John the Iberian : Life, Bibliography Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John the Iberian

Georgian saint

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	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