In Constantinople, during the reign of Leo the Great (603 ), there lived a wealthy and distinguished military official named Eutropius and his wife Theodora. He had three sons, two of whom were given over to imperial service and had already achieved significant ranks. The third, the youngest, named John, was sent to study various sciences. While still a twelve-year-old boy, John stood out from his peers, so much so that even his teachers were amazed at his abilities and remarkable development for his youth. He excelled not only in worldly matters but also in spiritual wisdom. Under the grace-filled influence of the Holy Spirit, he grew into a meek, gentle, and modest boy. After school, he spent his time not in the games typical of childhood, but in reading holy, divinely inspired books and diligently attending church services. His heart was warmed by love for God, and the fire of this love began to burn like a strong flame in his soul.
While John was progressing so greatly in piety, it happened one day that a monk entered the house where the blessed one was studying. Seeing him, the youth asked:
- Where are you from, father, and where are you going?
“I am from the monastery of the ‘unceasing’ 604 ,” the monk answered, “and I am going to Jerusalem to worship at the holy places.
With a burning heart, John began to ask him about monastic life, about prayer and fasting, about incessant singing, and about other ascetic endeavors and labors of monks. The monk, seeing the boy's piety and prudence, told him in detail about all the customs and rules of his monastery.
John, having listened attentively to what the monk said, said to him:
– Will you, Father, return to your monastery, or will you remain in Jerusalem?
“I have,” the monk answered, “an order from my abbot to return and, having bowed down, if it pleases God, to the holy places, I will come back immediately.”
Then John, taking the monk by the right hand, said:
“I have a secret word for you, father.”
Then he took him aside and began to speak:
"Listen to me, my father," I beg you, "and show me mercy. I have a strong desire to leave this worldly turmoil and serve Christ. But my parents have very different thoughts about me. Loving me more than my older brothers, they want to secure me some high position and a marriage. I, however, having often heard the word of God in the holy church and having read the holy books myself, have come to understand that all worldly things are futile, and that only one thing is beneficial—to renounce the world and serve Christ in your monastic life. I conjure you by God, who desires our salvation, that you take me back to your monastery."
In these words, the monk sensed that God Himself was calling the boy to Himself. He swore an oath to take him with him on his return, and thus they parted.
Upon the monk's departure for Jerusalem, Blessed John, desiring to live according to the Gospel, began to ask his parents to obtain a Gospel for him, so that by learning the words of Christ from it, he might also learn to perform deeds pleasing to Christ. His parents rejoiced greatly at the sight of their son's zeal for the Divine Scriptures. They immediately hired a skilled scribe to prepare a beautiful copy of the Gospel. They then overlaid it with gold and adorned it with precious stones, so that their son would be drawn to the diligent reading of the book not only by the sweetness of Christ's words written within, but also by its external beauty. Having prepared such a Gospel, they presented it to their son. Joyfully accepting the holy book, John began to read it diligently. His heart was delighted by the words of Christ, and, day by day, he became inflamed with ever-increasing love for God, eagerly awaiting the return from Jerusalem of the monk to whom he had revealed the secret of his heart.
After a long time, the monk returned and was greeted by John with great joy.
“Behold, my son, I have returned as I promised,” said the monk, “and if you wish, I will take you with me to the monastery.”
Blessed John answered:
"I thank God, who has returned you in good health and granted me the honor of seeing you again. I am ready to set out. But what shall we do if my parents refuse to let me go? My mother is very sensitive at heart, and when she learns that I wish to leave them, she will weep and detain me, thus thwarting my desire. I beg you, my father, let us leave here secretly, so that none of my relatives or friends will know of my departure or the route I have taken."
“Let us do as you wish, my son,” said the monk, “and may God fulfill the desire of your heart.”
So they came to the seashore at the docks and, finding a ship, began asking its owner to take them to the abode of the unsleeping. But he demanded a large amount of gold as payment for the passage, for he said he expected the ship to carry a large cargo, as well as to hire it for the return journey.
John asked him:
– How much does it cost to deliver a full load on your ship?
“A hundred gold pieces,” answered the shipbuilder.
