John Moschus

John Moschos and John Moschus (Greek: Ιωάννης Μόσχος, or Latinized: John Musk, * 540 or 550 in Damascus or Cilicia; † around 620 in Rome ) was a Byzantine monk and writer.

Towards the end of the 6th century traveled John Moschos as a traveling monk with his companion Sophronius the Eastern Mediterranean (Syria, Palestine, Sinai, Egypt). For a long time he spent here in the Sinai and Alexandria. After Jerusalem was conquered in 603 by the Persians, he went on a recent long trip to Rome, where he died.

My travel experiences and extraordinary events that he had experienced on his travels by other people, John collected in " Leimón " (Latin for " Pratum spirituale "). The stories should serve as edifying exempla of Christian virtue. The written in Greek work was very popular in the Middle Ages and was several times translated into Latin. Even in 1423 made ​​Ambrogio Traversari from Florence to an overall translation.

Today, the stories of John Moschos in its Latin translation serve as the initial reading in school Latin class.