The Archbishop would be both generous with the monetary assets of the Church, and he would go about reforming the Egyptian Church to a state of orthodoxy. He threw out the addition of "Who was crucified for us" that Patriarch Peter of Antioch had added to the Trisagion. This was in contrast to the orthodox faith which taught that the Divine Nature of Christ did not suffer death, for indeed, when Christ suffered in His flesh, death could not contain Him and spat Him out. How then could the Divine Nature have suffered death? St. John used the Church's wealth to build up hostels for strangers, lying-in hospitals for women in labor, and even would distribute food and grain during times of famine. He would give to all in proportion to the wealth that was possessed by each and in consideration of their social standing. He would always treat anyone as a child and showed abundant mercy to all who encountered him. When rebuked by others he replied, "If this money were my own which is being given away, perhaps I should sorrow. But since it is the Master's free gift and grace, one must observe the Donor's command and wishes unswervingly without disguise."
St. John had a vision once of a lady who approached him, most beautiful, who identified herself as the first daughter of the great King. This lady, he realized, was almsgiving. When a man approached him for six coins, he gave to him freely. This same man would disguise himself and come back for six coins more. St. John would give to him. Once again, this man came back and his clergy recognized that the man was deceiving the Patriarch. Rebuking them, St. John did not see villainy in the man, but rather saw Christ, and an opportunity to pay back what he owed Christ. He held courts for the poor who were being treated unjustly in Egypt and he sought to make it right for them whenever they had a just cause. He believed that the poor were greater than he for it would be the poor who would be the means by which he would reach Heaven. It would be their prayers that he would seek after. Once, a merchant asked him for assistance when he lost all the cargo on his ship. The merchant would once again lose the cargo and St. John revealed that some of the money was ill-gotten. He gave to the merchant yet again. Once again the merchant lost the cargo. He came to St. John yet again and St. John did give him the ten pounds of gold that he needed. The merchant came upon the British Isles where there was great famine and the merchant provided for the British with the abundance of wheat on board his ship. St. John had also noticed a problem of a famine of the Word of God, the Scriptures, and the Mysteries at the Mareotic Lake near Alexandria. He ordered churches be built for the inhabitants and priests appointed to minister to them. When this merchant arrived in Dekapolis, he had presented the tin to his client. But his client had discovered that the tin was silver. The merchant recognized this as a miracle from the prayers of the Patriarch offered to the God who had turned water into wine. The merchant and his client discovered that all the tin in the cargo he held had turned into silver.
St. John was clairvoyant and knew how his clergy had swindled a poor man whom he had instructed his clergy to present 15 pounds of gold too. They only gave five pounds though and a wealthy widow who had one son presented St. John with a note offering 500 pounds of gold. He explained that had they given the poor man the amount of gold they had been instructed to, this widow would have given them a thousand more. Indeed, the widow was amazed to find that when she had written the note, the word "one thousand" had been miraculously deleted. The governor Niketas then would coerce the Patriarch into giving money from the Church to the Empire. Niketas then found merchants carrying honey and wished to send some of the honey as offering to the Patriarch. When the pots reached the Patriarch, they were miraculously filled with gold. The Patriarch would experience his own losses when 13 ships of his carrying cargo were caught in a storm and in order to save both the crew and the ships, the cargo had to be thrown out into the sea. The Patriarch took this moment as Job did when the latter suffered much losses. A man named Kosmas, hoping to take advantage of the poverty that the Patriarch now found himself in, offered money to the holy Patriarch for the diaconate. Kosmas had been twice married and by canon law, would not be allowed to attain the diaconate. The Patriarch sniffed out the bribe and refused the man's offer.
Once, two priests were caught in fisticuffs with each other and both had to be suspended. One priest repented, but the other did not and had been the one to inspire Niketas to come against the Patriarch. Remembering Our Lord's command to make things right with one's brother before offering the gifts at the altar, the Patriarch sensed something wrong and paused before the gifts was offered. The priest had a stomachache as he began to pray the offertory. So the saint took the priest aside and apologized to the priest for everything and anything he had done wrong. The priest, in awe, then repented of all he had done to the Patriarch and the two were reconciled together.
