This blessed Father John was born to devout parents, Neagoe and Stana; yet, over the long course of the years gone by, his lineage has been forgotten. From a very young age, he dedicated his life to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, entering the Holy Monastery of Câmpulung, dedicated to the Holy Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God, where he also received the monastic vows.
And that monastery was the most praised and blessed of all the monasteries in Wallachia, unlike any other, for it upheld the holy patriarchal order of the monastic community, according to the apostolic canons. For this reason, the blessed founder Matei Basarab, in establishing it as a monastery—‘not a mere community, but a true monastic order’—laid down the rule that the brothers should all be of one mind, and that the abbot should be chosen not from outside, but solely from within the community, so that the order of the monastic community might not be disrupted. And whoever wishes—be it a brother or a monk—to dwell in that holy abode, let him pledge before the assembly to uphold the communal order unbroken. And no one shall have the right to demand an account—be he a lord, a metropolitan or a great nobleman—but the abbot shall give an account to the brethren alone of all that has been spent for the monastery, whilst taking nothing for himself; and the brothers shall not dare to do or possess anything without the blessing of the abbot. For the wise Prince Matthew saw that, with the passing of time and the changing of generations, piety was fading and the proper order of communal monastic life was dying out, whilst the monasteries were falling into ruin and those opposed to Orthodoxy were stirring up trouble against the Holy Church; and considering his reign and the decline of the country, he realised that unless all the monks were united in one way, the holy monasteries and the people could not be sustained, together with the ever-memorable Father Stephen the Metropolitan, they re-established the ancient monastic order in that venerable monastery of Câmpulung, to serve as a model for the other abbots of the monasteries of Wallachia and for future founders. And later, a school and a printing press were also established here, following the example of the holy and great Lavra of the Mother of God at the Caves of Kiev.
And whilst living so well in that holy monastery of Câmpulung, the blessed Father John, by virtue of the great abundance of gifts he had received from the Lord, truly mastered all wisdom, both inner and outer, so much so that, with one voice and in unison, the brotherhood desired and called upon him to be their abbot and guardian, even though he was still young in years. ‘And having served as abbot there for three years,’ said the abbot, ‘His Highness the Prince sent us to the Holy Monastery at Hurezi. And we arrived at Hurezi on 20 September, in the year 1692.” He found the monastery not yet fully completed; indeed, the construction of the great church dedicated to Saints and Equal-to-the-Apostles, the God-crowned Emperors Constantine and Helena, and it had not yet been painted, nor had all the necessary furnishings for the holy place been completed. Yet the blessed founder, the holy prince and martyr Constantine Brâncoveanu, having resolved in his mind and heart from his youth to follow the words of the great prophet and king David, gave his eyes no sleep, his eyelids no slumber, nor his temples any rest, until he had found a place for the Lord, where that beautiful and holy monastery, from its very foundations, which he built with all his zeal and at great expense, for the everlasting remembrance of himself, his ancestors, and all his noble kin. And having endowed it with many estates, with most beautiful and precious treasures, and with books of great use, they finally decided and chose to add yet another jewel: the wise John, to build up the unseen aspects of the monastery, just as he himself had built its visible structures with the fear of God and piety. And afterwards they urged the blessed Calinic, Patriarch of Constantinople, to accept that holy house as a stavropighia, so that, by virtue of the patriarchal name, it might be spared from all manner of disturbances and no one in future might dare to disrupt the established order.
And the Venerable John, obeying the command of the earthly lord, but even more so that of the heavenly One, did not spare his own clay vessel; rather, as he himself wrote, ‘First of all, brothers, I laboured and put great zeal into laying the foundations for the service of the holy church, in accordance with the monastic rule, just as we too received from our fathers at the Monastery of Câmpulung, the tradition and the entire monastic order…”. And he was a lover of monastic life, knowing no rest from his calling and ceaselessly meditating on the promises of his Lord and God: ‘Be faithful unto death, and I will give you eternal life; the heavens and the ends of the earth shall be his.” Like the great David, whose soul longed for the courts of the Lord, he blessed those who dwelt in His beloved abodes; and the holy monastic fathers lived in good order and devotion, guarding the church and singing to God and rejoicing together with His holy angels, ever finding delight in the holy house of God, with chants arranged and pleasing to the Lord, and with litany spoken with understanding, serving God in silence.