“Wait, my brother, until three days,” said John, “and I will hire your ship.”
After speaking with him, John and the monk left. Alone, John said to the monk:
The sailor asks a lot for the passage; but it is even more expensive for me to secretly leave my parents; therefore, I will go to my parents and ask them to give me gold for some needs.
“Go, my son,” answered the monk, “and may the Lord fulfill your intention, as pleasing to His will.”
Arriving at his house, John said to his mother:
“I want to ask you, mother, for one favor, but I don’t dare.”
“Ask for what you want, my son,” answered the mother.
"All my fellow students," said John, "have invited me to their homes not once or twice, but many times, but I have never invited them or repaid their hospitality. I am ashamed in their presence, and I can no longer go to school for shame. I beg you, give me as much money as would be needed to entertain my comrades."
“Wait until the morning,” answered the mother, “I will tell your father, and he will give you what you need.”
When she conveyed John's request to her husband, he, out of love for his son, gave him a hundred gold coins, and this happened by God's special providence, so that the boy's good intention would be fulfilled.
Having given his son gold, the father entrusted him to the care of a faithful servant, with orders to ensure the boy did not spend the money needlessly. John joyfully went with him to the seashore, saying:
- Let's look for and buy some good fish.
When they approached the ship, he sent a servant to the school with the words:
- Go and see if your comrades are gathering, and then come back to me again.
After the servant left, John boarded the ship with the monk. Having handed the sailor their pay, they set sail from the shore and set out on their journey. John took with him the Gospel given to him by his parents and consoled himself by reading it on the journey.
The servant, returning from school, searched for John on the shore for a long time, but not finding him, he thought the boy had gone home. He then went to his masters and inquired about John. They immediately began searching for him everywhere. But a lengthy search in Constantinople and its environs yielded nothing, and in Eutropius's house they wept bitterly and mourned their beloved son John. Meanwhile, while John was on his way, God clearly assisted him: He sent a favorable wind to the ship, and the travelers quickly arrived at the monastery of the unceasing. There the monk told Abbot Marcellus and the brethren all he knew about the boy John, including the faith and zeal with which he was striving to accept the monastic life and serve the Lord.
Seeing the extreme youth of the boy, the abbot said to him:
"My son! You will not be able to bear the monastic burden and observe strict fasts, as you are still very young. Furthermore, we have a custom not to immediately tonsure every aspirant to the monastic calling, but only after a long period of testing the sincerity of their intentions and zeal in their pious endeavors. Therefore, if you wish to pursue monastic service with us, you must first live with us without monastic tonsure, become familiar with our life, and test yourself to see if you are up to such labors.
Then blessed John fell at the feet of the abbot and, weeping bitterly, began to ask:
"I beg you, my father, tonsure me now. Consider not my youth, but my zeal, for I strive with all my heart to be worthy of receiving your angelic image. Do not reject my prayer, but for the sake of the Most Holy, Consubstantial and Life-giving Trinity, accept me as a monk into your monastery."
The abbot, touched by the zeal and tears of the youth, vividly feeling the grace of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him, immediately agreed to accept and tonsure him and then ordered him to steadily go through all the degrees of monastic obedience and study with experienced elders.
John, when his wish was finally fulfilled, zealously and humbly fulfilled all he was commanded. Gradually progressing in monastic endeavors, he soon attained such perfection in virtue that he surpassed those who had accepted monasticism before him and became an example to all of unceasing prayer, meek obedience, and patient endurance of the strictest fasts. Often, for many days, he ate nothing—except only Communion of the Most Pure and Life-giving Mysteries of Christ—and only by this sustained himself. Even the abbot himself marveled at John and said to him:
"My son! Why, at your youth, do you undertake such feats? Be careful that you don't weaken your physical strength from excessive fasting and, having ruined your health, become incapable of further feats and service for the glory of Christ."
John, humbly bowing to the abbot as was his custom, answered:
- Forgive me, holy father, a worthless slave, and pray for me, lazy and faint-hearted, that the Lord may grant me feats and help my weakness.
