The Monk John Khozebites, Bishop of Palestinian Caesarea

Commemorated on October 3, October 28

The Monk John Khozebites, Bishop of Palestinian Caesarea, (587-596), was famed for his struggle against the Eutykhian heresy, but also for his graced gifts of perspicacity and wonderworking. He was born in the Egyptian city of Thebes and while still a youth he asceticised for a long time with his uncle in the Thebaid wilderness. Having learned of his holy life, by order of the emperor, they made him bishop of the city of Caesarea. But the saint, yearning solitude, withdrew into the Khuzebite wilderness (betwixt Jerusalem and Jericho) and pursued asceticism there until the end of his life (VI).