Venerable Joannicius the Great

Joannicius was born around 752 in Bithynia and tended his family's cattle. He grew up under the Iconoclast emperors and, as a young soldier, shared their view of images. His Life tells that a hermit on Mount Olympus rebuked him for despising the icon of Christ, and that he repented. He fought with distinction against the Bulgars, then left the army, learned the monastic rules and read his first letters in a monastery.

He then lived for years as a hermit in the mountains of Bithynia, later returning to monasteries and building churches. His Life reports his gift of foresight, including the early death of the emperor Nicephorus and then of his son and successor, and tells of cures. Patriarch Methodius came to him for a last blessing, and Joannicius died in 846, aged ninety-four.