1/14 October

St. John Kukuzelis, born in Dyrrakhium (Bulgaria), was orphaned in his youth. Possessing a very beautiful voice, he entered the palace school in Constantinople, where because of his gifts, he gained the favor of Emperor John Comnenus (1118-1143) and became the principal singer at the court. However, the delights of the imperial court weighed heavily upon this youth, whose love was for God. Not wanting to remain among the pleasures and excesses, and wanting to avoid the marriage which was being arranged for him by the emperor, young John began to seek out means to flee the capital and to hide in a distant desert.

By God’s providence, he met an Athonite elder/abbot who had come to Constantinople on monastery business. After revealing his intentions to him, John received the elder’s blessing, and returned with him to the Holy Mountain. There he was received, tonsured into the monastic rank, and given the obedience of shepherding the monastery’s flocks. Departing with the flocks to the remote deserts of the holy mountain, the youth was able unhindered to give himself over to prayer, to contemplation of God, and to chanting of divine hymns. The angelic beauty of his voice even enchanted the animals, who gathered around their shepherd and, as if entranced, stood listening to him. In his humility and modesty, the young singer did not reveal his gift to the brethren. However, once a certain hermit was so moved by the shepherd’s singing that he told the abbot of the marvelous singer. Young John admitted that he had been a singer at the court, and tearfully implored the abbot to allow him to remain in his obedience as a shepherd. Fearing the disfavor of the emperor, who might find his favorite and remove him from the Holy Mountain, the abbot himself went to Constantinople, related to the emperor everything as to the fate of his former subject, and asked him not to impede the young monk from following the salvific path which he had chosen.

From that time on, John Kukuzelis chanted on the right kliros of the cathedral on all Sundays and other festal days. Because of his singing, the saint was made worthy to receive the great grace of the Mother of God herself. Once, when after an akathist before the icon of the Theotokos, St. John had fallen asleep, the Mother of God herself appeared to him, and said “Chant, and do not ever stop chanting; in return, I will never leave you.’ At these words, she placed a gold coin into John’s hand, and then disappeared. That coin was suspended before the icon, and since then, miracles have been worked through the icon and the coin. The icon, known as the Kukuzelis Icon, remains in the Lavra of St. Athanasius. It is celebrated on October 1st and on the 10th Friday after Pascha.

The Mother of God appeared once more to St. John, and healed him of an awful ailment of the legs which had been brought on by his prolonged standing in church. St. John spent the remainder of his days in ascetic struggles. Foreseeing his end, he bade farewell to the brethren, and directed that he be buried in the Church of the Archangels which he had established. St. John Kukuzelis is venerated by those who sing in church as their special protector.

An experienced singer, the venerable St. John Kukuzelis expended great efforts in the study of the art of liturgical chant, he deservedly received the titles of master and domestik. He himself arranged and composed melodies for church stichera, troparia, and kondakia, and for the entire range of worship services. He arranged liturgical texts, and composed troparia. Extant manuscripts include such works as “The book, as God so wished, arranged by master and lord John Kukuzelis, encompassing the order of church rites from the beginning of Great Vespers to the close of the Divine Liturgy;” “The art of singing and musical notation, with all rules governing conducting and the entire system of chant,” as well as other works.