John the Hermit and the Ninety-⁠eight Fathers of Crete

Venerable John the Hermit and the ninety-⁠eight fathers who struggled with him in Crete are commemorated on 7 October as ninety-⁠nine venerable fathers, honoured locally. They have no known canonization, and their time is placed before the sixteenth century. Their service was printed at Heraklion in 1879, and Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite mentions them in his synaxarion.

The ninety-⁠nine came from different places. John was from Egypt, and with him thirty-⁠five fathers; thirty-⁠nine were from Cyprus, and the other twenty-⁠four from Attaleia. Sailing toward Crete, they were wondrously saved from a storm and landed on the neighbouring island of Gavdos, from where they crossed to Crete. John lagged behind and crossed the sea standing on his tunic, which, after prayer, he spread on the water. In Crete they found lonely and desolate places, in mountains and caves, and struggled in various God-⁠pleasing ways. John lived apart from the others. One day, coming out of his cave, he was shot by a hunter who took him for a beast, and so he reposed in the Lord. The other ascetics, after praying, all reposed on the same day.

According to tradition, the head of one of these venerable men is on the island of Chios and gives off a sweet fragrance. Saint Justin Popovich treats them in his Lives of the Saints for October.