John the Merciful

John the Almoner (c. 550 in Amathus, Cyprus, † 619 on Cyprus), Greek and Latin Johannes Eleemosynarius, was a patriarch of Alexandria ( 606-616 ) and is worshiped by both the Catholic and the Orthodox Church as a saint.

Life and work

John the Almoner was born around 550, the son of Epiphanius (Governor ) of Cyprus. He married early, but lost his wife and his children. He then began to distribute its assets to the poor of Alexandria and called them his masters. The people brought the Byzantine Emperor Phocas to appoint him in 606 to the Patriarch of Alexandria. When the Sassanid Empire conquered the city in 616, he fled back to his home in Cyprus, where he died shortly afterwards.

Relics

His body was first brought to his death by Konstantin Opel. After the city had been captured in 1453 by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II then gave it as a gift to the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus, who transferred the relic to Buda. Even today, the feet of the saint is preserved in the Matthias Church in Budapest.

Anniversaries

In the Catholic Church celebrates its Day of Remembrance on 11 November, in the Orthodox Church one day later, on November 12.