ABBA JOHN’S STORY ABOUT ABBA CALINICOS
The same Abba John said: When I was a young man, I had a longing to go to the great and famous elders to receive their blessing and to be edified by them. I heard of Abba Calinicos the Great, the recluse at the Monastery of Abba Sabas. I asked one of them who knew him to bring me to him.
The elder who had brought me sat down at the window and spoke with the elder through the window for a long time. I told myself that, since the elder had never seen me, he would not be inclined to receive me. However, the elder mentioned withdrew from the window, bidding me to enter, to greet the elder, and to be blessed by him.
He said to him: “Father, pray for this, your servant, for it was one of his dearest wishes to come here.” The elder replied: “But of course, my child; I know him. Twenty days ago, I went down to the holy Jordan and he met me on the road and said to me: ‘Pray for me.’ I asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He answered: ‘John.’ I have known him since then.”
When I heard this, I realized that when I had conceived the desire to come to him, God had revealed my name and who I was to him.