Chapter XXXVII  (continued)  Life of St John the Almsgiver, , Book Ib

"I once used to be very unfeeling and hard-hearted, until I suffered a very severe financial loss, after which I took to reasoning very keenly with myself. My thoughts began to say to me that if only I had been generous with my almsgiving God would not have deserted me. So I decided to give five copper nummi to the poor every day, but once I had started doing that, Satan put a stop to it.
"'Five nummi are enough to buy food for a complete household, or to go to the baths', said Satan, and the thought of taking food from the mouths of my own family stopped me giving at once, and I realised that my evil nature had overcome me.
"'Steal five nummi from me every day,' without anyone knowing,' I said to my servant,  'and give them to the poor.'
"I am a money-changer, my lord. So the servant began to steal the money and give it away, and I almost immediately had a financial windfall. When the servant saw that we were being blessed and money was coming in, he began to steal and give threefold. At the same time, I was wondering at the blessings of God.
"'Those five nummi have turned out to be very profitable, my son,' I said to him. 'Give ten instead.'
"At which he laughed and said, 'Ask how much I have stolen. Without that we would not have enough bread to eat today! If ever there were a righteous thief, it's me.'
"Then he told me that he had been giving threefold and more, and inspired by his faith, my lord, I have aspired to give from my heart."
That holy man was deeply impressed.
"Believe me," he said, "I have read about many of the doings of the holy fathers, but I have never come across anything like that!"

Chapter XXXVIII
This great John heard that a certain prominent citizen was nursing a grudge against another leading citizen, and he often urged and pleaded with him to seek reconciliation, but without success. So the holy man asked him to come and see him as if on some public business, and said Mass in his own private chapel with just him and a server. When the holy patriarch had consecrated the offerings, the three of them began the Lord's prayer, but when it came to the words 'forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us' the patriarch made a sign to the server to keep quiet. The patriarch also kept quiet so the citizen said the words about 'forgiving as we forgive' all by himself.
"See now," said the holy man, turning towards him with a gentle voice, "What will happen in that terrible hour when you must say to God 'Forgive me as I have forgiven'?"
As if undergoing torture by fire, the citizen fell down at the feet of the holy man.
"Whatever you tell me to do," he said, " your servant will do it."
Ass a result of this he came to a deeply sincere reconciliation with his enemy.

Chapter XXXIX
If this blessed man knew of anyone guilty of excessive pride, he would not reprove him in public, but would have a little private talk with him when he got him on his own. His conversation with him would be about humility, hoping by this means to change the proud man little by little into a modest one.
"It amazes me, my friend," he would say, "how it is that my miserable soul has never been able to be humble as the Son of God told us to be on this earth. I am forever puffing myself up and putting myself in a better light than my brother. I am a little bit more handsome than he is, or richer, more outstanding, or else I have a greater position in life than anyone else. I have not been listening to the divine voice that says, 'Learn from me for I am lowly and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls'. Nor have I taken to heart the words of the saints, who described themselves as 'dust and ashes' (Genesis 18.27), 'a worm and no man' (Psalms 22.6), 'not eloquent but slow of speech' (Exodus 4.10). When Isaiah was privileged to see God, as far as a human being is capable of doing so, he declared himself to be a man of unclean lips (Isaiah 6.5). Am I humble like that? Have I not been fashioned out of mud? Isn't that where my body came from? And all the glory which I imagine I have, does it not fade as the flower of the field (Isaiah 40.6)?"
With such words and many others like them this most wise man pretended to speak of himself, but in so doing cauterised and healed the soul of a man weakened by self-importance and pride. For the man with this ugly defect knew that the patriarch was really talking about him.

