Jean de Rila
vers 876-946 10th century Feast day: October 19
The short prayer repeated in working hands, until it holds up on its own.
Who was Jean de Rila?
A shepherd who became a monk, he left his monastery for the Rila mountains in Bulgaria and lived a long time alone in a hollow of rock. Disciples eventually settled around him and formed a community. Five years before his death he left them a written testament, then went back to silence. The monastery born of that solitude remained, through centuries of foreign rule, the place where the Bulgarian language and its books were kept.
In their own words
I, John, the humble and sinful, who have never done anything good on earth.
Manual labour must not be neglected by you, but work must be in your hands, and the prayer 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner' must be permanently on your lips.
Do not seek the best places or to be in command, but remember the One who said: whoever of you desires to be first shall be the servant of all.
As for myself, I wish henceforth to live in quiet and silence, to repent my sins and to beg mercy of God.