to the patriarch, who, as a token
of response, stood godfather to his children. On one occasion this
friendship was clouded, and threatened dissolution. The governor had
imposed a tax, which fell with peculiar severity on the poor. John
complained, and back-biters were not slow to excite Nicetas against
John, by representing him as fomenting general discontent. The governor
rushed to the patriarch's lodgings, and exploded into a storm of angry
words, which left our Saint agitated and distressed. As evening drew on,
he wrote on a scroll the words, "_The sun is setting_," and sent it to
Nicetas, who, recalling the maxim of S. Paul, "Let not the sun go down
upon your wrath," was moved to regret his violence, and he sped with the
same celerity as before, but with different purpose, to the residence of
the patriarch, to ask his pardon, and heal their friendship.
The good prelate could ill bear to be at discord with another, though
the fault was none of his.
On one occasion he had excommunicated, for a few days, two clerks, who
had attacked each other with their fists. One bore the sentence in a
right spirit of compunction, but the other with resentment. Next Sunday,
the patriarch was at the altar celebrating. As the deacon was about to
remove the veil covering the sacred vessels, John remembered all at once
the hostility of the clerk, and the words of our Lord: "If thou bringest
thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought
against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way;
first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."
(Matt. v. 25, 24.) Then, bidding the deacon recite the general prayer
over and over again till his return, he left the altar, and, entering
the vestry, sent a minister to bring the clerk who was not in charity
with him. And when this man came, the patriarch fell before him on his
knees, and bowed his white head, and said, "Pardon me, my brother!" Then
the clerk, full of shame to see the patriarch, an aged man, in all his
splendid vestments, at his feet, flung himself down, weeping, confessed
his wrong, and asked forgiveness. Then the patriarch embraced him, and
returning to the altar, finished the sacrifice.
Having in vain exhorted a certain nobleman to forgive one with whom he
was at variance, he invited him to his private chapel, to assist at his
mass. Now as they were reciting the Lord's Prayer, the patriarch kept
silence after he had said, "Give us this day our daily bread;" and the
server, at a signal from him, ceased also; but the nobleman continued,
"And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against
us,"--and then noticed that he had made that one petition alone, so he
paused. Then the patriarch turned round at the altar and said, "What
hast thou now asked?--to be forgiven by God as thou forgivest others."
The nobleman was pricked at the heart, and fell down and promised to
forget the wrong that had been done him.
Observing that as soon as the Gospel was read at Mass, a portion of the
congregation retired and stood outside the church, talking among
themselves, the patriarch went forth and seated himself amongst them,
saying, "Where the sheep are, there the shepherd must also be," and they
with shame came into church. Thus he broke through a pernicious custom.
The patriarch, one day, took a bishop named Troilus, then visiting
Alexandria, to see his poor in a certain quarter, where he had erected
for their accommodation a number of domed huts, supplied with beds,
mattrasses, and blankets for the winter. Now Troilus had seen a handsome
chased silver drinking cup in the town, and had set his heart upon it;
it cost thirty pounds, and he had brought this sum with him, intending
to buy the cup on his return, and when he had shaken himself free from
the charitable patriarch. "I see," said John, "you have some money with
you--many pounds, if I mistake not; distribute it among these my poor."
Troilus was unable to refuse; and so, most reluctantly, his gold went
into the pocket of the beggars instead of into that of the silversmith.
He was so greatly put out about this that he fretted himself into a
fever. The patriarch, not seeing him, or hearing of him, for some days,
sent a servant to invite him to dinner; but the Bishop declined, saying
that he suffered from a bad cold and fever. Then S. John hastened to his
house to sympathize with the sick man, but soon discovering that there
was more of temper than malady in the case, he guessed the cause, and
said, "By the way, I borrowed of you thirty pounds the other day, for my
poor; if you are so disposed, I will at once repay the sum."
Then--says the writer of the life of S. John--when the Bishop saw the
money in the hand of the patriarch, all at once his fever vanished, his
cold flew away, and his colour and vigour came back; so that any one
might have seen what was the real cause of his indisposition. "And now,
if you are well enough, you will dine with me," said the patriarch. "I
am ready," answered Bishop Troilus, jumping off his bed, on which he had
cast himself in his fever of vexation.
Now it fell out that after dinner the Bishop dropped asleep with his
head on the table, and in a dream he saw himself in a wondrous land of
rare beauty; and there he beheld a glorious house of unearthly beauty,
over the door of which was inscribed, "THE ETERNAL MANSION AND PLACE OF
REPOSE OF TROILUS, THE BISHOP." Having read this, he was glad. But there
came by a certain One, with many attendants in robes of white, and He
looked up and read the title, and said: "Not so, change the
superscription." Then the attendants removed the writing, and replaced
it with this, "THE ETERNAL MANSION AND PLACE OF REPOSE OF JOHN,
ARCHBISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA, PURCHASED FOR THIRTY POUNDS."