Amid such struggles, Blessed John lived in the monastery for six years. Then the enemy and hater of all goodness— the devil— arose against him . To weaken John's strength for further struggles, to hinder and impede his valiant progress in fulfilling the Lord's commandments, he awakened in him thoughts of his parents and caused his heart to be tormented with pity for them, recalling the great love his father and mother had for him. He began to instill in John thoughts such as these: "What are your parents doing now without you? How they grieve, mourn, and weep for you, since you left home without their knowledge! Your father weeps, your mother laments, your brothers mourn, your relatives and friends mourn for you, your father's entire household is in grief because of you." The evil one also recalled his parents' wealth and glory, the honors his brothers enjoyed, and various other vain earthly blessings. He troubled him with such thoughts continuously, day and night, so that John finally became extremely weakened in physical strength and was barely alive: from great abstinence and monastic exploits and from the internal torment of thoughts, his strength dried up like a potsherd 605 , and his flesh became like a reed swaying in the wind 606 .
The abbot, seeing how John was getting weaker every day, said to him:
"Didn't I tell you, my son, that God does not demand immoderate labor from His servants, but desires that each one serve Him, for the glory of His holy name, according to his ability? You, my son, did not listen to me at the time, and now you are exhausted from immoderate fasting and unbearable labors."
“It was not fasting that dried me up, my father,” answered John, “and it was not labors that exhausted me, but thoughts suggested by the evil one that have tormented me day and night for a long time now.
At this point, John confessed to the abbot his thoughts about his parents and home. The abbot said to him:
“Have I not told you before, my son, that monastic exploits are difficult, that monks carry with them many labors, and enemy attacks, and unspeakable temptations.
At these words, the abbot wept and wept long over John. God, Who turns all things to good, through a special, secret influence on the abbot's heart, inspired him not to hinder John from going to his parents: the Lord wanted to later make His desires miraculous in him . The abbot blessed John to go wherever he wished, but exhorted him to carefully guard against the snares of the enemy and to preserve his purity on the journey.
“Even though I go to my parents,” answered John, “even there, with the help of God and your prayers, I will crush the head of my enemy and show his impotence.”
Then John went to his cell to prepare for the journey. This preparation consisted of nothing else but prayer, tears, and sighs of the heart, combined with genuflections—that the Lord would not allow the enemy to triumph, but would Himself, as He knows and wills, direct his path according to His good and all-perfect will. Arriving at the abbot's door the next morning, John fell at his feet and began to beg him not to be angry at his departure from the monastery, but to guide him with his fatherly blessing and holy prayers.
Then the abbot summoned all the brothers and, announcing that John wanted to leave them, ordered them to pray for him. John himself, bidding farewell, said to the brothers:
"I know the devil wants to remove me completely from this holy place under the pretext of a meeting with my parents. But I trust in God and your holy prayers that I will see my parents again and overcome the devil, conquering his deception."
After this, everyone went to church and there, with tears in their eyes, prayed for John. The abbot, blessing him for his journey, said:
- Go, my son, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and may our Lord Jesus Christ accompany you and direct your path according to His will.
All the other fathers also blessed him, raising their hands. John kissed them all and said:
– May the Lord save you, fathers and brothers, may He save you, the company blessed by Him, the good ascetics who lovingly accepted me into their community, which I am now deprived of, due to my unworthiness to live together with such people pleasing to God.
With these words he left the monastery and set out on his journey.
Having traveled 608 stages from the monastery , he looked back and, seeing the monastery, began to weep bitterly. He fell to his knees and, sobbing and weeping on the ground, began to pray to God. Then he rose and set out again, entrusting himself to God and placing his hopes in His providence and protection. Along the way, he encountered a beggar dressed in rags. John turned to him and said:
“I see, my brother, that your clothes are very old and all torn; I beg you, give them to me, and take my best ones for yourself.”
The beggar was very happy and immediately took off his rags and gave them to John, who gave him his best clothes in exchange.
When John approached Constantinople, seeing his parents’ house from afar, he fell face down on the ground and began to pray with these words:
– Lord Jesus Christ, do not leave me!
