Episcopal Office and Renunciation
John was consecrated Bishop of Colonia in Armenia at about the age of twenty-eight and served for roughly ten years. By tradition his relatives also lived devout lives under his influence, and members of his family held positions in imperial service.
Sources relate that conflict with the local governor, said to have been related to him by marriage, prompted his decision to leave. He traveled to Constantinople to seek imperial intervention, and afterward, rather than return to his see, he set out for Jerusalem in pursuit of a more secluded and contemplative life.
Monastic Life at the Lavra of St. Savva
At the Lavra of St. Savva, John concealed his rank as a bishop and entered as an ordinary novice under the guidance of St. Savva, performing manual labor and serving in the monastery's guesthouses and building projects.
By tradition he kept his episcopal past hidden for several years, and his identity became known only when Patriarch Elias of Jerusalem learned of it during discussions of his ordination. The patriarch then directed him to live in silence, the discipline from which his epithet derives.
The synaxarion relates that he practiced strict fasting and attended public services chiefly on weekends, and that he withdrew for an extended period of more than nine years into the wilderness near Scythopolis, living on plants and grass before returning to his cell, where he remained for the rest of his long life.
Miracles and Traditions
Traditional Accounts: The synaxarion and the account by Cyril of Scythopolis relate a number of wonders associated with John. By tradition a lion protected him from Saracens while he dwelt in the desert. He is also said to have healed the sick and those troubled by demons and to have discerned the hidden thoughts of those who came to him.
Traditional Accounts: A frequently repeated tradition holds that a fig tree grew from seed on barren rock near his cell and in time overshadowed it. He is reported to have been guided to the Lavra of St. Savva by a vision of a bright cross or star, and St. Savva is said to have appeared to him in a vision foretelling a struggle against heresy.
Legacy and Commemoration
John the Silent stands as one of the foremost examples of the hesychast tradition of silence and inner stillness in early Palestinian monasticism. His life was recorded by his contemporary Cyril of Scythopolis, a principal source for the monastic history of sixth-century Palestine.
He is commemorated in the Eastern Orthodox Church on December 3, with an additional commemoration on March 30 noted in the OCA listing. He is also known by the names John the Hesychast and John Silentiarius.
