Venerable John Kalybites (the Hut-Dweller)

Venerable John Kalybites (Kushchnik, "the Hut-Dweller") was born in the 5th century into a noble Constantinopolitan family and received a good education. Given a copy of the Gospel by his parents, he secretly left home for Bithynia, where he was tonsured a monk. After six years of monastic labor, longing for his parents, he sought blessing to return to Constantinople. Without revealing his identity, dressed as a beggar, he settled in a small hut ("kushcha," hence his epithet) right by the gate of his own family home. For three years he lived there unrecognized, enduring hunger, cold, heat, and the servants' scorn. Before his death he received a vision revealing that his earthly sufferings would soon end. He then summoned his parents and, showing them the very Gospel they had once given him, revealed his identity. He reposed in peace shortly after. His parents buried him and built a church on the site of his hut. He is venerated as a model of humility and endurance.