It was evening, and Blessed John remained there to await the coming of night. At midnight, approaching the door of his parents' home, he again fell to the ground and prayed:
"Lord Jesus Christ! Here is my father's house, which I so longed to see. But do not allow me to lose Your grace because of it. I pray You, Master, grant me from above the help and strength to overcome the devil's temptation. Do not allow him to triumph over me and my fall, but grant me to end my life valiantly here."
So he prayed until dawn. When daylight came, the doors opened and the steward of the house, who was in charge of the other slaves, came out. Seeing a beggar dressed in rags, he asked him:
"Who are you, where are you from, and why did you dare come here? Get out of here quickly, because my masters will be leaving soon."
"As you see," John answered him meekly, "I am a beggar, with nowhere to lay my head. I beg you, my lord, have mercy on me, do not drive me away from here, but allow me to remain in this corner. I will do no harm to anyone, and you yourself will receive mercy from God if you pity me and allow me to remain here."
Taking pity on the beggar, the steward of the house left him. A short time later, John's parents left the house, heading for the royal palace. Seeing them, the blessed one wept and began to mutter in his mind:
"My wish has finally come true—I see my parents. But you won't rejoice, devil, because, by the grace of my Lord, I count as nothing the scorching arrows you aimed at me."
And again he cried out to God with all his soul:
– Lord Jesus Christ, do not leave me until the end!
Blessed John remained motionless in the corner by the gate, lying there like Lazarus ( Luke 16:20 ), or like Job on a heap of ashes ( Job 2:8 ). His father, seeing the poor beggar lying by the gate, began to send him food from his table, saying:
"This beggar has great patience—despite being homeless, he endures winter, heat, frost, and rain; truly, such are the ones who inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. For his sake, perhaps God will save us too, which is why He sent him to us—so that by showing mercy to him, we ourselves might later be deemed worthy of His mercy. Who knows? Perhaps our beloved son John, whose whereabouts we don't even know, is now enduring the same poverty; we are doing for this beggar the very thing we would wish for our son from others."
One day, John's mother, leaving the house, saw this beggar lying on a pile of dung in his rags. This seemed so disgusting to her that she said to the servants:
- Drag this nasty man away from here, because I can’t go here while I see him lying here.
The servants immediately dragged him away to another place. The blessed one could now only gaze from afar at the gates of his father's house. One day, seeing the house manager emerge from the gates, he called him over and said:
“I beg you, my lord, just as you have been merciful to me from the very beginning, so now have pity on me and make me a small tent so that your mistress does not see me and so that I have at least some shelter from the cold.
The steward granted John's request and soon erected a small tent, where the saint remained, spending all his time in prayer to God. Every day, his father sent him food from his table; John accepted it gratefully, but distributed it to other beggars who visited him. He himself constantly suffered hunger and thirst, and from such extreme abstinence and fasting, he became so emaciated that one could count every joint of his bones.
For three whole years, John patiently endured this life, concealing from his parents that he was their son. After three years, our most gracious and merciful Lord Jesus Christ, seeing the patience and humility of His servant, determined to put an end to his misfortunes and labors. He appeared to him in a vision and said:
"Rejoice, John, who has become like My beloved disciple John the Virgin , for you, having left everything behind, have followed Me in pure virginity. The end of your life is approaching, and the end of your great sufferings is approaching: in three days you will come to Me and inherit the peace of the righteous."
Having come to his senses after the vision, John began to pray to the Lord with tears and said:
"I thank You, Lord, my God, that You wish to grant me, the unworthy, the peace of the righteous. But I beseech You, my Master, remember my parents also, have mercy on them according to Your great mercy and cleanse their sins, for You alone are good and most merciful."
After such a prayer, he called to him the above-mentioned servant of his parents, the manager of the house, and said to him:
"From the very beginning until now, you have been merciful to me. I beg you, my lord, be merciful to the end. I ask only one thing of you—go and tell your mistress this: the beggar you ordered driven away from the gate begs you through me with these words: 'For the sake of Christ the Lord, do not disdain me, a wretched man, but deign to come to me, for I need to speak with you.'"
