Life and Ministry
By tradition Conon was a native of Cilicia who became a monk at the Penthucla monastery near the Jordan while still at an early age. Ordained presbyter there, he was appointed by the community to serve as its baptizer, anointing and baptizing those who came to him for the sacraments of initiation.
His standing was such that Archbishop Peter of Jerusalem, who held that see from 524 to 548, knew of his reputation and sent candidates to him for baptism and chrismation. This places his active ministry in the first half of the sixth century. The principal account relates that he lived roughly twenty years at the monastery following the episode of the Persian maiden's baptism before he peacefully fell asleep in the Lord about the year 555.
Miracles & Traditions
Traditional Accounts: The chief narrative associated with Conon concerns his struggle with temptation in the exercise of his baptismal ministry. According to the account preserved in the Spiritual Meadow, he felt scandalised or tempted whenever he was required to anoint a woman, and on this account wished to leave the monastery. When a Persian maiden once came seeking baptism, he is said to have struggled spiritually during the anointing ritual for two days.
Tradition relates that Saint John the Forerunner appeared to him, telling him to have patience and promising to deliver him from the struggle; thereafter Conon was able to complete the sacrament without being troubled. Through his ascetic efforts he is held to have achieved perfect dispassion (apatheia), the patristic virtue exemplified by his resolution of this temptation.
Sources and Legacy
The primary ancient literary witness to Conon's life and miracles is the Spiritual Meadow (Greek Leimon pneumatikos; Latin Pratum spirituale) of John Moschus (c. 550-619), a work composed in the 610s and comprising several hundred narratives, biographies, and collections of sayings gathered from Palestinian and Egyptian monasteries during the author's travels through Palestine, Sinai, Egypt, Cilicia, and Syria.
Because Moschus died in 619, his record is near-contemporary with Conon. A figure named Conon of Penthoucla appears in at least three chapters of the work: a chapter on the life of Conon, priest of the community of Penthoucla; a chapter on a wondrous deed of Abba Conon; and a chapter concerning another elder named Conon. The Spiritual Meadow, noted for its accounts of miracles and visions, remains a significant source for the monasticism of late-sixth- and early-seventh-century Palestine and Egypt.
