John Theristis

Venerable John Theristis (John the Harvester, John Theristus) was an Italo-⁠Greek monk of Calabria, who died in 1129 (our sources give 1049 to 1129; the birth and death dates 995 and 1054 on the record do not match them). He died almost a century after the Great Schism of 1054 and is venerated as a saint in both the Orthodox and the Catholic Churches. He is found in all the Greek menologies and synaxaria and entered the Roman Martyrology on 23 February, the day of his commemoration. The details of his life have come down through legends and popular belief.

His father, Arconte of Cursano, a Byzantine farmer near Botterio Signore in the territory of Stilo, was killed in a Saracen raid on the coasts of Calabria. His mother, a Calabrian, was taken captive by the Saracens to Palermo, where she gave birth to him. He grew up in the Christian faith in a Muslim environment. At 14 his mother urged him to flee to his native land. He crossed the Strait of Messina in a boat without oars or sail and reached Monasterace. The inhabitants, seeing him dressed as a Moor, took him to the bishop, who questioned him. The boy answered that he sought baptism, but the bishop subjected him to harsh trials before giving him a name.

When he grew up he was drawn more and more to the life of the monks who lived in the caves around Stilo, fascinated by the example of two ascetics of the rule of Saint Basil, Ambrose and Nicholas. After much insistence he was admitted to the community, despite his youth. He distinguished himself by virtue and was later elected abbot. At Cursano he found a treasure that had belonged to his family and, following the rule of Saint Basil, distributed it to the poor.

One day in June, at harvest time, he went to Monasterace to visit a knight who had provided food for the monastery, taking with him a flask of wine and some bread. Arriving at two fields, called Marone and Maturavolo, he offered the workers the bread and wine. A furious storm arose, threatening to destroy the crop, but through his prayer the storm held off until the wheat was reaped and gathered in sheaves. Thus he helped to gather in a wonderful way a large harvest ahead of the destructive weather, saving the locals from famine. This and other episodes in which he helped the farmers earned him the nickname Theristis, that is, reaper. The owner of the fields, struck by the event, gave them to the monastery.

According to tradition, King Roger, suffering from an incurable wound on his face, was healed by touching the tunic of John, and many others were healed: the lame, blind, deaf and possessed. Roger II then founded the monastery of Saint John in Nemore (del Bosco), named after John Theristis.

In 1660 Pope Alexander VIII had his body moved to Stilo, to protect it from brigands and earthquakes. On 12 March 1662, together with the relics of Saints Ambrose and Nicholas, the remains were placed in a church built by the Minim Fathers and later bought by the Basilians, who dedicated it as the monastery of San Giovanni Teristi. In 1791 it passed to the Redemptorists, who embellished the church and convent with marble works. In the left aisle, under the altar, are venerated the relics of Theristis and his fellow monks. In the middle of the cloister stands an ancient well of pink granite with four columns, covered by a canopy crowned with a tin ship, in which a child prays holding a cross, in memory of young John's miraculous voyage by sea.