Chapter XL
This man whom God held in honour frequently preached on humility.
"If we had thought and meditated on the mercy and goodness of God towards us we would not have dared lift up our eyes to heaven but would always have walked wisely in lowliness. Furthermore, the Creator of all has brought us into being from nothing. Deceived by our sin into disobedience, we have been brought to life again and redeemed from death by his blood, and he has given the earth and the very heavens above to the service of humankind. He has not destroyed the sinners, but with great long-suffering, unmoved in his own nature, he watches over us with patient eye. However much we blaspheme against him, in his mercy he still woos us and strengthens us, and pours his gentle rain from above upon our lives. How many evildoers, even such as murder and steal, does he not hide and protect from being taken and punished? How many pirates, who hope to kill those whose ships they attack, does he not save from drowning, commanding the sea not to swallow them up, in the hope that they might be converted from their wickedness? How many who swear falsely on the most holy body and blood does he not tolerate with great long-suffering, without making their lives difficult for them? How many robbers does he save from being devoured by wild beasts as they travel about? How many of those who plot together in hiding for seditious purposes escape from both guard dogs and humans?
"Or suppose I lie with a prostitute, or keep company with drunkards and those of filthy speech, isn't there a bee who flies about in the valleys and river beds gathering honey to sweeten the taste in that throat from which has flowed such wicked and disgusting language?  The grape comes to maturity in order to delight the taste and make glad the heart which has betrayed its maker. The flowers in their turn busy themselves in giving pleasure to eyes which have led men into fornicating with other men's wives. Shake the fig tree as you come near it, and your hand is filled with plenty, and your mouth with sweetness, that same mouth that seduces and embraces the wife of another. All these things are the sort of thing we do, brothers, and these are the things which the kindness of God gives us in return. How urgently should we not cultivate prudence then, and take thought for our last and most terrible hour!"
He was always giving homilies like this, reminding us of our death and the departure of the soul, so that there was many a one coming in to him with a proud demeanour, a mirthful countenance and an arrogant eye, who went out again humbled, with a guilty expression and eyes full of tears.
"The least we can do in our human condition", he would say, "is to think carefully and seriously about our salvation, and keep the thought of our death in mind, for nothing will help us or be with us in that hour except our good deeds. How distressed will be the soul who is found unready to meet the Angels as they come hurrying towards him? How can he then ask for a little more time to be given him? All he will hear is, 'But have you used the time well that you have already been given?' And how will humble John escape the beasts of the reeds, when they come to demand vengeance of him? Alas, what fear and trembling will possess the soul as it tries to make its excuses to such bitter and merciless inquisitors!"
The holy man continuously bore in mind the vision given to Simeon on his pillar, for as his soul was leaving his body choirs of demons met him in his ascent from earth to heaven, each of them with its own mandate. For the choir of pride met him to see whether he was carrying any of their deeds with him, the choir of slander met him to see whether he had spoken evilly of anyone and not done penance for it, the demons of fornication met him, to search out any voluptuous desires in him, and when his miserable soul arrived at last in heaven to give an account of itself, even the holy Angels stood back from him and there was nothing to come to his aid except any good that he had done.
This noble man bore such considerations constantly in mind, inculcating in himself a healthy fear of that dread day. But he also remembered what the holy Hilarion had said when fearful at the approach of his life's end: 'O my humble soul, you have spent eighty years serving Christ, and are you now frightened to depart? Go, for he is merciful'.
"If he served Christ for eighty years," the holy patriarch said to himself, "raising the dead and doing miracles, but still went in fear of that bitter hour, what will you be able to say or do for yourself, humble John, when you come face to face with those cruel and merciless avengers and inquisitors? What excuses will you be able to give to those who inquire into your lies, your denigration of others, your cruelty, your avarice, your bearing of grudges, your hatred, your false witness? O God, do you bring them all to confusion, for human bravery is not enough to stand against them!
"O Lord, give us your holy Angels as guides to keep us and govern us, for there is a stormy ocean of madness, fear, trembling and great danger raging against us. As we pass over from our earthly city to the city which is above we beseech our guides to keep us from falling into the abyss or perishing in the dens of the wild animals, the everlasting floods, the inaccessible and trackless mountains, the bands of robbers, or the impenetrable and waterless deserts. O how great is our need for strong guides and godly guardians, as we depart from the body and ascend into heaven, seeking that long and everlasting life!"
These were the teachings, full of wisdom, which that blessed man addressed to himself and everyone else. These were his daily care and meditation.

