This saint lived in the sixth century, in the time of Emperor Justinian, and for fifty years and more no man saw him, for he shut himself up in a very small cell, as if in a kind of tomb, and during that time he did not eat any other food than bread and water. But when the rumor of all this reached Eustochios, then Patriarch of Jerusalem, he did not believe it and wished to see it in person; For this purpose, taking with him certain people, he brought them to the place of the monk's seclusion, and when they attempted to dig up the wall and enter into the cell, a fire that suddenly burst out of it almost burned Eustochius himself and all those who were with him, as the scholastic Evagrius testifies to this in the 34th chapter of the 4th book of his Church History, saying (about this) thus: "At the same time there were God-bearing men who did great signs; among them, Barsanuphius, an Egyptian by birth, was especially famous. He dwelt in the flesh as a bodiless man in a certain dwelling near the city of Gaza, and performed many miracles; but he spent his life shut up in a very small cell, and for "fifty years or more he did not show himself to anyone,"[2] and did not use anything earthly; [3] And when, not believing this, Eustochius, the First Hierarch of Jerusalem, gave orders to dig up the cell in which the man of God had shut himself up, a fire suddenly burst forth and almost burned all those who were there. And after the dormition of the great Barsanuphius, when he departed to the fathers and to the longed-for Christ, a certain elder who lived in the monastery was laid in his grave, [4] as the most divine Barsanuphius himself had prophesied during his lifetime" (ref. 152).

It must be known that there were two Barsanuphias: one was this holy and most orthodox father, and the other was a heretic, who adhered to the heresy of the Monophysites, who were also called headless and ten-horned, because they considered not one person, but many, to be the leaders of their heresy. That heretic Barsanuphius was included by the divine Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, in a book which contained a confession of faith, and which he sent to the Sixth Holy and Ecumenical Council, which had gathered against the Monothelites. This divine Barsanuphius, of whom we speak, was a man in all respects completely Orthodox, and the Church of Christ venerates him as a saint, which was also confirmed by the holy Patriarch Tarasius, being questioned about this by Saint Theodore the Studite. Theodore the Studite himself testifies to this in his Testament, saying as follows: "I accept the entire divinely inspired book of the Old and New Testaments, as well as the lives and divine writings of all the God-bearing fathers, teachers and ascetics. But I say this for the sake of the injurious Pamphilus, who, having come from the East, slandered those venerable fathers, that is, Mark, Isaiah, Barsanuphius, Dorotheus, and Hesychius, not those Barsanuphius and Dorotheus, who were of one mind with the Acephalites and with the so-called decakerat (ten-horned), and for this were anathematized by Saint Sophronius in his book, for these are completely different from those I have mentioned. Which, according to the tradition of the Fathers, I accept, having asked His Holiness Patriarch Tarasius, the Priest, and other reliable Eastern Fathers; moreover, the image of Barsanuphius is on the enditia (vestment of the throne) of the great Church,[5] together with the images of the Holy Fathers Anthony, Ephraim, and others; And in the teachings of the above-mentioned Fathers I did not find not only the slightest impiety, but, on the contrary, much spiritual benefit."

Another Elder, the Monk John, lived the same silent life as Barsanuphius, and was vouchsafed the same gifts of the Spirit as he did, especially and especially the gift of clairvoyance and prophecy, for which reason he was called a prophet. For this reason the great Barsanuphius said to a certain man, who first questioned the divine John and, having received an answer from him, asked Barsanuphius himself about the same thing: "The God of Barsanuphius and of John is one" (ref. 220). Likewise, when some asked him to tell them about the life of John, he answered thus: "Concerning the life of my unanimous son, a blessed and humble novice, who in all things renounced all his desires even unto death, what shall I say to you? The Lord said, "He that hath seen Me in the form of the Father" (John 14:9). And of the disciple he said, "Let him be like his teacher" (Matt. 10:25). He that hath ears to hear, let him hear (Matt. 13:9)." (Responsible. 129.)

With these words the saint wanted to show that the divine John was in every way similar to his father and teacher Barsanuphius; the same thing appears from another circumstance: when some questioned the divine John about (some) matters, he was in the habit of sending the inquirers to the great Barsanuphius himself, that he might give them an answer; John did this out of humility, which is why at one time a certain Christ-loving man said to him: "Why do you mock us, Father John, when you send us to inquire of the holy and Great Elder Father Barsanuphius, when you have the same power of the Spirit as him?" (Question 792).

Where the Monk John came from and came here, we do not know. He lived in the first cell of the great Barsanuphius, which the latter had created outside the Gaza monastery, and remained silent there for 18 years until his death (ref. 221). No one ever saw him smile, or be embarrassed, or partake of the Divine Mysteries without tears, as the abbot of that monastery testified of him (Ref. 568).

The Monk John foresaw and foretold many things concerning life and death (Rev. 785 and 786), and together with the Elder Barsanuphius he healed from illness a certain Christ-loving and pilgrim-loving man (Rev. 793). Also, according to the gift of foresight, he chose for ordination those who were worthy of it (Rev. 811). For the sake of the rich gift of prophecy, which was given to him by the Lord, he was called by many, as we have already said, John the Prophet. For this reason the Monk Nikon inscribed on the two books containing the answers of this father: John the Prophet.

This Monk John also foreknew of his own death, of which he said: "In the weeks of Abba Serida I shall die. If Abba Seris had lived longer, I would have lived another five years, but since God hid it from me and took it, I will not live any longer" (Rev. 221).

