In the last episode of John’s “Life”, he had been turned out of his cell in the monastery at Mar Saba for inadvertently disobeying his spiritual teacher.
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30.
Then one of the monks said, “It is possible to impose another commandment on the one who has sinned, and not cast him out from your fellowship.”[1] Then the one being entreated said, “I impose this commandment on John, if indeed he wishes for his disobedience to be forgiven: to go through the entire area of the Lavra, and to clean by himself the filth from the small houses in the cells of the monks.”[2] Those who heard this, embarrassed at these words, departed in sorrow, astonished at the elder’s severity. John went to meet them and made his customary bow, and inquired about the decision of his [spiritual] father concerning him. But they answered that they were astonished at the elder’s severity, and, out of embarrassment, were hesitant to disclose the decision. However he [John] persistently pleaded with them to reveal it. In the end they were overcome and told him of that disgraceful cleaning task. But when he heard this, he [John] rejoiced beyond all expectation and said, “This is easier for me and most welcome.” So at once he departed, and sought out the cleaning materials, took them, and approached the cell of the monk who lived near the elder. Entering in, he began to soil those hands, which had previously been perfumed to many with fragrant oils, even the right hand that had served Christ. O, the great humility of the man! He made himself into one covered in dung and mud.
31. The elder admires John’s obedience and humility.
But when the elder learned of John’s great zeal for obedience and the depth of his sincere and profound humility, or rather how great it was, he ran toward him, embraced him, and wrapped his arms around his neck, clasped his hands, kissed his eyes, and affectionately kissed his shoulders. “Oh, what an athlete of blessed obedience I have begotten in Christ!” he exclaimed. But John was even more embarrassed at the words of the elder, and fell prostrate and bathed the ground with his tears, as if casting himself down before God himself. For he was not puffed up by his fatherly words, nor was he swollen with pride at the elder’s praise, but he humbled himself even more, and his mind was utterly crushed. In this way, I know, the wise are humbled by praise, are pained by commendations, and are lifted up toward God.[3] At this, the father[4] raised up his son, took him by the hand, and led him into his cell with joy. On seeing John, you might have said that he was now being restored to the paradise of Eden. For within himself, where he had previously represented the old Adam by disobedience, now within himself he represented the new Christ, by that extreme obedience.
31.b.[5] The Theotokos warns the elder in a dream to allow John to devote himself to writing.
Not long afterwards, the most praised and more pure One appeared to the elder in a dream, saying, “Why did you block the fountain that poured forth such a sweet flow of water, clear, abundant and like nectar? Water of refreshment for souls? Water more excellent than that which miraculously gushed out of a rock in the wilderness? Water which David longed to drink? Water which Christ promised to the Samaritan woman? Let the fountain flow! It will flow abundantly and spread throughout the whole inhabited world, like a mighty water covering the seas of heresies. And it will transform them into a wondrous sweetness. Let those who are thirsty hasten eagerly to this water; and let those who do not have the silver of a pure life, let them sell their passions and purchase from John an unblemished purity of doctrine and works. He has taken up the prophetic lyre, the psalter of David, and he will sing new songs, songs to the Lord God. He will surpass the song of Moses with his musical compositions, and the choral dance of Miriam.[6] The valueless melodies of Orpheus will be exposed as fables. He will sing[7] a spiritual and heavenly melody. He will imitate the Cherubic hymns,[8] and he will make all the churches, the daughters of Jerusalem, like young maidens playing tambourines, singing a new song to God, proclaiming Christ’s death and resurrection. He will the doctrines of faith very correctly, and will expose the distortion and deviation of every heresy.[9] He will pour forth good discourses from his heart, and he will proclaim the exceedingly marvellous works of the King.”
32.
At dawn, having learned these secrets, he summoned John and said, “O child of the obedience of Christ! Open your mouth and draw in the Spirit; rather, bring forth through your mouth that which you have already received in your heart. For your mouth shall speak wisdom because in your heart you have gained great understanding through your meditation. Open your mouth, not in parables but in truths; not in riddles but in doctrines. Speak within the Jerusalem which sees God, within His peaceful Church—not words idly spoken and flowing into the air, but those that the Spirit has written in your heart. You have ascended the Mount Sinai of the visions and revelations of God, even though you have humbled yourself to the depths of great humility. Now ascend the mountain of the Church, and proclaim, preaching good news to Jerusalem; raise your voice with power! For glorious things have been spoken to me concerning you by the Mother of God. Forgive me also for whatever obstacle I have been to you, for I acted so because of my own rusticity.”
33.[10] John’s various hymns, and his books On Dialectics, On Heresies, and On the Orthodox Faith.
Therefore at this time John began [composing] divine melodies, and sang mellifluous hymns, which indeed brightened the Church and made it a dwelling place of God, where the pure sound of those celebrating is heard. Not only this, but he also composed sermons for major feast days[11] and that sacred book, or, so to speak, that divinely inscribed tablet, engraving no small encouragement to both the wise and the unlearned, and [acts as] a gateway to the mysteries of theology, the other doctrines of the true faith, and also to a concise contemplation and knowledge of those things that fall within the realm of the intellect and of sense perception.[12] which I have called “heaven,” for it shines like stars with correct demonstrations, from nature and scripture, and exceedingly learned.[13] Indeed, whoever does not look up to this “heaven,” whoever does not delight in its beauty, and is blind to its light, is either blind or in darkness. I would even call wretched the one who squints at its divine radiance. Furthermore John also composed lengthy discourses, and again, [wrote] concerning the glorious veneration of the divine images. And the more he had formed within himself the beauty of the divine image, the more sublimely and elegantly he set forth the matters concerning the veneration of the venerable icons.
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Only one more set of chapters to go, I think.
- [1]Lequien reads, “but to cast him out from your fellowship altogether is not just.”↩
- [2]“οἰκίδιον” – this seems to mean the toilets.↩
- [3]The Latin understands the last phrase to mean “are lifting themselves up.”↩
- [4]i.e. the elder monk.↩
- [5]In Lequien and the PG reprint, these two chapters are both numbered XXXI. In the new German edition it is numbered 31, and all subsequent chapters are numbered accordingly.↩
- [6]Moses’ sister. Exodus 15:20-21.↩
- [7]The sense is perhaps “compose.”↩
- [8]“Χερουβικός”. Liturgical hymns like the Cherubikon, perhaps, rather than “hymns of the Cherubim.”↩
- [9]This refers to John’s dogmatic and anti-heretical works.↩
- [10]34 in new edition.↩
- [11]φαιδρὰς πανηγύρεις, literally “bright holidays”, but I learn from Lampe that πανήγυρις 1.c.iii means major festal days like Easter.↩
- [12]Lit. “of both the intelligible and the sensible realities.”↩
- [13]I struggled with the syntax here.↩