Father John carried out many works at the holy monastery at that time, having been entrusted by the great founder, for he was a wise steward and a most capable manager; yet in all things he strove ceaselessly for the glory of God and the edification of the brethren. The great church – which had been built in the very image of that revealed by the Lord to the great Ezekiel on the mountain, and later, in due course, in the Holy Monastery of Argeș, which came to be known as the ‘Jerusalem of the Romanians’ – was painted in the same manner, in accordance with his vision and prayers. Then they built a most beautiful well with good water, but not in front of the church, as is customary, but to the east, like the river of life first seen by the prophet Ezekiel, and he depicted it as the Spring of Life and Healing. He also had the refectory removed from its original site, where it had previously stood, so that it might be rebuilt to the west of the great church, opposite the entrance, where the monastery gate and the road had once been, although he had to demolish those as well. But the loving father wished, in accordance with the monastic customs of the ancient community, to place it in the path of the holy bread, so that no soul, neither then nor ever since, might be deprived of blessing, for it is written that ‘the Lord sends rain upon the righteous and upon the unrighteous alike’. For this reason, he also called it ‘the most reverend and beautiful refectory, which is dear to all, like a comforting mother, when the brothers sit at table…’.
Father John carried out many works at the holy monastery at that time, having been entrusted by the great founder, for he was a wise steward and a most capable manager; yet in all things he strove ceaselessly for the glory of God and the edification of the brothers.
And the merciful Lady Maria, eager to emulate and follow in all the good deeds of her most exalted husband, saw fit to add the infirmary hermitage to the east of the great monastery, as can still be seen today, complete with a small church and cells, so that, through the efforts of the abbot and the brothers, care might be taken of the ailing monks and the infirm abbots. However, this blessed Father John, whilst serving as steward, showed such tenderness towards those afflicted by grievous illnesses that he even had a gazebo built in a pleasant spot, in the infirmary garden, so that the sight of the Mother Monastery might be a comfort to them.
But the good Father, knowing the human soul and the struggles of his disciples, and the longing some of them had to live in silence, always nourishing himself with holy prayer, he gave them his blessing to dwell in the woods near the monastery, just like the hermits of old, whilst visiting and caring for them as a most distinguished spiritual father. And so that the enemy of the human race might not scatter them, nor that they might be deprived of the divine services, having obtained permission and assistance from his lord and founder, he soon built them a small hermitage to the north of the monastery andplaced it under the protection of the saints, the ever-praised Apostles, so that the pious fathers might have a true example of brotherly life, in accordance with the prophetic word that it is good and beautiful for brothers to dwell together. And for the sake of his disciples, that building was dearer to him than all the many others he had built during his blessed life, for His Holiness himself said of the hermitage: ‘I built it with great joy until it was completed’. And furthermore, just as the great David once did with the lyre of the Holy Spirit, he would say: ‘Just as the thirsty deer longs for the spring, and upon finding cold water, drinks and rejoices, so too did my soul long to build this small sanctuary for the great God, who is glorified in the Trinity and is one in three Persons.” However, as this father was poor and had no worldly possessions—for he did not even receive his due stipend as abbot and overseer of the royal monastery—and not wishing to accept payment for his ascetic labour alone, but rather to attain salvation only together with those who would come after him, he built the hermitage with the help of the boyars and the people from the surrounding villages, who were willing and generous, supporting the hermitage with their labour or from their rightful earnings, whether much or little, each according to their means, so that they might share with him in the remembrance of the dead and be inscribed in the earthly memorial, but above all in the heavenly one.
And comforting his disciples at the hermitage with spiritual teachings depicted in the murals, so that he might remain inseparable from them and that their fathers might always have an example for their eyes and hearts, he arranged for the images to be painted in the church—by two of his own disciples, the hierodeacons Joseph and John—depicting the ascetic nourishment which the holy men of old, who shone in the wilderness, had been deemed worthy to receive, as well as the image of repentance and forgiveness of the blessed man, the divine David, of the unknown hermits, then the icon of monastic life, the Most Holy Mother of God with the Apostles, and also the great John, the Forerunner of the Lord and the pioneer of ascetic endeavours, together with other edifying and soul-nourishing teachings. For the good father considered that, whilst the spoken word is fleeting due to the brevity of human life, the painted image, by God’s mercy and in these impoverished times, would endure for longer. And judging that it would be of great benefit to the brethren and to the holy house with honour, having completed the work, he dedicated the hermitage to the holy monastery.
