y
long, and Palladius being, weary, murmured within himself against the
venerable old man, as guilty of exception of persons. He was even just
going away, when the saint, knowing his secret thoughts, sent Theodorus,
his interpreter, to him, saying: "Go, bid that brother not to be
impatient: I am going to dismiss the governor, and then will speak to
him." Palladius, astonished that his thoughts should be known to him,
waited with patience. As soon as Alypius was gone, St. John called
Palladius, and said to him: "Why was {sic} you angry, imputing to me in
your mind what I was no way guilty of? To you I can speak at any other
time, and you have many fathers and brethren to comfort and direct you
in the paths of salvation. But this governor being involved in the hurry
of temporal affairs, and being come to receive some wholesome advice
during the short time his affairs will allow him time to breathe in, how
could I give you the preference?" He then told Palladius what passed in
his heart, and his secret temptations to quit his solitude; for which
end the devil represented to him his father's regret for his absence,
and that he might induce his brother and sister to embrace a solitary
life. The holy man bade him despise such suggestions; for they had both
already renounced the world, and his father would yet live seven years.
He foretold him that he should meet with great persecutions and
sufferings, and should be a bishop, but with many afflictions: all which
came to pass, though at that time extremely improbable.

The same year, St. Petronius, with six other monks, made a long journey
to pay St. John a visit. He asked them if any among them was in holy
orders. They said: No. One, however, the youngest in the company, was a
deacon, though this was unknown to the rest. The saint, by divine
instinct, knew this circumstance, and that the deacon had concealed his
orders out of a false humility, not to seem superior to the others, but
their inferior, as he was in age. Therefore, pointing to him, he said:
"This man is a deacon." The other denied it, upon the false persuasion
that to lie with a view to one's own humiliation was no sin. St. John
took him by {667} the hand, and kissing it, said to him: "My son, take
care never to deny the grace you have received from God, lest humility
betray you into a lie. We must never lie, under any pretence of good
whatever, because no untruth can be from God." The deacon received this
rebuke w