Venerable Jonah the Presbyter (IX), Father of Theophanes the Hymnographer and Theodore the Branded

Saint Jonah the Presbyter, father of Theophanes the Hymnographer (commemorated 11 October) and of Theodore the Branded (commemorated 27 December), was a Palestinian. He lived devoutly and in a manner pleasing to God. After his wife’s death Jonah settled in the lavra of the Venerable Sabbas the Sanctified (commemorated 5 December), where his sons had laboured before, and there he committed to the Lord his soul, sanctified by prayer and fasting.