John the Prophet, known also as Venerable John, was the

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

of the monastery of Seridus and teacher of

Dorotheus of Gaza Dorotheus of Gaza ( grc-gre, Δωρόθεος τῆς Γάζης ''Dorotheos tes Gazes''; 505 – 565 or 620,) or Abba Dorotheus, was a Christianity, Christian monk and abbot. Life He joined the monastery Abba Serid (or Abba Sveridus) near Gaza C ...

.Barnasuphius and John ''Letters'', translated by John Chryssavgis

Catholic University of America Press The Catholic University of America Press, also known as CUA Press, is the publishing division of The Catholic University of America. Founded on November 14, 1939, and incorporated on July 16, 1941,Roy J. Deferrari ''Memoirs of the Catholic Univer ...

(2002)

Life

He practiced a life of silence and according to the Christian view earned the gifts of

prophecy In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or prete ...

and perspicacity, for which he received the designation of prophet. During 18 years, up to his death, he was close to Barsanuphius of Palestine, with whom he exchanged letters. According to Church tradition he knew the date of his demise and in response to Abba Elianus' request he postponed his death for two weeks in order to instruct him how to run the cloister. The feast day of John the prophet is marked by

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...

on February, 6 (Old style).

References

Egyptian hermits Prophets Year of birth unknown {{Christian-theologian-stub