Who are celebrating? today February 24th according to the calendar: Saint John the Reaper in Calabria, First and Monday of the finding of the head of the forerunner and baptist John
*Holy John was born around the beginning of the 10th century AD. in Panormo of Sicily. His mother was an Orthodox Christian captive in the palace of the local Muslim lord, who had her as his wife and was named Callisti.
Osios grew up according to the customs of the Saracens. Only his mother spoke to him in secret from his childhood regarding Christ. When he reached the age of 14, he revealed to him his true homeland, Calabria and urged him to go there to be baptized Orthodox. Then the pious Callisti embraced her child and gave him the Holy Cross, which she secretly kept and was her only consolation in the sorrows of the hostage.
Osios miraculously escaped the pursuit of the Agarines and landed on the coast of Stylus, where he was baptized by the Orthodox Bishop John, who gave him his name. He then followed the solitary life and attained high measures of virtue and holiness.
John regularly went to the Church, worshiped the Holy Cross and asked for explanations for the holy images he saw. Seeing next to Christ the Holy Prophet and Baptist John, he asked:
“Who is this Saint who is dressed in a camel’s skin?”.
They answered him:
“He is John the Forerunner, the prophet who lived in the desert and fed on locusts and wild honey. He is the one who baptized our Christ in the Jordan River. Imitate him, because you have his name.”
Hearing the life of the Holy Forerunner, John was filled with divine desire and begged the Bishop to show him a deserted place where he might save his soul. He then pointed out to him an ancient monastery in a wooded valley, between the rivers Assis and Stylaros.
He went there and found two holy monks, Ambrose and Nicholas. At first they were negative and left him outside the door of the monastery, until, admiring his stability and perseverance, they accepted him to them, to begin the angelic life and reach the heights of holiness.
Once upon a time in Roviano, on the Monasterrace side, there was a benefactor who every year, following the harvest, gave a little to the monastery. In the month of June, John went to find him, taking with him a small bottle of wine.
As he passed through the fields, the villagers began to tease him, but the meek John approached them and gave them all to eat and drink. Everyone ate the bread and drank the wine, but the bread did not run out, nor did the winepress run out. As soon as he saw this the Saint was kneeling and thanking God when suddenly the sky darkened, while it was noon, and a storm fell on the plain.
The reapers ran for cover. Only John remained there praying. As soon as the rain stopped, the reapers returned to their work and found all the sheaves harvested, tied in bundles and dry. That is why he was called the Reaper.
The Saint foretold his falling asleep
The Saint predicted his sleep, and his holy relic became a source of miracles and healings everywhere, so that these Frankish conquerors, following the faithful Orthodox people, erected a magnificent temple in his honor.
Since then, however, the Latinization of the area began and so the last Latin monks left the monastery and moved to Stylos, bringing there with them, where they are preserved to this day, the holy relics of Osios and Saints Ambrose and Nikolaos, his teachers.
History has not saved the exact date on which the Blessed One slept in peace and rested in Abraham’s bosom. Tradition wants the feast of the memory of the Saint on this day, along with the feast of the finding of the Holy head of Saint John the Forerunner, because Saint John was a forerunner of salvation, a new forerunner of the kingdom of heaven.
Source: ekklisiaonline.gr
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