John Palaiolavrites

Venerable John Palaiolavrites (John the Old-⁠Cave Dweller, also called John of the Old Lavra) was a monk, ascetic and priest in the eighth century, and is numbered among the venerable ones in the Orthodox Church. The place of his birth is not known.

While still young, John made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, after which he settled in the lavra of Venerable Chariton. Another name of this monastery is the Old Lavra, that is, the ancient one, as the oldest of the monasteries of Palestine. This lavra was not far from Bethlehem, near the Dead Sea, and was founded in the fourth century by Saint Chariton the Confessor. In the monastery John reached great spiritual perfection and received ordination as priest.

According to the Serbian source, from his youth he despised bodily pleasures and passions and left home. He went about the monasteries and listened to the teachings of the monks. After venerating at Jerusalem, he was ordained priest in the lavra of Souka, the Old Lavra of Saint Chariton, and withdrew into its old cave, which had originally been a robbers' den, and there he gave himself to severe fasting, prayer and vigil. He died in peace, in great old age, in the second half of the eighth century. For his life in the old cave he was called the Old-⁠Cave Dweller rather than Palaiolavrites.

A service has been composed for him, consisting of three stichera in tone 5 at Lord, I have cried, and a canon in tone 4. His commemoration in the Russian Church is on 19 April, as in the Serbian Church (2 May by the new calendar). In the local Greek churches his commemoration is on 19 or 20 April, and in the Church of Bulgaria on 19 April. The Roman Catholic Church does not commemorate him.