St. John the Faster, Patriarch of Constantinople

John was born in Constantinople and worked as a goldsmith before the Church took notice of him. When Patriarch Eutychius died in 582, he was chosen to succeed him, and he is said to have accepted only after a vision in which he was warned against refusing. As patriarch (582–595) he ate no food on six days of the week and slept little, which earned him the name "the Faster".

His Life tells that during a plague in Constantinople he had a servant count the dead carried out each day by moving stones from one jar to another, and that the numbers fell day by day until the plague ended. He was known for his help to the poor and orphans. He died in 595 and was buried in the church of the Holy Apostles.