He would regularly settle conflicts and never let his anger stay while the sun went down. Once, during another dispute with the Patrician Niketas, the Patriarch, realizing things would be unsettled and that night was coming, sent the Patrician a note that the sun was about to go down. Niketas and the Patriarch quickly resolved the matter. He also cautioned his nephew to avoid a dispute with a certain retailer. The Patriarch admired the tradition of another kingdom which presented its new king with four stones to choose from. The stone he chose would go to make his tomb, thus reminding him of his death. The Patriarch always lived with a reminder of his death. Once, the Patriarch was given a blanket by a certain rich ruler as a gift. The Patriarch took it initially but could not sleep knowing how many poor men he could have been feeding with the money that could be attained from selling the quilt. He sold the quilt and used the money to feed the poor. The rich man saw the quilt in the shop and bought it and gave it once again to the Patriarch. And the Patriarch took it and sold it again and distributed the money. This went on for some time and the money that the Patriarch would use, he counted as the rich man's gift, thus aiding the rich man's salvation. His Bishop Troilos was very avaricious toward his wealth and he ordered his Bishop to distribute a gold coin to each poor man until his pocket ran dry. This made Troilos sick. Seeing how sick the Bishop had become, the Patriarch brought to the Bishop the total sum of money that he had ordered to be given. But Troilos must also sign that the deed was done by the Patriarch. Later, the Bishop had a vision that he was in Paradise and saw a room prepared for him but an angel struck his name off the room and replaced it with John. He told the Patriarch what had happened and repented of his avariciousness.
He would recite the tale of a rich man named Peter who found that he would be saved by even the most hostile act of almsgiving and repented of his avariciousness afterwards as an example for people to follow. He was influenced deeply by St. Serapion who sold himself for a widow and thought that he had only given material wealth whereas St. Serapion gave himself. Once, a woman who had converted from Judaism was found with a monk and the monks slandered their brother. The Patriarch had the monk beaten for this but finding out that the monk had been slandered through a revelation, repented of what he had done to the monk and witnessing the monk's humility and honesty in how he had been providing shelter for this former Jewess who had converted to Christianity, was inspired to give even more to the monasteries and he lent more support to the monks afterwards. Especially after it was revealed how the Abba Vitalios would secretly lead the harlots away from their sinful lives, St. John refused to make any rash judgments on people or submit his ears to any potential slanders. "Indeed, many times we have seen the sin of our brother, but we have not seen his secret repentance. Only God judges the secret things of the heart, and He is able to accept the repentance and renew a right spirit in the sinner."
The saint humbly listened to the wisdom of his advisors John and Sophronios who would greatly assist in combating the Monophysite heresy which reigned rampant in Egypt. The Patriarch also admonished his flock to adhere to holy conduct in the liturgy, appearing to people who had held conversations during the Gospel reading while they were outside the Church and also warning people to only carry out the business of prayer in the holy sanctuary. The Patriarch also warned his flock not to commune with heretics, even if it meant that they would not be able to receive the Holy Mysteries for their entire lives for one is wed to the Church and one should not leave his wife for another woman, even if separated from her. He admonished his flock not to partake of Communion in the hand as well.
St. John thought much on death and the final judgment. Toward the end of his life, he sought to return to his homeland. But his old friend, the Governor Niketas, desired that the Patriarch grant a blessing to the Emperor in Constantinople. While they were venturing out at sea, a storm came upon the ship threatening them. St. John began to pray and the storm began to cease. An angel with a gold scepter in hand appeared and beckoned the saint to his homeland, for he was to see the King of Heaven. St. John told Niketas that he must go to Cyprus to see the Heavenly King though Niketas had intended him to see the earthly king. There in Cyprus, St. John wrote his will and reposed on the evening of November 11, 619 A.D. He was interred between two holy hierarchs on June 16 in the Church of St. Tychon in Cyprus. The hierarchs, upon the Patriarch's being laid to rest there, both gave way and moved to make room for the new hierarch that was to accompany them. Thus, St. John entered into his eternal rest, building many monasteries, churches, hospitals, hostels, and other structures for the homeless and the needy. Almsgiving would crown him with the wreath of Heavenly Glory.*
St. John the Merciful, pray for us!
*Adapted from The Life of St. John the Merciful in the Greek Synaxaristes from Nov. 12
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