s had quitted the neighborhood, he
returned to Cucusus. But his impious enemies, seeing the whole Christian
world both honor and defend him, resolved to rid the world of him. With
this view they procured an order from the emperor that he should be
removed to Arabissus, and thence to Pytius, a town situated on the
Euxine sea, near Colchis, at the extremity of the empire, on the
frontiers of the Sarmatians, the most barbarous of the Scythians. Two
officers were ordered to convey him thither in a limited number of days,
through very rough roads, with a promise of promotion, if, by hard
usage, he should die in their hands. One of these was not altogether
destitute of humanity, but the other could not bear to hear a mild word
spoken to him. They often travelled amidst scorching heats, from which
his head, that was bald, suffered exceedingly. In the most violent rains
they forced him out of doors, obliging him to travel till the water ran
in streams down his back and bosom. When they arrived at Comana Pontica,
in Cappadocia, he was very sick; yet was hurried five or six miles to
the martyrium or chapel in which lay the relics of the martyr St.
Basiliscus.[43] The saint was lodged in the oratory of the priest. In
the night, that holy martyr appearing to him, said, "Be of good courage,
brother John; to-morrow we shall be together." The confessor was filled
with joy at this news, and begged that he might stay there till eleven
o'clock. This made the guards drag him out the more violently; but when
they had travelled four miles, perceiving him in a dying condition, they
brought him back to the oratory. He there changed all his clothes to his
very shoes, putting on his best attire, which was all white, as if he
meant it for his heavenly nuptials. He was yet fasting, and having
received the holy sacrament, poured forth his last prayer, which he
closed with his usual doxology: Glory be to God for all things. Having
said Amen, and signed himself with the sign of the cross, he sweetly
gave up his soul to God on the feast of the exaltation of the holy
cross, the 14th of September, as appears from the Menaea, in 407, having
been bishop nine years and almost seven months.[44]

His remains were interred by the body of St. Basiliscus, a great
concourse of holy virgins, monks, and persons of all ranks from a great
distance flocking to his funeral. The pope refused all communion with
those who would not allow his name a place in the Dyptics o