Gregory of Acrita (+c. 820)

The Venerable Gregory of Acrita was born on the island of Crete in 760. His noble parents gave him a good education. At that time iconoclasm was raging in the empire. The young Gregory went to Seleucia, where his Orthodox faith was not in danger, and lived there piously.

The saint was twenty when he set out for Jerusalem. Terribly oppressed by Arabs and Jews, he spent twelve years there. From there Gregory moved to Rome and was tonsured a monk there. In Rome the venerable father grew close to Saint Michael, Bishop of Synnada (commemorated 23 May), who took him with him and settled him in a monastery at Acrita (on the Sea of Marmara). Here Saint Gregory laboured until the end of his life (c. 820).