And then, allowing himself no rest, he took upon himself another task from the blessed founder, namely to oversee the work on the hermitage that Stephen, the second son of the lord and ruler of the land, the ever-memorable Constantin Brâncoveanu, wished to build on the western side of the monastery. And this Ștefan was very young in years, yet wise beyond his years, having received much instruction from his parents, and having been enriched with humility by the Lord. So he went to Abba Ioan as to a spiritual guide, and with great earnestness he begged him to be his helper and counsellor in the building of the holy house, so that his parents might have peace, glory to Saint Stephen the Archdeacon and Martyr, and success for the heavenly sanctuary; for the blessed young man said: ‘It is not possible, at my present age, for a man to produce lofty thoughts…’. And Father John, ever bearing the Mother of Mercy in his heart, poured out such love upon his spiritual children that he had the most precious gift depicted on the walls of the porch: the images of the Most Holy Mother of God, as it is written: ‘the most pure Church of the Saviour, the treasury of great worth, and the Virgin… this is the heavenly tabernacle’.
And the blessed father saw this blessed Stephen, the founder of the hermitage, just as he had once seen Saint Joasaph, who from a young age had loved God and despised the glories of the world. For this reason, the Lord granted the pious John a prophetic word, and he said to Stephen, echoing the words of Abba Varlaam to his disciple Joasaph: ‘You shall not labour for many years.’ And indeed, not many years later, the young Stephen was deemed worthy of a martyr’s death, receiving the crown prepared for him by the Lord on the 15th of August according to the new calendar, and on the 26th day of the old calendar, when the Holy Church commemorates Saint Joasaph.
And then, wishing to protect the monastery and his beloved disciples with the invincible weapon of the Holy Cross, the Venerable John also established a place of worship to the south, building the Church of the Holy Archangels in the village of Romani, but for the monastery’s servants and for those who lived and worked there on the holy monastery’s estate, so that they might not be deprived of the holy services, and so that there might be no interference within the monastery. What a remarkable and marvellous thing that was! – for who in those days would build churches solely for servants, and of stone at that? Likewise, on other estates bestowed upon the Hurez family by the holy founder – at Șirineasa, at Baia de Fier, at Stoiceni on the Topolog, at Runcu or at Puțuri in the Jiu floodplain, the merciful father, with fatherly care, built and renovated churches from the monastery’s income, equipping them with all that was necessary, so that even those younger brothers, the servants and labourers of the monastery, might share in the blessing of the divine services.
He also aided many holy monasteries, through his labour and counsel, but above all with love, for he was truly rooted and grounded in love: at the Fedeleșoiu Hermitage, at Govora or at Sărăcinești with the frescoes, at the nuns’ hermitage of Lady Maria of Surpatele and at Dintr-un Lemn Monastery as steward and counsellor; indeed, it was said of him that ‘he did many other things, which, wherever one looks, will still be found’. And seeing the virtuous way of life of the most reverend fathers and inhabitants of the holy and great monastery of Cozia, and also noting the dilapidated state of the walls, he was moved to build the holy chapel of All Saints, with its two vaulted rooms and the small belfry which can still be seen today. But adding words of instruction to the buildings, with fatherly love he wrote to those pious men: ‘And once again, with humility, I pray that on every Thursday throughout the year, once a week, the Divine Liturgy may not be missed in the chapel, so that my soul too may rejoice in your holy prayers. And this grace is not mine alone, but shared with all the brothers; even if the service is not held in the main church on that Thursday due to a shortage of priests, let it be celebrated there, just as it is on the Holy Mountain. This is what I do throughout the week: I celebrate the Divine Liturgy in the chapels, whilst on Sundays and feast days I celebrate in the main church, for this Holy Monastery of Cozia maintains rich traditions from the Holy Mountain... For the sake of great spiritual benefit, I have reflected upon the welfare of this holy monastery and upon your Holiness’s prayers, so that my wretched soul may have hope in the glory of God, looking forward year after year to that sweet remembrance of your Holinesses’. Thus did this Abba John, with fatherly authority, dare to advise him; yet just as a disciple thirsts for his father’s prayers, so did he thirst for the prayers of those pious men, whose virtuous lives sweetened him like honey. And that holy, longed-for and ever-commemorated Garden of the Mother of God on Mount Athos, the reverend John had painted in the chapel, for the sake of those good fathers, so that the eye might be satisfied and the longing fulfilled, which the foot, due to the great distance, could not cover.
