E00021: Theophylact Simocatta in his History recounts the death in 595 of the ascetic Patriarch of Constantinople *John the Faster (Nesteutes, S00021). The emperor Maurice collects his poor personal belongings and reveres them. Written in Greek at Constantinople in the early 7th century.

Theophylact Simocatta, History 7.6.1-5

(1.) Πρὸ τεττάρων τοίνυν τούτων ἐνιαυτῶν (πρὸς γὰρ τὰ πρεσβύτερα τῆς ἱστορίας αὖθις γινόμεθα) Ἰωάννης ὁ τὴν ἐς Βυζάντιον ἐκκλησίαν ἰθύνων τὸν τῇδε βίον ἀπέλιπεν, ὃς διὰ τὸ καταφιλοσοφῆσαι λίαν τῶν ἡδονῶν τυραννῆσαί τε τῶν παθῶν αὐτοκράτορά τε τῆς κοιλίας γενέσθαι Νηστευτὴς ὑπὸ τῶν Βυζαντίων κατωνομάζετο. (2.) λέγεται δὲ καὶ ὑπὸ Μαυρικίου τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος ἱκανὰ δανεισάμενον τάλαντα γραμματεῖον ἐκθέσθαι τήν τε οἰκείαν περιουσίαν ἐν ταῖς ὁμολογίαις τοῦ δανείσματος ὑποθέσθαι. (3.) ἐπεὶ δὲ μετῆρεν ὁ ἱερεὺς τῶν τῇδε, ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ Μαυρίκιος τὴν τοῦ ἱεράρχου οὐσίαν διερευνησάμενος εὑρίσκει τὸν ἄνδρα ἀχρηματίαν φιλοσοφήσαντα, καὶ λίαν ἀγασθεὶς τὴν ἐς ἄκρον τοῦ ἱερέως δικαιοσύνην διέρρηξε προῖκα τὸ <πρὸ> μικροῦ συνταγὲν γραμματεῖον. (4.) μηδὲν γὰρ τῷ ἱερεῖ ἕτερόν φασι τὸν βασιλέα εὑρεῖν ἢ σκίμποδα ξύλινον καὶ σισύραν ἐξ ἐρίου ἐς τὰ μάλιστα εὐτελῆ φαινόλην τε ἀκαλλῆ· δυσείμων γὰρ ἦν ὁ ἀνὴρ λιτότητι βίου καταλαμπόμενος. ταῦτα δήπου, ταῦτα ἀντὶ πολλῶν ἂν χρημάτων καὶ λίθων Ἰνδικῶν ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ Μαυρίκιος τιμησάμενος εἰς τὰ βασίλεια μετηγάγετο. (5.) ταῖς ἐαριναῖς τοιγαροῦν τῶν Χριστιανῶν νηστείαις ἐναβρυνόμενος, χαίρειν φράσας ταῖς χρυσαῖς καὶ λιθοκολλήτοις κλίναις τοῖς τε νήμασι τῶν Σηρώων, ἐπὶ τοῦ ἱερέως ξυλίνην στιβάδα ὁ βασιλεὺς κατεπαννυχίζετο, θείας τινὸς ἐντεῦθεν ὥσπερ οἰόμενος μεταλήψεσθαι χάριτος.

'(1.) Now four years earlier (for we now come back to older events of history), John, the helmsman of the church at Byzantium, departed this life. Because he had completely out-thought pleasures, mastered his own passions and become emperor of his own stomach, he was called ‘the Faster’ [Nesteutes] by the Byzantines. (2.) It is also reported that, having borrowed a large sum of money from the emperor Maurice, he had signed a contract and pledged his personal property as surety for the terms of the loan. (3.) After the priest had departed this world, the emperor Maurice investigated the chief priest’s possessions and discovered that the man had practised indigence. And, as he was overjoyed at the priest’s extreme righteousness, he willingly tore up the contract which had been arranged shortly before. (4.) For they say that the emperor discovered that the priest possessed nothing other than a wooden pallet, a woollen blanket of the cheapest quality and an unsightly cloak. The man was namely ill-clad, though resplendent in frugality of life. These things then, these the emperor Maurice valued more than he would have great wealth and Indian stones, and he conveyed them to the palace. (5.) Accordingly, while exulting in the vernal fasts of the Christians [i.e. the Lenten fast], the emperor dismissed the golden and gem-studded couches and silken cloths, and passed the night on the priest’s wooden bedstead, believing that he would thereby somehow partake of some divine grace.'

Text: de Boor and Wirth 1972. Translation: Whitby and Whitby 1986, modified.