Our father among the
saints John the Merciful was patriarch of Alexandria
in the early 7th century, also known as John
V of Alexandria. He gained his epithet from his unstinting generosity in
distributing the vast wealth of the patriarchate of Alexandria to the poor and
afflicted. The main source for his biography is a Life written by Leontius of
Neapolis in Cyprus. John is commemorated in the Orthodox Church on
November
12.
Early
life and consecration as patriarch:
John was born in Amathus
on Cyprus c. 550 to the patrician Epiphanius, a governor of the island. He
married and had children, but was a widower when he was called to become
patriarch of Alexandria on the recommendation of his friend, the city's imperial
prefect Nicetas. The Chalcedonian see of Alexandria had been vacant since the death in 609 of Theodore during
the capture of the city by Nicetas. In 611 John assumed the throne, becoming
the fifth Chalcedonian bishop of Alexandria to bear that name.
Almsgiving:
John was remarkable for
his almsgiving or mercy (eleemosyne in Greek, hence his title Eleemon).
To someone who was astounded at his generosity he recounted a vision he had
seen in his youth in which Compassion appeared to him as a beautiful maiden and
told him that she was the eldest daughter of God. The patriarchate of
Alexandria had at its disposal immense wealth in both money and commercial
enterprises, including shipping, and John put it all at the disposal of the
poor. He was not only liberal with the resources of his see, but with his own
goods. In one incident in his life he felt remorseful for accepting a
richly-embroidered blanket as a gift and was unable to sleep until he sold it
and gave the proceeds to the poor. He also made himself available to anyone who
had a petition, grievance, or request. His generosity did draw censure at
times. In one case one of his aides noticed that someone was abusing the
distribution of goods in John's very presence, returning several times in
different guises, but when he mentioned this John replied that it might be
Christ in disguise. In another case he came to loggerheads with his friend
Nicetas when the latter, concerned to contribute to Emperor Heraclius' war effort against the Persians, tried to appropriate
some of the church's wealth to that end, an attempt which John firmly resisted
and which ended in Nicetas' apology.
His care was not limited
to his own flock in Alexandria, but extended to the people of Palestine in
their sufferings during the Persian invasion and sack of Jerusalem. John sent
convoys of essential supplies to Palestine and welcomed many refugees to
Alexandria.
source:
OrthodoxWiki