Nor did he overlook that holy monastery by the River Olteț, Polovragii, for whilst it had from ancient times been dedicated to the Holy Patriarchate of Jerusalem, yet over time, as many dangers from foreign powers befell this land, so it came to pass that this holy house was completely abandoned and lay desolate for eight years. However, Father John, seeing that house so utterly ruined and abandoned,it to mind with earnest entreaty and much prayer to his lord and the great founder, Prince Constantine, even though not even a year had passed since he had become abbot at Hurezi. And the Christ-loving lord, unable to ignore his plea, made an agreement with His Holiness the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Dositei, to place that abandoned house under His Holiness’s care, and His Holiness in turn granted it as a dependency to the holy monastery at Hurezi. And in accordance with the wishes of this Father John, once that abandoned house had been acquired, the pious man set to work with great diligence and, as if from the very beginning (a new, renewed endeavour), he rebuilt everything and adorned the church with beautiful frescoes, he also built most beautiful side chapels, a refectory and a well, as well as small cells and a surrounding wall, so that both those who began the work, those who purchased the property, and those who completed it might be remembered for all eternity.
And, moved by the Holy Spirit, just as the Apostle Philip was led to baptise the eunuch, so too was His Holiness Father John moved to the study of the holy Scriptures, discovering and gleaning for the benefit of the brethren the good words of the spiritual writings. For although the venerable servant of Christ, the great benefactor, had bestowed upon the holy monastery that house of books containing nourishment for the soul—his library, rich in wisdom— yet the spiritual father, looking to inner matters, sought out, selected with great care, and added the sweet wonders of the Mother of God from the ‘Salvation of Sinners’ by the Venerable Agapios the Cretan, then the Lives of Saints Varlaam and Joasaph, the Daily Teachings of Saint Theodore the Studite, the Commentary on the Apocalypse by the holy Archbishop Andrew of Caesarea, The Eulogy to the Holy Emperors by Saint Euthymius of Tarnovo, The Life of Saint Fevronia, whose holy relics the blessed founder had bestowed upon the monastery, as well as The Holy Ladder, so that the affairs of the holy house and the brothers in monastic life might be known. Above all, however, that book, a fountain of honey—the Paterikon of the Holy Lavra of the Caves in the city of Kiev—was translated into the Romanian language, for just as honey sweetens the mouth from all manner of bitterness, so too does that book of the lives of the saints sweeten not only the mouth, but also the heart and soul from the bitterness of human nature. For the psalmist says: ‘How sweet are Your words, sweeter than honey to my lips...’. And fulfilling the parable spoken by the angel to Ezra, saying to him, ‘Open to me the locked chambers and let the winds out from there’, so too did Father John open up the lives of the saints, which were veiled in a foreign tongue, drawing from them words like the wind to refresh the souls of the faithful and to encourage his beloved disciples in the battle against unseen enemies.
Thus, earnestly seeking out that blessed, unconquered stronghold and mother of Orthodoxy, the Holy Lavra of the Caves, he found shining within it the most precious pearl, Saint Demetrius, who later became Metropolitan of Rostov in Russia, and who, for the sweetness of his speech, was called ‘Golden-Tongued’. And although he was not granted the joy of beholding the face of Christ’s bishop, yet he received his fiery words with great love and was of one spirit with him: that teacher of prayer, a man who had withdrawn into the chamber of his heart, whilst this one bore the Mother of the Unburnt Bush within the chamber of his soul. And just as he, seeing the calamities unleashed upon the Church that glorifies the truth by Christians of a different faith, wrote with bitterness: ‘In these last and dreadful times, when our sins have multiplied, the evils inflicted upon us have also multiplied, so that we may say with the Apostle: ‘in perils from robbers, in perils from false brethren…’”, so too did Abbot John, with steadfast faith and a spirit of witness, make himself a follower of the Holy Fathers of Nicaea, demonstrating the true faith of the holy councils which steers the ship of the Church. Just as he, like his great disciple, Saint Pachomius of Gledin, attests, proved himself a lover of hermits, so too did Abba John place his hope in the prayers of the blessed hermits, his disciples at the Skete of the Holy Apostles, for the protection of Holy Orthodoxy. And just as the former guided the world with the gift of speech, so the wise Father John, knowing the truth of the holy icons and being strengthened and enlightened by the Spirit, had them depicted everywhere in the churches under his care, on the thresholds and on the vaults, the icons of the Holy One, of the Consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity, of the eternal priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Holy Liturgy, of the Holy, Ecumenical and Apostolic One Church, of the holy councils of the whole world, and above all of the glorious Resurrection of the Lord, according to the word that is written: ‘If Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain’.
