One Sunday when this saintly man (St. John the Almsgiver)...

…was going down to his church there came to him one whose whole house had been despoiled by burglars; they had taken everything even down to his mattress. The sufferer was in great distress but, as those who had robbed his house could not be found in spite of a strict search, he was finally obliged by his extreme want, very shamefacedly, to apply to the Saint and told him about his misfortune. The Saint was very sorry for him—for he was one of the prominent foreign residents—and whispered to the man in charge of the gold to give him fifteen pounds of gold. When the latter went out to give the money to the man he took counsel with the cashier and with the treasurer and at the Devil’s prompting they grudged him so large a sum and gave him only five pounds.

On the venerable Archbishop’s return from the service, a widow woman, who had an only son, brought him news that she intended to give him five hundred pounds of gold. After he had received this message and dismissed his venerable council, he summoned the stewards and said to them, ‘How many pounds did you give to my suppliant?’ and they answered, Fifteen pounds, sir, as your Holiness commanded’ But by the grace residing in him he perceived that they were lying, so he sent for the recipient and asked him how much he had received. On his replying ‘Five pounds’, the Saint produced from his venerable hand the bond the woman had given him and said to them, ‘God will demand the other ten hundred pounds from you, for, if you had given fifteen pounds as my humbleness ordered, she who has offered me five hundred pounds would have given fifteen, and to convince you of this I will send and ask the giver to come’. He dispatched two pious men to fetch the very pious woman who had given him the bond and to bring her to the baptistry; he sent her a message, ‘Come to my humbleness and bring with you the offering which God put it into your heart to bring to Him’. She arose hurriedly and came into the presence of the Saint bringing the sum of money with her.

After receiving her oblation and bestowing many blessings upon her and her son, the Patriarch said to her: ‘I charge you by your prayers mother, tell me, did you intend to give only this to Christ or a little more in addition?’ As she perceived that the inspired man had guessed what she had done she fell to trembling and said: ‘By your Reverence’s holy prayers and by my patron saint, Menas, I had written fifteen hundred on the bond and an hour before I gave it to your Reverence as I was standing during the service, I opened it unthinkingly and read it; I, your unworthy servant, had written it with my own hand and yet I found that the “ten.” had got wiped out of itself. Then in my amazement I said to myself, “Evidently it is God’s will that I should not give more than five”.’ When the Patriarch had dismissed the pious woman, the stewards who had disobeyed him fell at his feet craving his forgiveness and assuring him that they would never transgress again.

Leontius, Life of John the Almsgiver 8