Ioann Garus (d. 1892)

Ioann Garus (d. 1892) was a schemamonk from Bukovina, born in 1833 and reposed in 1892 in the wilderness between Katounakia and Kerasia on Mount Athos. He is venerated by the faithful, without a synodal canonization.

Named Elijah Garus in the world, he was born in a peasant family in the Chernivtsi district; his father was Moldovan and his mother Ukrainian. He married and had two daughters. He loved reading the Psalter and was often called to read it over the dead. Left a widower, he moved to Kamenets-⁠Podolsk province and entered, with his father, the Transfiguration Monastery near Bershad, and sent his daughters to a convent in Volhynia. After his father's death he wanted to go to Athos, but fell gravely ill at Odessa and vowed that if he recovered he would go to Athos, become a monk and eat no cheese, eggs, milk, fish or oil. He recovered and reached the Holy Mountain.

He wished to imitate the ancient hermits and sought a guide. On Kerasia, in a cave, lived Father Pachomios the Serb; Elijah insisted and was accepted, and later was tonsured into the schema with the name John, keeping his fast until death. He lived sixteen years with his elder, who reposed leaving him as inheritance the labour, the hermit life and the fast. He sought the deepest stillness, far from people; he lived in several huts on Kerasia and three times in the wilderness of New Thebaid, where he built four huts. He carried rusks, an axe, a spade and a cloth awning, and slept on the floor in a sitting position on a felt mat. He said his rule on the prayer rope, two hours daily in the prayer of the mind, and kept vigil every day. Those near him said he had many spiritual visions; some disciples saw him shining after Communion. At the end he withdrew to the deepest wilderness between Katounakia and Kerasia, above the sea. He was found nearly dead, and the confessor did not arrive in time: he reposed on 11 November 1892 and was buried on the spot.