For this reason, Father Ioan turned to the great guides of the Romanian people, Saints Gregory the Decapolite, whose holy relics rest in the God-protected Monastery of Bistrița, and Nicodemus the Sanctified, the teacher of the land, who is venerated at Tismana. But because they remained unknown at that time within the confines of their monasteries, like hidden pearls, Father John, by divine inspiration, revealed them as the great teachers of the land, so that they might not remain under a bushel, but in a candlestick, and shine upon all with the light of faith. For this reason, he depicted them in many of the churches under his care and even within the holy sanctuary of the Hermitage of the Holy Apostles, among the great hierarchs, as pillars of the Church of Christ and fellow intercessors for the country and the world in these last days.
Being such a friend of God’s saints, this Father John earnestly turned the knees of his heart towards their prayers, that his soul might be saved. Yet he had placed all his hope in the Most Holy Mother of Life; to our Mistress and Lady, the Mother of God, he turned the eyes of his heart. He carried the Adorner of the wedding feasts of the saints’ souls ceaselessly within his soul, ever striving towards her holy protection; and his heart was ever full of songs of praise to Her through whom joy springs forth, to the Receiver of repentance who opens the divine gates for us, uttering the angelic hymn: ‘Mother of God, Virgin, rejoice…’. Truly, wherever this blessed man went, the church was filled with hymns offered to the Most Holy; and in his later years it was as though he desired nothing else but to find the Lady, the beginning and the end of his longing. And in this time of darkness and upheaval, when, because of the multitude of our sins, the Lord turns His face away from us, he hoped that we might find refuge in the harbour of mercy, with the Mother of Mercy, under her holy protection and under the watchful care of her prayers to the Lord and His Son.
For this reason, the Father had great devotion to the marvellous feast of the Protection (the Protection of the Mother of God), which at that time was celebrated only in the land of Russia. But Abba John also wished to bestow upon the friends of the Mother of God the most beautiful services of the Dormition and the Common Paraclete, printing that most useful little book at Râmnic, even though the monastery possessed good Minee. And the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God was celebrated by the blessed father as a pledge of heaven, the conquest of the heavenly Jerusalem and the beginning of the Church of the Saviour Jesus Christ.
So, with holy awe, he would enter the church, trembling and crying out in the secret of his heart: ‘Thy altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God!’. And at the threshold of the holy altar, his heart was filled unceasingly with the hymn: ‘Today is the beginning of our salvation…’. And knowing, together with Ezekiel, the marvellous seer of great things, that the entire world of the unseen is revealed in a mysterious way in the seen, and that their work is one, as if ‘a wheel within a wheel’, he glorified the Lord, whose glory fills the church. For His Cross, unseen yet sustaining the length, breadth, height and depth of all creation, revealed itself to his inner eye to overturn his thinking, as ‘the power of God for us who are born again, but foolishness to those who are perishing’, as it is written. And hoping in the great grace of the Cross to gather together those who were scattered, the blessed John became a preacher of the faith, together with the Apostle who said: ‘Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the good news, but not with the wisdom of the word, lest the Cross of Christ be made of no effect”. For this reason, his prayer was ceaselessly directed towards the Lord and Saviour, that He might dwell, through faith, in the hearts of the disciples with whom he had been honoured, of the people of that time and of those who were yet to come in times to come.
And he was comforting, non-judgemental and not quick to anger; yet he was a sleepless watchman over the little flock; and with a watchful spirit, he sought to set those who were led astray aright—not through fear, but through parables and holy teachings.
And this righteous man lived, unshattered by the diversity of the world and the mind, whole, a true monk, finding in his heart the source of all things in the One Maker and Creator of all.
And this righteous man lived undisturbed by the diversity of the world and the mind, whole, a true monk, finding in his heart the source of all diversity in the One Maker and Creator of all things.
He ever meditated on the dreadful Judgement and ever bore in his heart the words of the great Ephrem; he ever sighed to the merciful God: ‘Where shall I begin to weep over the deeds of my wicked life? Coveting Adam’s disobedience, I found myself stripped of the eternal kingdom…’.