And Abba Elian asked him about everything concerning the management of the dormitory. At the end of the two weeks, the monk summoned all the monastic brethren and, greeting each one in particular, sent them away to their cells; and so in peace and silence he gave up his spirit in the hand of God (Rev. 221).

When the Monk John died, then Saint Barsanuphius also fell silent altogether and gave no more answers to anyone, as Abba Dorotheus says in the title of his 2nd homily. And when Barsanuphius fell silent, Abba Dorotheus himself came out of this monastery and formed his own (separate) dormitory.

Such, beloved brethren, was the life of the God-bearing Fathers Barsanuphius and John, such supernatural and heavenly gifts they were vouchsafed to receive from God, and such a blessed end they received. And now, having ascended to heaven, they enjoy the highest bliss, in vain face to face with God, Whom they loved with all their heart on earth, and illumined by the ineffable light of the three-solar Deity. For, having dwelt in heaven, they became, in the words of the divine Barsanuphius, "wholly in intellect, wholly in eye, wholly luminous, wholly perfect, wholly gods. They have been exalted, they have been glorified, they have been enlightened, they have come to life, because they have died before. They rejoice and rejoice: they rejoice in the Indivisible Trinity and rejoice the Higher Powers." Therefore let us also desire their condition; let us flow through them; let us be zealous for their faith; let us acquire their humility and patience, that we may receive their inheritance. Let us hold fast to their unfailing love, that we may inherit unspeakable blessings: eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and the heart of man has not sighed (1 Corinthians 2:9) (Rev. 120).

These blessed fathers loved their neighbors from the bottom of their hearts, did them good and benefited them not only during their lifetime, but also after their death, for they left this holy book to all their brethren as a paternal inheritance to their spiritual children, so that they, diligently reading it, might derive great benefit from it in the age of ages. This book contains 850 answers made to various questions of various persons: bishops, priests, monks, laymen, elders, the young, the infirm, and the healthy. And some of these answers were written by the (so-called) other Elder John, while others, and most of them, were given [6] by the Great Elder Barsanuphius himself, not of his own free will, but at the command of the Holy Spirit, for the benefit of souls, as he says: "And all this I write not of my own free will, but by the command of the Holy Spirit, for the correction and benefit of the soul and conscience of the inner man" (answer 13).

When the great Barsanuphius began to proclaim these answers to the hegumen of the monastery, the Monk Seridus, there followed a circumstance worthy of astonishment (namely): Saint Barsanuphius, having summoned Seridas, his scribe, commanded him to write an answer to the Monk John, a monk of the monastery of Saint Sava. But Serid, unable to keep in his mind all the words that the saint had said to him, pondered and wondered how he would write so many words, waiting for the Elder to command him to bring ink and charters, so that he could write word by word while listening. Saint Barsanuphius, by the grace of insight given to him by the Holy Spirit, knew the secret thought of Seridas, and his face suddenly shone like fire, and he said to Seridus: "Go, write, and do not be afraid; If I speak to you an innumerable number of words, that you may write them, then know that the Holy Spirit will not suffer you to write with a single word more or less than what you have said, even if you yourself desire it, but will guide your hand how to write it in a sequential order" (Answer 1).

In this way this book was written by the command of the Holy Spirit; And from this alone everyone can understand how beneficial and pleasant it is, how full of grace and spiritual reasoning it is; For as the tree is, so is the fruit. Truly, everyone can know this from experience itself, for when he begins to read this book, he hears words that are unnatural and simple, but at the same time he will feel intimately within his heart one wondrous grace and sweetness of the Holy Spirit, which, like a magnet, effectively attracts the will to agreement and undoubted conviction of the truth of the words read, and will know how all these words were born of one enlightened and God-bearing mind. how they were disposed by one heart, in which Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit of Christ dwelt, and how they (these words) proceeded from one soul, which was all filled with peace and quietness, all Christlike, all inspired by the subtle breaths of the peace-making and enlightening Spirit, and then he will know that, according to the word of David, God has spoken in His holiness (Ps. 59:8), and that the promise of the Lord has been fulfilled over the words of this book: For ye shall not speak, but the Spirit of your Father shall speak in you (Matt. 10:20).

She is the teacher of patience, the extirpator of murmuring, the sword that cuts off one's will, the axe that strikes at the pleasure of men, the guide to true and perfect humility, who teaches us to consider ourselves as nothing; the herald of repentance, the mother of weeping, and the intercessor for the salvation of souls and perfection in Christ. That is why the ancient divine fathers diligently read it, and many of its answers were included in their writings. Thus the Monk Paul of Euergetes contributed much of it to his book; Thus the Monk Nikon, who asceticized in the Black Mountain at Antioch, in the year 1060 under Constantine Ducas and under John, Patriarch of Antioch, entered many testimonies from it into two parts of his collection; In the same way, St. Theodore the Studite in his Testament says that in this book of Barsanuphius he did not find anything disagreeable or inappropriate. It is also commemorated by Symeon the New Theologian, Peter of Damascus and other Fathers. Accept it gladly also because, as the saying goes, "all that is rare is desired." This book is so rare that not only has it never been printed, but its manuscripts are seldom to be found. By the great mercy of God, only one complete and very ancient manuscript of it ended up in the rich library of the great Lavra of our holy and God-bearing Father Athanasius the Athonite.