The Monk John the Long-Suffering is one of the most amazing saints resting in the Near Caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.
He is amazing in that he stood face to face against the passion from which Scripture calls to flee. “Flee fornication” (1 Cor. 6:18), wrote the Apostle Paul. And following the supreme apostle, patristic experience gives advice regarding this sin: run. Run from the source of temptation, run from unclean thoughts.
One of the saints said that fornication is a passion that cannot be looked into the eyes. And indeed, of all the struggles that the saints undertook, the most terrible in their torment were generated precisely by the fight against fornication. Rev. remembered today. John the Long-Suffering, struggling with lustful thoughts, buried himself up to his chest in the ground, so that the lower part of his body festered and was infested with worms. Rev. Martinian (Caesarean), suffering temptation from a harlot, entered the flames of the fire and stood there until he was burned half to death. Rev. Mary of Egypt endured unbearable suffering for 17 years in the lifeless desert so that the spirit of fornication would depart from her. Another ascetic, mentioned in the Fatherland, smeared his clothes with the pus of a decomposed corpse and walked in them until God healed him of fornication.
Direct struggle with this passion is scary. Are you sure you can stand it? If not, then you better run. Run from where you are tempted, run from the one who tempts you. This is what the fearless Paul says, this is what the vision of the universal infection of this passion suggests.
No one, not even the most skilled doctor, can drive away the prodigal demon.
Paul also notes: “Every sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the fornicator sins against his own body” (1 Cor. 6:18). Indeed, fornication heads a relatively small family of sins, which in themselves carry punishment - not only the soul, but also the human body is destroyed. Such is drunkenness that turns a flourishing man into a trembling insect. This is drug addiction, drinking all the vital juices from the body. This is gluttony, because of which the flesh goes berserk. But fornication is worse than them, because it cannot be cured by human means. No one, not even the most skilled doctor, can drive away the prodigal demon. Only when Christ and His Most Pure Mother stand between a person and his passion will it become easier for the person. But even in this case, the cunning and terrible demon of fornication will not go away completely, but will only wait for an opportunity.
By the way, according to the Apostle Paul, one cannot even write on the topic of fornication. “Fornication and all uncleanness and covetousness must not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints” (Eph. 5:3), said Paul. How far we are today from these words! In our confessions, sin is rarely not mentioned, with the addition of the word “mental.” But, at the same time, there is a positive side to our deplorable state. Christ promises a better fate to repentant harlots than to the high priests (Matt. 21:31).
The meaning of a saint in Orthodoxy
Job lived before the prophet Moses, before the time when God gave the Covenant for the chosen people. Ancient interpreters of the Old Testament give the Book of Job a special place.
The story of the righteous man is a prototype of Christ, the sinless sufferer, who with his death atoned for human sins.
God knew that no man on earth loved him as much as Job. But he allowed Satan to tempt his most faithful servant. The Lord provokes the devil to test his power on him, but imposes restrictions on him: not to deprive him of life and mind. Sudden, inexplicable suffering has driven a pious and God-fearing man to despair, and he cries out to God, not understanding the reason for his anger and cursing his birth.
Christian interpreters, including Orthodox Christians, view the suffering of the biblical forefather as a path to spiritual self-improvement, to strengthening faith and getting closer to God. The Lord allowed such trials for the righteous so that he would become a perfect man who not only heard, but also saw the Lord.
From the story of the righteous long-sufferer, it follows that the suffering of sinners and righteous people has different causes and consequences. God's punishment for sins forces people to come to church to find spiritual support in misfortune and illness, to get rid of vices. For the righteous, physical and mental suffering is a way of spiritual self-improvement, which includes two aspects: unshakable faith, love for God and persistent humility. Job is an example for believers of how to endure misfortunes in order to prepare for a meeting with God in the future eternal life. He is a symbol of hope found through suffering.
Fornication robs a person of the Kingdom of God
If Paul had lived in our time, he might not have written so categorically that only in fornication does a person sin directly against the body. Modern scientists (from the believers) say that any passion (even one that seems absolutely spiritual) has a destructive effect on the body.
For example, pride is a common accompaniment of psychopathy, schizophrenia, and spinal diseases. Dejection acts as a catalyst for depressive neuroses and psychoses, kidney diseases, immune system diseases, and oncology. Vanity contributes to diseases of the cardiovascular system and neuropsychiatric illnesses. Love of money and envy are associated with neuropsychic disorders. Anger affects the development of hypertension, coronary heart disease, angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, strokes, urolithiasis and cholelithiasis, neurasthenia, psychopathy, epilepsy*...
Yes, every passion kills a person, but fornication is still worse. He takes away the Kingdom of God from man. “Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor fools, nor homosexuals... will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9-10).
Fornication destroys the personality from the inside and attacks the highest powers of the soul - the mind and will. Surprising as it may seem, fornication can darken even the greatest mental abilities and turn the most intelligent and well-read person into a laughing stock. The mysterious connection between heresy and fornication is quite accurately indicated by the Wise Solomon. “The excitement of lust corrupts the mind” (Wisdom 4:12), wrote the wisest of people. This is probably why many heretics were pronounced fornicators.