Chapter XLI
He was very conscientious about the responsibilities of his own position. There was one occasion when he decided to educate people into not leaving the church after the gospel and preferring idle gossip to wholesome prayer. So what did he do? He left the church also after the end of the gospel, to go out and sit with the crowd, to their great astonishment.
"Well, my children," he said, "where the sheep are, there is the shepherd. Either go in, and I will go with you, or else stay here and I will stay with you. It is only for your sake that I go into the church, for I could quite easily say Mass for myself at home."
Not once but twice did this blessed man deploy this strategy. It was a magnificent way of putting the people to shame and making them amend their ways, for they were frightened of making him do the same thing again. 

Chapter XLII
He allowed no talking during the sacred celebrations, but would make a show of turning the transgressor out of the church.
"If you have come here in order to pray," he would say, "set your mind and tongue to doing just that. But if you have only come here for idle conversation, it is written that 'the house of God shall be called the house of prayer' (Matthew 21.13), so don't turn it into a house of thieves."

Chapter XLIII
Something even more admirable about this most holy patriarch was that although he was not a monk, nor did he live in a church clergy house but had once been married to a wife, he nevertheless lived by the strictest rules of the church from the moment he was consecrated to the episcopate, achieving even greater heights than many a hermit living in a narrow cell.

Chapter XLIV
He nevertheless was eager to have a share in the benefits of being part of the monastic life, and went about it in this way: he gathered together two communities of holy monks and decreed that they could be of most use by having their houses in the city. He built cells for them from the foundations upwards, with two chapels dedicated to our Lady, the holy birthgiver of God, and St John.
"Under God," he said to those monks beloved of God, "I will be responsible for your bodily welfare; you must take care of my spiritual salvation. Let your vespers and your night offices be offered to God for my intentions; let whatever offices you do in your own cells be done for your own souls."
He did this to encourage these monastic friends of God in their dedication. And so permanent congregations acceptable to God were set up, such that the whole city seemed to be living like a monastery, and hymns to God were being offered up in divers places.

Chapter XLV
This blessed man also laid an injunction upon everyone that they should never befoul themselves by participating in communion with heretics, even if, by force of necessity, they had to spend their whole lives without communion in a place where there was no Catholic Church.
"If you have a legal wedded wife," he said, "but have to live for any extended period somewhere a long way off, you are forbidden both by God and our laws to desert her and live with another. Anyone who has done this is punished. But you are joined to God in the true faith of the Catholic Church - 'I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you to Christ as a chaste virgin' as the Apostle says (2 Corinthians 11.2)  - so how can you think that you will not likewise share in the torments reserved for heretics in the life to come if you have polluted your holy orthodox faith by entering into communion with them? 'Communion' signifies 'that which makes common and strengthens the unity among those who communicate'. I beg you, my children, don't have anything do with prayer gatherings of that kind."

