John the Silent, St.
JOHN THE SILENT, ST.
Called the Hesychast or Sabaite; 6th-century Armenian monk and bishop of Colonia; b. Nicopolis, 454; d. Jan. 8, 559. John's biography was written by cyril of scythopolis, who described him as the son of a rich family. At 18, on the death of his parents, John abandoned his fortune and founded a monastic settlement in a wilderness, which he directed for a number of years. He was chosen bishop of Colonia in Armenia; but after a short time he fled to Jerusalem, where he was received into the monastery of St. Sabas and lived in perpetual silence.
Feast: May 13.
Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum May 3:230–236, 14*–18*. Bibliotheca hagiographica Graeca 897, 898. e. schwartz, ed., Kyrillos von Skythopolis (Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur 49.2; 1939) 201–222. g. garitte, Analecta Bollandiana 72 (1954) 75–84.
[p. roche]