One of his domestic servants having fallen into great difficulties, the
patriarch privately helped him, by giving him two pounds. "I do not know
how I can sufficiently thank your excellence and angelic holiness," said
the servant. "No thanks," said the patriarch, "Humble John"--so he was
wont to call himself--"has not yet shed his blood for you, as his Master
taught him."
There was a certain man, named Theopentus, greatly given to charity, who
died leaving an only son. And on his death-bed, he called the boy, and
said to him, "I have ten pounds, and that is all that remains to me;
shall I give it to you or to the Virgin Mother of God?" And when the boy
said, "It shall be her's;" then the father said, "Go and spend it among
the poor."
Now when the patriarch heard of this, and that the orphan was left
destitute, and was in great want; knowing that it would hurt him to
offer him charity, he devised an innocent deception. He bade a scribe
draw up a false pedigree, making himself and the deceased to be cousins,
and he bade him show it to the youth, and bring him to the residence of
the patriarch. And when this was done, the holy man ran to the lad and
kissed him, and said, "How is this! that the child of my dear kinsman is
in poverty. I must provide for thee, my dear son." So he made him an
allowance, and married and settled him comfortably in Alexandria.
When the Persians devastated the Holy Land and sacked Jerusalem, S. John
entertained all who fled into Egypt, and nursed the wounded. He also
sent to Jerusalem, for the use of the poor there, a large sum of money,
and a thousand sacks of corn, as many of pulse, one thousand barrels of
wine, and one thousand Egyptian workmen to assist in rebuilding the
churches. He moreover despatched two bishops and an abbot to ransom the
captives.
S. John lived a simple life, his apparel, the furniture of his house,
his diet, were all of the meanest. A person of distinction in the city,
being informed that he had only an old tattered blanket on his bed, sent
him a very handsome one. "Humble John" wore it over him for one night,
but sold it next day, and gave the price to the poor; for, during the
night, he thought of some poor wretches who had no blankets at all. The
friend, being informed of this, bought the blanket, and sent it to him
again. It met with the same fate as before, and he again and again
re-purchased it. "We shall see who will be tired first," said the
patriarch; "he of buying, or I of selling, the blanket."
There was one class of men to whom it was peculiarly difficult to offer
assistance, and that was the slaves, placed at the almost complete
disposal of their masters. But the watchful care of S. John did not
forget them. To the masters he spoke noble words: "These men are made in
the image of God. What constitutes you different from them? You and your
slaves have legs and arms, and eyes and mouths, and a soul alike. S.
Paul said, 'Whosoever is baptised into Christ hath put on Christ--ye are
all one in Christ.' In Christ master and slave are equal. Christ took on
Him the form of a servant, teaching us to respect our servants. God
regardeth the humble, we are taught; He says not, the lofty ones, but
those who are least esteemed. For the sake of the poor slave were the
heavens made, for him the earth, for him the stars, for him the sun, for
him the sea and all that therein is. For him Christ abased Himself to
wash His servants' feet, for him He suffered, for him He died. Shall we
purchase with money such an one, so honoured, redeemed with such
precious blood? You ill-treat a servant, as though he were not of like
nature with you, yet is he highly honoured by God."
A monk arrived in Alexandria with a young Jewess in his company, whom he
had converted and baptized; this caused great scandal, and by order of
the patriarch, he was severely beaten. The monk bore his chastisement
meekly, without exculpating himself. Next day it was made so evident
that the monk was without the least blame, that the patriarch sent for
him to ask his forgiveness, and ever after he was most careful not to
judge rashly. "My sons," said he, when he heard people blame others; "be
not hasty to judge and condemn. We see often the sin of fornication, but
we see not the hidden repentance. We see the crime of a theft, but we
see not the sighs and tears of contrition. We severely blame the
fornicator, the thief, or the perjurer, but God receives his hidden
confessions, and bitter sorrow, and holds it as very precious."
[Illustration: THE VIRGIN APPEARING TO S. ILDEPHONSUS.
After a Painting by Murillo in the Museum at Madrid.
Jan. 23.]
Nicetas, the governor, persuaded the Saint to accompany
him to Constantinople, to pay a visit to the Emperor. S.
John was admonished from heaven, whilst he was on his way,
at Rhodes, that his death drew near; so he said to Nicetas,
"You invite me to the king of the earth; but the King of
heaven calls me to Himself." He therefore sailed to his
native island of Cyprus, and soon after died at Amanthus,
the home of his boyhood and married life, and where he had
laid his wife and children, and there he fell asleep in Christ
at the age of sixty-four, after having ruled the patriarchal see
of Alexandria ten years.