Venerable John the Hermit

Life

He was the son of a Christian woman named Juliana, in Armenia. While still a boy he left his mother and fled to the desert. He burned entirely with love for Christ the Lord. In the desert he first submitted to the guidance of the spiritual father Pharmouthios, who had been so favored by God that an angel of God brought him bread every day. Afterward, young John withdrew and retired into solitude. He went down into a certain dry well, where he spent ten full years in fasting, prayer, and vigil. Saint Pharmouthios would bring him of the angelic bread and give it to him. For the angel of God was unwilling to give the bread directly to young John, lest John thereby become proud, but gave it through his spiritual father Pharmouthios. After ten years of severe asceticism in the well, the holy John was presented to the Lord, and his relics proved to be miracle-working. He lived and was glorified by God and by men in the fourth century.