John the Hut-⁠dweller

Saint John the Hut-⁠dweller (John Calybite, John Kalyvitis), a venerable father, was a monk and hermit of Constantinople in the fifth century, in the time of the emperor Leo I (457-474). His feast is on 15 January.

Childhood

He was the son of a rich and noble family of Constantinople; his father, Eutropius, was a general in the Byzantine army, and his mother was named Theodora (according to a Serbian source, he was an only child). He received an excellent education, learning Christian theology and the secular sciences (philosophy and rhetoric). He loved reading spiritual books. Seeing his love for the Church, his parents gave him, at the age of twelve, a gospel "bound in gold." Understanding the vanity of worldly life, he longed to lead a monastic life and left home secretly for a monastery in Bithynia (according to the Serbian source, with a monk, to a monastery in Asia Minor), where he took the monastic vows.

His struggle

He lived six years in the monastery, amazing the brethren by his unceasing prayer, humble obedience, severe self-⁠restraint and patience in carrying out his duties. But consumed with longing for his parents (in the Serbian source, tempted by the devil), he asked the abbot's blessing to return to Constantinople. He settled there, unknown to anyone, in a hut near his parents' house, to see his loved ones daily. He lived in poverty, dressed as a beggar, receiving food from his parents' table; they did not recognize him, because he had grown thin from long fasting. He kept the gospel received in childhood as all his property; for three years (according to the Serbian source) he lived in prayer, asking God for the salvation of the souls of his father and mother, enduring many insults.

His repose

Feeling that his end was near, he called his mother and revealed his identity; his parents recognized him by the gospel given him in childhood. He died surrounded by his parents, young, probably around 450 (according to the sources, he was not more than twenty-⁠five), and was buried in the beggar's rags in the very place of his hut. His parents built a church over the tomb, beside which a hospice for the poor was made. During the Crusades the head of Saint John was taken to Besancon, in France, and the rest of the relics to Rome. His Life, composed by Symeon Metaphrastes, is printed in Migne's Patrology.