The servant relayed the beggar's words to his mistress. She said:
"What else could a beggar talk to me about? I can't even look at him, and yet he still wants to talk to me."
She told her husband about this, but he began to persuade her:
- Go, my wife, do not disdain the poor, for God Himself has chosen the poor.
However, she did not listen to her husband and refused to go. Saint John sent to her again with these words:
“In three days I will die, but if you don’t want to see and talk to me, you will regret it very much later.”
She began to hesitate, wondering whether to go or not, not so much wanting to listen to the beggar as curious about what he wanted to tell her. She barely overcame her hesitation and decided to go only when she heard of his approaching death and hoped to learn something new from him. She left the house and ordered her servants to bring the beggar and place him before her, since Saint John, due to his serious illness, was no longer able to approach. To avoid recognition, he covered his face and began to speak to her:
"Soon, my lady, I will no longer need the shelter and assistance you provide, and a reward for your alms is already prepared for you, according to the Lord's words in the Gospel: 'As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me' ( Matthew 25:40 ). I, however, possessing no property due to my poverty, wish to leave you some blessing, but first I beg you: swear to me to do what I tell you—and then you will receive the blessing.
She swore to do whatever he said. Then Saint John began to ask:
"I beg you, my lady, to arrange, after my death, for me to be buried in the place where my tent stands. Do not allow me to be covered with any other clothes than these rags I now wear, for I am not worthy of a more honorable place or better clothing."
After this he took the Gospel out of his bosom and, handing it to her, said:
– Let this be a consolation to you in this present life and a good path into eternity for you and your husband, my lord.
Taking the Gospel, she began to examine it, turning it towards herself first from one side, then from the other, and thinking to herself:
– How similar this Gospel is to the one that my master bound for our son!
And then she went and showed it to her husband. He recognized it and said:
“This is, indeed, the very same Gospel that we gave to our beloved son, and not another. Let us go and ask him where he got it from, and whether he knows anything about our son John.”
The parents came to him together and began to tell him:
– We conjure you by the Holy and Life-giving Trinity, tell us where you got this Gospel from and where is our son John?
Unable to hide the torment of his heart any longer and to hold back his tears, he answered:
“I am your son John, and this is the very Gospel that you gave me; it is true that I am to blame for the grief I caused you, but the Gospel you gave me taught me to love Christ and patiently bear His good yoke.
Hearing this, they fell at his head, embraced him, and for a long time watered him with abundant tears. Their hearts were simultaneously filled with both joy and sorrow: they rejoiced that their beloved son had finally been found, yet their hearts were broken at finding him in such poverty and wretchedness, and that they had not recognized him as he lay at the gate. All the neighbors, friends, and acquaintances gathered to them; news of John's return spread throughout the city, and everyone, glorifying God, marveled at this. Meanwhile, the Venerable John commended his soul into the hands of God . It pleased God that John's life, even at his death, should remain undefiled by worldly honors and renounced by parental love. Therefore, the Lord hastened to take him to Himself, so that he might enter the heavenly abode free from the world and worldly friendship.
Forgetting her oath, his mother removed his shabby rags and dressed him in precious, gold-embroidered garments; but suddenly she fell into a fit of paralysis and became dangerously ill. Eutropius, John's father, said:
“We must fulfill our son’s will, since he does not want to be buried in such expensive clothes.
The saint's body was stripped of its secular garments and dressed again in beggar's rags. Theodora, John's mother, was immediately healed and became as healthy as before. His parents buried the honorable and holy relics of St. John in the same tent in which he had lived. They later built a church and a large guesthouse over his grave, donating all their property to the support of pilgrims and the poor. Soon after, they themselves died peacefully and were buried in the same church they had built over their son's grave.
Such is the life of the holy and venerable John the Tent-keeper, such are the exploits and labors which he endured for the sake of Christ, such is his struggle with the devil, having conquered whom, he is now crowned with a heavenly crown in the Church triumphant, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever, amen.
Source: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Dmitrij_Rostovskij/zhitija-svjatykh/56#note602