On the sacred commemoration of the newly glorified Saint John the Hozevite of Romania, we publish a short dedicatory text written by the late Monk Fr. Paul the Hagiotaphite [of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre], a Cypriot, who had known him personally. This text was originally published in two parts in Orthodoxos Typos in the year 1969. Additionally, we include two representative poems of his in Greek translation.
Saint John, born as Elias Jacob, was born in Romania in 1913
and became a monk at a young age. He traveled to the Holy Land to freely follow
the Patristic Calendar, which he staunchly defended throughout his short
earthly life. In the Holy Land, he distinguished himself as a hermit and
ascetic.
Although he received the priesthood from a bishop of the
Patriarchate of Jerusalem in 1947, he remained in seclusion and avoided
ecclesiastical communion to prevent, out of ignorance, any association with the
Innovators and Ecumenists.
He reposed on August 5, 1960, at the age of only 47, and was
buried in the cave of his ascetic struggle, in the Skete of Saint Anne at the
Monastery of Hozeva, near Jericho.
In 1980, the translation of his holy relic took place, and it
was found completely incorrupt and fragrant! Since then, it has been placed for
veneration in the Catholicon of the Holy Monastery of Hozeva. Saint John also
performed miracles, confirming his holiness.
The Sister Church of the Genuine Orthodox of Romania has
always honored him as a modern Confessor and Ascetic Saint, while our Genuine
Orthodox Church of Greece officially recognized his veneration as a Saint by
Synodal decision as of last year.
May his holy intercessions uphold all in the path of Truth
and Virtue!
John the Hermit
By Monk Paul the Hagiotaphite
[…] One of the most devout
Fathers whom I consulted, and who had already reposed a decade ago, was
Hieromonk John, a Romanian by origin. However, having lived many years among
the Greeks, both his speech and his Liturgy were purely Greek.
In terms of piety, seriousness,
and complete avoidance of unnecessary and improper conversations and
engagements for a monk, I have encountered very few like him throughout the
world in my travels.
Becoming an orphan and
experiencing the "blessings" of a cruel stepmother, he became
acquainted with sorrows from childhood, enduring them with patience. After
spending some years at the Monastery of Neamț, the monastery of Saint Paisius
Velichkovsky, where he served as librarian, he left Romania due to the New
Calendar and other reasons. He then traveled to the Holy Land on pilgrimage,
where he remained for many years in the Lavra of Saint Sabbas. Always of frail
health himself and possessing considerable medical knowledge, he served the
elderly and sick with compassion, patience, kindness, and love, attending to
them with zeal and brotherly care. It was there that he was also ordained.
For several years, he lived by
the Jordan River and in a steep, hewn cave in the desert surrounding the
Monastery of Saint Gerasimus of the Jordan, until the outbreak of the last
world war. Due to this, he was forced to leave and subsequently settled at the
Monastery of Hozeva and in the Skete of Saint Anne, located within a narrow
gorge near the monastery, where he remained until his repose.
His piety, modesty, and
attentiveness to himself are rarely found today. Never did I hear him engage in
idle chatter or excessive talk, the most common yet not the least of faults. If
ever idle talk, gossip, or slander arose, he would either change the subject or
withdraw. Not even once was he heard uttering even the most innocent joke, nor
did he laugh beyond a restrained smile. His gaze never lingered on the face of
another person or his interlocutor; rather, he spoke softly, slowly, and
reverently, with his eyes slightly lowered, in an atmosphere of peace and
humility.
He usually avoided concelebrating
with others because he longed to read the prayers, especially the silent ones,
slowly and with compunction, whereas others would "hurry." As he
would say, he preferred to read the Psalter in Greek, as he found in it a
particular grace that he did not perceive in the Romanian translation.
How exactly he lived in his cell
is unknown, for each monk's dwelling was a place of solitude with God alone.
He possessed great patience in
seclusion; though of frail health, he never went to the cities nor sought
physicians, relying instead on the remedies he knew and placing his trust in
God.
For the last six years, his only
journey was from his cave to mine (a distance of approximately 50 meters,
though steep) for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy.
He did not read political
newspapers, except when a topic of religious concern caught his attention. Being
a zealot of the Patristic Traditions, he followed, as much as possible, the
"modern movements", feeling sorrow and pity for the emptiness and
poverty of novel ideologies, which had lowered the divinity of Orthodoxy to the
level of human negotiations. He believed that all adversaries of God—the dark
forces, Communism, Papism, Freemasonry, heresies, and all inventions of
demons—are nothing but smoke, possessing no real power. They can only be
confronted through a true return to God—and only in this way can they be
overcome.
Having also a poetic gift, he
drew countless themes from the Gospel and the entire life of the Church,
composing verses that inspired deep compunction, the fear of God, zeal for
Orthodoxy, and praise of virtue, as well as themes of tears, humility, watchful
prayer, and incidents from the Lives of the Saints, Martyrs, and Ascetics—in
general, everything that nourishes a soul hungry for God. Recently, through
assistance, his disciple, Monk Ioannikios, published a volume of his works.
According to those familiar with the language, these poems could only have been
inspired and composed through the Spirit of God.
Source: Orthodoxos Typos newspaper, issue no. 109 (Oct.
10, 1969), p. 2, and issue no. 110 (Nov. 1, 1969), p. 2.
TWO POEMS OF SAINT JOHN
Epigram
If the mind does not soar
high into the heavens and toward death,
it easily wanders
amid vain words.
And when the mercy of peace
does not rest within us,
we will always find a reason
for quarrels and wars.
And when we have no care
for self-knowledge,
we will always proclaim
only the works of others.
At the Door of Mercy
(A Prayer to the Theotokos)
Most Holy Mother and Virgin,
hope of my soul,
You are my mediator
before the merciful God.
If the world had no kinship
with heaven from the earth,
then life would be desolate,
just like a grave.
If You were not the spring
of the noetic age,
it would always be winter,
and the sun would never smile.
If You had not risen as the dawn
upon the slumbering world,
then the shadow of death
would have been eternal.
And today, O All-Pure One,
when all follow after evil,
if You do not fervently pray,
Your Son will abandon us.
Send signs of repentance
to the troubled people
and strengthen our faith
in our misguided souls.
O Most Immaculate Mother,
loosen the bonds of slavery
and grant patience
to the suffering Christians!
Source: The Life and Poems of Saint John the Hozevite,
1913-1960, Romanian Hesychast in the Jordan Valley, published by
"Orthodox Kypseli", Thessaloniki, undated (1984), pp. 68, 154-155.
Greek source:
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