By Fr. George Dorbarakis
Saint John was a Cypriot, the son of Epiphanios, the ruler of the country. He married, according to his father’s wish, and had children. When his wife and children departed this life, he turned all the inclination of his soul to the performance of virtue and to pleasing God. Precisely because of his life, which was brilliant according to God, he was placed on the throne as Archbishop of Alexandria, after the people of Alexandria requested him as Archbishop from Emperor Heraclius. So John, after being placed on the lampstand, according to the Gospel, shone in the world like a torch. He was even the first to prevent the addition to the Trisagion hymn, when heretics with wicked intent added to the Holy Immortal, “Who was crucified for us.” The Saint excelled in the high priesthood for many years, and after performing numerous miracles and generously providing the necessities of life to those in need, a fact that earned him the nickname “Merciful,” and after becoming respected by all, even by unbelievers, as history and the books about him testify, he departed to the Lord.
Saint Joseph the Hymnographer does not spare praise in order to present the glorious presence of Saint John the Merciful in both the militant and triumphant Church. He is regarded as radiant and even "beyond the sun," one whom "the Giver of mercy greatly had mercy on and brightly illuminated." Moreover, in order for the poet, as the mouthpiece of the Church, to convey the Saint's imprint on the place where he was exalted, Alexandria, he primarily associates him with the Holy Apostle Mark, the founder of that particular Church, whose throne, he says, he adorned in a sacred manner. “You have sacredly adorned the throne of Mark, with divine works.” But even more: he sees him “mutually received” by the two other great luminaries of the Alexandrian Church, the ecumenical Fathers and Teachers, Saints Athanasios and Cyril, having him, after his death, among them and bestowing upon him “sacred honor.” "Behold, at your end, the two Holy Fathers mutually receive you at the tomb, offering you, Father, the most sacred honor."
What the Hymnographer certainly dwells on and cannot fail to do justice to is the merciful disposition and action of Saint John. It is not, according to him, that John was a man of sympathy and mercy. All the saints were such people, especially those, like the Holy Unmercenaries for example, who shone with their sympathy. Which saint, indeed, could be characterized as a Saint, without love, the only virtue that truly reveals the presence of God? And yet! For Saint Joseph, John surpassed all the saints in terms of this specific disposition of love. And he emphasizes this not only once. “You have taken on a merciful disposition and have appeared sympathetic, divinely-inspired John, therefore you have enriched your name [as the Merciful], combined with your deeds, more than all the saints, blessed one." “You were called merciful above all the saints, who shone as saints through their sympathy for people.”
What was it that made Saint John excel so much in love and mercy? Certainly the conscious acceptance of the words of the Lord about love, and especially of the beatitude about mercy: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” “With your works you confirmed the words of the Savior and you joined the choir of those blessed by Him.” And this means that Saint John became an imitator of the First and Foremost Merciful One, of the Triune God Himself, the source of Mercy and Love - "having appeared as an imitator of the compassionate-loving God" - in other words, the Saint is understood in the world as a continuation of Him, as "a pure dwelling place of the Holy Trinity."
However, the holy poet, with his discernment and enlightenment, points out something else about this. It was not only the faith of Saint John that made him strive for love, but also his character itself. The Saint was obviously merciful and sympathetic towards others by nature, which is why the Lord strengthened and multiplied this good disposition of his, so that it now reached its highest point charismatically. A truth that says: God takes and increases whatever good He sees in us by nature, by character. It is enough for man to want to cooperate with His grace. Let us see how the Hymnographer points out this truth: “The Giver of mercy, venerable one, having bestowed on you a merciful disposition, has shown mercy to many through your divine mediation.” That the Saint, in addition to his good disposition, had to struggle and fight – with his prayers, fasting, and vigils – also with his own passions, so as to eliminate, rather transform them and make them divine passions, that is, a fullness of love, is unnecessary to mention. “Devoting himself to prayer and fasting, and beseeching God with vigils…”
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