This blessed man conducted himself with humility at all times, even though he was an archimandrite, the abbot of the royal monastery and honoured by all for his virtuous life, and even more so by his lord and master, Voivode Brâncoveanu. For he had a great longing to see the great Abba; and, acknowledging him as worthy and righteous of the holy monastery, he considered that ‘since they took up their posts as abbot and caretaker, they have left nothing undone’. And through ceaseless prayer, the great abbot stood by his lord’s side in the struggles which the latter, like a new Constantine, waged to the very end against the enemies of the Orthodox Church.
And in the year of our Saviour Christ 1708, when Bishop Theodosius, the Metropolitan of the land, ascended to his heavenly abode, and having designated Saint Antim—who at that time was shepherding the diocese of Râmnic—to succeed him as Metropolitan, the most learned Damaschin of Buzău took his place. And when an election was held for the holy see of Buzău, this blessed Father John was also among the three chosen, as one who was rich in wisdom. But it was God’s holy will that the Archimandrite of Argeș, Ioasaf, should be called to be the shepherd of Buzău, for the holy works which the Lord still had to accomplish through this Father John in the place where, by divine inspiration, the holy founder had settled him.
And in his final days he suffered many sorrows, for half the country was under the Papists, whilst the ever-memorable founders were under persecution. For this reason, in the year of our Lord 1719, a council was convened by Bishop Damaschin together with four chosen abbots—good and elderly fathers—who gathered at Father John’s in Hurezi, as he was the eldest in years and wisdom, because turmoil had arisen in the Church due to the rule of the German kingdom in that part of the country beyond the River Olt. And the pious fathers resolved to urge that authority earnestly not to subject the Bishop of Râmnic to the Metropolitan of Belgrade, as he was the senior figure, since he was also styled Metropolitan of Amasia; and that the bishop should be the true ruler of the monasteries, and not the emperor’s officials. And if the authorities wish to establish a Latin school for laypeople in Craiova, the Bishop should be free to establish a Romanian seminary in Râmnic. And there should be no foreigners at the head of the monasteries.
And the good father showed great mercy and care in those troubled times of war and alienation, towards the displaced and the afflicted, even though the holy monastery itself no longer had any support from the people. But placing his hope in the Lord—the strength, the support, the refuge and the Saviour of our souls— the marvellous father became an example to his brothers, so that not one of those who were shown mercy could say that he had ‘received mercy and care from the holy monastery and from all the fathers’.
And in his old age, Father John suffered such weakness and infirmity from the grievous disease of gout (gout), that, being frail and knowing that he would soon fulfil his natural duty, he consulted with Bishop Damaschin and the council, requesting that a certain Father Ilarion from the community be appointed to assist him, and if he proved to be a gentle, steadfast, pious, just and good steward, then he was to be appointed abbot in his stead. However, that man, not anticipating the blessed abbot’s passing, began to behave recklessly and incompetently; he ran up debts for the monastery, caused turmoil within the community, and brought disgrace upon himself. And the fathers and the imperial authorities, realising that he was a wolf, and not a shepherd, so that the holy monastery might not remain in disorder, they asked the elder to continue to manage the affairs of the holy monastery, even though he was ill, as he himself said: ‘I cannot walk upon the earth with my feet, nor can I bring food to my mouth to eat, but others carry me and feed me. But since this is beyond our power, there is nothing we can do; blessed be the name of God!” And he endured so many hardships, trials and adversities in those final years of his earthly life, owing to the frailties of his illness and of people, that not once, but on two occasions, he wished to relinquish the abbotship; but his greatest sorrow was for the inability of people and the times to maintain the true monastic community; and for this reason he remained until the end in his post of obedience, so as not to flee from the cross entrusted to him by the Lord through the hand of the holy founder.
And he departed from this world on the 15th day of June in the year of our Saviour 1726, having served as abbot of the Holy Monastery of Hurezi for 34 years. And his disciples, though grieving, yet hoping without doubt in God’s mercy for the righteous life of this wonderful father, laid his body with honour in the great church, on the southern side of the narthex, where his image was painted as can be seen, holding a cross in his hand, for he truly became the second founder of the holy monastery. And because of the firm and unshakeable hope he placed throughout his life in the Mother of Prayer, full of grace, that she might hear his plea at the hour when her Son would judge the world, the sorrowful disciples were comforted, knowing that he had found favour with the Lord.
Through his holy prayers, O Christ, our God, guide our lives in peace.
Amen, and glory to God!