St John, Bishop of Gothia (VIII)

Saint John, Bishop of Gothia (VIII), was tonsured a monk while still young. The venerable father made a pilgrimage to the holy places of Jerusalem and after three years returned to his homeland. Meanwhile the iconoclast Emperor Constantine Copronymus (741–775) had driven out the Bishop of Gothia. The Christians begged Saint John to take up the heavy yoke of a hierarch. The holy father set out for Georgia, which was preserved from the heresy. Here he was consecrated bishop. Returning to Gothia, the hierarch was soon forced to leave his flock; he escaped the persecution of the Khazars and spent four years in Amastris. Saint John foretold his own death forty days beforehand, died in 790, and was buried in the monastery of Partheniti.