John the Silent Our father among the saints John the Silent was
bishop of Colonia (Taxara) in Armenia and later a monk of St.
Savas' Monastery in Jerusalem. He is also known as John
Hesychastes or John Silentiarius. His feast days are celebrated
on March 30 and December 3. John was born in 454 in the city of
Nicopolis in Pontus on the Black Sea into the family of a
military commander named Enkratius and his wife Euphemia. As a
young lad he began studying the Holy Scripture and developed a
love for solitude and prayer. After his parents died in 471,
John built a church with the inheritance his parents left him
and dedicated it to the Most Holy Theotokos. After John became
eighteen years of age he became a monk and began living an
ascetic life of fasting, prayer, and temperance at the church he
founded. There he was joined by ten other monks. When John was
twenty eight year old, the people of Colonia requested the
Metropolitan of Sebaste to make John their bishop. After his
consecration, John continued his stri