Fornication drives the Holy Spirit out of a person, turning the temple of his heart into an idolatry. He who surrenders to fornication capitulates to all other passions, turning into a plaything of unclean spirits and his own enraged nature. How destructive the consequences of fornication are can be seen in the very harshness of the struggle against it by those who were once committed to it. Let us again remember Mary of Egypt and her incomprehensible spiritual warfare in the desert. This is a struggle on the verge of life and death, tension to the extreme limit of human strength. Because the war here is being waged with the very prince of this age. It is not without reason that on the frescoes of the ordeals depicted at the entrance to the Near Caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the ordeal of fornication is led by Satan himself - he is distinguished from other demons by his red robe, a parody of royal dignity. The devil personally supervises the passion for fornication; this is his favorite sphere of influence. And here his world power is growing from year to year.
Lesson for the younger generation
Photo: Msdm.ru
John’s feat serves as a lesson for people, and especially for the younger generation. What passions take hold of modern people?
- gluttony;
- addiction to alcoholic drinks, intoxicating substances;
- passion for gambling, etc.
Passion is expressed in a wide variety of addictions. They manifest themselves in everyday life. What do we do in every free minute? Let's go surf the Internet! Wouldn't it be better to devote this time to prayer? Take care of your soul?
Appeals to the Lord, calls to strengthen the will, work miracles. People cope with the most destructive addictions.
An example is the lives of some drug addicts. By giving up use and turning to the Lord, they overcame physical and mental torment. Moreover, they fight cravings every moment. After all, passion cannot pass overnight.
The life of John the Long-Suffering serves as a consolation to those who have embarked on the path of struggle with their passions, including fornication.
Run, don't test your strength
Today fornication has a completely different arsenal of weapons than in the time of Paul. Modern man is attacked by fornication from all sides. It penetrates through the eyes - helped by the computer monitor, the TV screen and the usual shamelessness of a feral European who goes out into the street half naked. Fornication flows through the ears - a depraved song, a vulgar joke, an indecent joke. Fornication enters through the nostrils - special spirits that excite human flesh. Fornication lurks at every turn, for they speak and sing about it with delight, write apologies in its honor, film it, photograph it, draw it. Therefore, Paul is a thousand times right when he says: Flee fornication. Run, don’t test your strength and don’t tempt God. Don't play with leviathan. Don't put your hand into the lion's cage. Be afraid to fall - who knows if you will rise?
Let's stop talking about this. This is not a topic that is useful to talk about much. The danger is obvious and vigilance must be proportionate to the risk of falling. Saint John, help. Our holy reverend fathers of Kiev-Pechersk, pray to God for us. Lord, save Your people from all the diseases of this age.
*This is discussed in Irina Siluyanova’s book “Anthropology of Disease”, chapter “Diversity of forms of “monocohabitation” of soul and body.”
Healing a monk
After what happened, John began to help other people obsessed with the lust of the flesh to overcome their sinful passion. And none of those who visited the saint left without receiving liberation from the shackles of vice and without cleansing their soul. Church tradition describes a case when one of the brethren of the Pechersk Monastery, similarly burned by the fire of carnal passion, began to visit the long-suffering John often. This monk repeatedly asked the monk to pray for his soul and for the weakening of lust. John taught the young monk that one must endure and realize what a great feat it is to resist a destructive passion and defeat it in the end. And he also said to the unfortunate man: “Pray to the Monk Moses.”
After these words, John and his brother offered up prayers to God’s saint and the Lord himself, then he took one of the bones from the relics of the said ascetic, gave it to the sufferer and ordered him to apply it to his body. The unfortunate man obeyed and - oh, miracle! - at that very second the lust in his body died away, all vicious feelings died at once. Together the monks praised heaven and thanked Saint Moses for his quick help.
Buy an icon of St. John the Long-Suffering
In the Radonezh icon painting workshop you can buy or order a handwritten icon of St. John the Long-Suffering. Call us and we will help you choose a plot, a compositional solution for the icon, its optimal size and design, or we will write an icon according to your sample.
Free delivery throughout Russia.
If desired, the icon can be consecrated in the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra.
The image of St. John the Long-Suffering, made by the icon painters of the Radonezh workshop, like any handmade icon, carries within itself the living warmth of human hands and a loving heart. Each icon painted with love is unique and inimitable.
Peace and goodness to you, dear brothers and sisters, and may the holy saint of God, John the Long-Suffering, accompany you throughout your entire life’s journey.
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Life of St. John the Long-Suffering
A monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, who set an example of a difficult struggle with the flesh and victory over its lusts. In order to overcome carnal lust within himself, the monk underwent many labors: he spent almost thirty years in seclusion, exhausting his body with fasting, vigils and heavy chains. But the fighting did not go away. Then the saint buried himself up to his chest in the cave of St. Anthony for the entire Lent.
The devil tried to frighten the ascetic with the vision of a huge serpent breathing fire and ready to devour the saint. Thanks to God's help and his strong will, the monk, on the night of Holy Pascha, got rid of the passion that tormented him and received from God the gift of helping others in a similar temptation. He fell asleep in the Lord no earlier than 1160.