Chapter XLVI
Among all the good points of this blessed man there was also this: that he would not condemn his neighbour nor put up with those who condemned. The following incident shows that I am telling the truth about this teaching of his:
There was a certain youth who raped a nun (monacha) and then fled to Constantinople. When this righteous man heard of it he could have died from grief. Some time later when seated one day in a meeting with some other clerics discussing matters beneficial to the soul, the youth who had raped the handmaid of the Lord came by and was instantly recognised. His fellow clerics began to heap curses upon the youth for having imperilled two human souls, his own and that of the nun (sanctimonialis). But the blessed man restrained them and enlightened them.
"No, no, my sons," he said. "Let me show you how it is that you are committing two sins. Firstly you are disobeying the commandment which says, 'Judge not that you be not judged' (Matthew 7.1), and secondly you do not know for sure if he has been in a sinful state right up until today without having repented.
"Now I have read something like this in the lives of the fathers, that there were two monks who were out on an errand and as one of them was walking along, an prostitute cried out to him, 'Save me, father, as Christ saved the harlot!'
"Without worrying in the slightest about the difference between the sexes he said, 'Come with me'.
"He took her by the hand and in full view of everyone led her publicly out of the city. The news soon spread that the abba had taken Madam Porphyria to wife. He was intending to put her into a monastery, but as they were going along, the woman came across a little boy abandoned in front of a church. She picked him up and looked after him.
"A year later some people visited the place where the abba and former prostitute Porphyria were living and saw her with the little boy.
"'That's a fine little colt you've given birth to!' they cried. (For she had not then taken the monastic habit.) Going back to Tyre, which is where the abba had brought her from, they spread it abroad that they had seen with their own eyes the little boy that the abba had begotten on Porphyria, and it looked just like him!
"There came a time when it was revealed to the abba by God that he was near to death. By this time he had clothed her in the monastic habit and given her the name Pelagia.
"'Let's go to Tyre', he said to her. 'I've got something to say to them there. And I want you to come with me.'
"She did not want to argue with him so she went with him, and they both went there, together with the little boy who was now seven years old. As the abba was sickening and fast approaching death, about a hundred people from the city gathered round to visit him
"'Bring me some hot coals,' he said.
"They brought a thurible full of hot coals, which he took and emptied out into his lap.
"'You had better believe, my brothers,' he said, 'that just as God kept the burning bush from being consumed (Exodus3.2), these hot coals have not burnt up my clothes. Just so, I have never known the sin with a woman which gave me birth.'
"And they were all amazed at the way his clothing had not been damaged by the fire, and they glorified God and those who served him in secret. Following the example of Pelagia, the nun (nonna) and former prostitute, many others renounced the world and joined her in her monastery. And the servant of God who gave her the tonsure, his reputation restored, gave up his spirit to God in peace.
"And so, I tell you, my sons, don't be in too much of a hurry to condemn and judge others. It is easy to see the many who fornicate, we don't always see their penitence, which occurs in secret. We are aware of someone who thieves, we don't know about the sighs and tears he pours out to God. We judge people according as we see them, thief, fornicator or perjurer, but God accepts their hidden confession and penitence, and to him they are precious."
And all who heard him were deeply moved by this diligent pastor and teacher.

Chapter XLVII
There were two clerics who mended shoes and worked quite near each other. One of them had several children, a wife and a father and mother, but he always had time for the church, and still was able, under God, to feed all his family. The other, although he was more clever, neglected the church and worked even on Sundays, but was barely able to support himself alone. He became jealous of his neighbour, and one day was unable to contain his jealousy any longer.
"How is it," he said angrily, "that you have so much money? I spend more time at my trade than you do, and yet I stay poor."
"Well, I've found some buried treasure," said the other, who really hoped his friend would give more of himself to the church. "That is what is making me rich little by little. But if you like, I will call you and you can come with me, and whatever we find you can have half."
He agreed, and found that he was in fact following his friend to the church, through which God blessed him freely, and prospered him.
"You see, my brother," said that good counsellor, "how one little untruth for God's sake has resulted in such benefit both for your soul and your substance, for truly, it was not in the earth that I was finding treasure, as you thought, but in the saying of the Lord, 'Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you' (Matthew 6.33). I simply used that as a means of persuading you to follow me, and it was not something I did in vain, was it, as you have discovered, and more than discovered."
When the holy patriarch heard about this incident he made that good counsellor one of his presbyters, for he had been only a lector.

Chapter XLVIII
Up to this point the story has been in the words of that worshipper of God, Mennas, who was next in importance to the bishop of the church of that great city of Alexandria. From here on my unworthy self narrates what I heard from some other perfectly credible witnesses. As we said in an earlier chapter, a great deal of spiritual affection developed between the patriarch and Nicetas the governor, and this present chapter is further evidence that such affection was not misplaced.
At the time when, God permitting, Alexandria was about to be handed over to the godless Persians, the pastor remembered the text: 'If they persecute you in one city, flee to another' (Matthew 10.23), so he fled to his native city in his own country of Cyprus, where Nicetas the governor, whom we have mentioned before, made him welcome.
"I beg you, if I have found favour in your sight, " said Nicetas to the holy man, "to trouble yourself still further by taking your case to the most pious Emperors in the queen of cities where you will be well received."

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