From the Prologue of Ochrid
John was born on the island of Cyprus in a princely family. His father was Prince Epiphanius. He was raised from childhood as a true Christian. At the insistence of his parents he married and had children. But by God's Providence both his children and his wife departed from this life to the next. Famous for his mercy and piety, John was chosen as Patriarch of Alexandria in the time of Emperor Heraclius. For ten years he governed the Alexandrian Church as a true shepherd, guarding it from pagans and heretics. He was a model of meekness, mercy, and love of mankind. "If thou desirest nobility," he would say, "seek it not in blood but in virtue, for that is true nobility." All the saints were distinguished by mercy, but Saint John gave himself completely to this wondrous virtue. Once while celebrating the Liturgy, the patriarch remembered the words of Christ: If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee (Matt. 5:23-24), and he remembered that one of the clergy there in the church bore ill will toward him; he quickly left the holy gifts, approached that cleric, fell before his feet, and begged forgiveness. And only when he was reconciled with that man did he return to the altar. Another time, going to the church of Saints Cyrus and John, it happened that a certain poor widow met him and began to tell him of her poverty. The patriarch's attendants grew weary of the woman's long complaining, and told the bishop to hurry to the church for the service, and after the service he could hear the woman. Saint John answered them: "But how will God hear me now if I do not hear her?" And he would not move from the spot until he heard the widow's complaint to the end. When the Persians attacked Egypt, Patriarch John boarded a ship to escape the danger. Along the way he fell ill, and reaching Cyprus he died in his birthplace in the year 620, and passed into the immortal kingdom of his Lord. His wonderworking relics were transferred first to Constantinople, then to Budapest, and finally to Pressburg.
