John the Iberian

Saint

John the Iberian
Saint; John the Iberian
	Fresco of John the Iberian at Iviron on Mount Athos
Athonite Father
Born	Kingdom of the Iberians
Died	~1002 AD; Mount Athos
Venerated in	Georgian Orthodox Church ; Roman Catholic Church; Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast	July 12
Patronage	Georgia ; Mount Athos

John the Iberian^[a] (Georgian: იოანე მთაწმინდელი; died c. 1002) was a Georgian monk, who is venerated as a saint. His name refers to his origins from the Kingdom of the Iberians.

Life

A member of a Georgian noble family from Tao-Klarjeti in southern Georgia,^[1] he was married and served as a military commander.

After becoming tonsured as a monk early 960s at the lavra of the Four Churches in Tao-Klarjeti, he became a monk at Mount Olympus (now Uludağ) in Bithynia and then traveled to Constantinople to rescue his son, Euthymius the Illuminator (Euthymius Opplyseren).^[1] Euthymius had been held as a hostage by the emperor.^[2]

John and his son attracted many followers, so they both retired to the monastery of Saint Athanasius on Mount Athos. They founded Iviron monastery with the help of John’s brother-in-law, John Thornikos, a retired general. John served as the first abbot of Iviron. He died in 1002.^[3]

References

^ also known as John the Georgian, John the Hagiorite, and John Iweron.

^ ^a ^b Speake, Graham (2018). A history of the Athonite Commonwealth: the spiritual and cultural diaspora of Mount Athos. New York. ISBN 978-1-108-34922-2. OCLC 1041501028.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Butler, p. 86
^ Butler, p. 87

Bibliography

Butler, A. (1995) Butler's Lives of the Saints, Volume 7, Liturgical Press

External links

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[b-1] so known as John the Georgian, John the Hagiorite, and John Iweron.

[Speake-2] Speake, Graham (2018). A history of the Athonite Commonwealth: the spiritual and cultural diaspora of Mount Athos. New York. ISBN 978-1-108-34922-2. OCLC 1041501028.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[3] Butler, p. 86

[4] Butler, p. 87

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