GIOVANNI of LYCOPOLIS, saint. — Hermit and wonder-worker, called the “Seer of the Thebaid,” born at Lycopolis (modern Assiut) c. 300, died at the end of 394. He withdrew around the age of forty to the nearby Mountain of Wolves to live a solitary life. His marvelous deeds were recorded by Evagrius and Palladius in the Vitae Patrum and the Historia Lausiaca.
Cassian (De Inst. Mon., IV, 33, 4-6) praises his obedience (the cases of the dry pole and the huge stone are reported by St. Ignatius in his famous Letter to the Young Jesuits of Portugal). All the Martyrologies extol the spirit of prophecy that G. possessed after his thirtieth year of hermit life, but it is curious that none of the Greek historians connects G. with the emperor Theodosius, whose victories over the tyrant Maximus (388) and Eugenius (394) were foretold by this saint (St. Augustine, De Civit. Dei, V, 26). He died in the desert, praying on his knees, more than ninety years old, shortly before the death of the same emperor, which he had also predicted. He is celebrated by the Copts on 17 October.