Venerable Joannicius the Great (+846)
The Venerable Joannicius the Great was born in 752 in the village of Marykatos in Bithynia. His parents were so poor that they could not even give their son an elementary education. From childhood Joannicius had to herd the livestock, which was the family’s whole fortune. He would often make the sign of the cross over the animals, withdraw to a secluded spot and pray all day. At such times neither beast nor thief came near the herd.
By order of the Emperor Leo IV (775–780), envoys sent to the cities and villages of the country chose the best young men for military service. The young Joannicius too was enlisted in the emperor’s army. The enemy trembled with fear of the valiant soldier, while his comrades loved him sincerely for his gentleness and humility. At this time, under the influence of blasphemous preaching, the saint joined the iconoclast heretics who had risen against the holy icons and those who venerated them.
Once, when he was coming down from Mount Olympus with his troop, an unknown monk called him by name: “Joannicius, my child, how can you call yourself a Christian and hate the images of Christ the Saviour?” Joannicius understood his error, fell into repentance, and afterwards became a faithful defender of the true faith. The saint served in the army for six years; his superiors and the emperor himself marked his military merits with many awards, but his soul could not bear worldly honour: it longed for quite another field, and the Lord called him to His service.
Joannicius was twenty-four when he withdrew from the world intending to settle in the desert, but a holy ascetic advised him first to go through the school of monastic life. The saint spent several years in a community of brethren; he learned to read and write, learned thirty of David’s psalms by heart, and only after this, at God’s direction, went out to labour in a desolate place. There the blessed one lived in a dugout he had made with his own hands. A shepherd brought him a little bread and water only once a month. The Lord’s chosen one prayed day and night and sang the psalms; after each psalm he sent up a prayer which the Church has kept to this day with only slight changes: “My hope is the Father, my refuge is the Son, my shelter is the Holy Spirit: O Holy Trinity, glory to Thee.” After Joannicius happened to meet his former comrades-in-arms, he left the desert and made for the mountains of Kontouria. A great many beasts and reptiles had their lairs there, but by God’s help they did the saint no harm. Once, at the beginning of winter, Joannicius came upon a deep cave high in the mountains and went in. In the darkness he noticed something shining; he went nearer and saw a huge serpent lying on the ground, its eyes gleaming like red-hot embers. Saint Joannicius was not afraid of the reptile; he withdrew to the right side of the cave and spent the whole winter there, near the serpent.
After twelve years of ascetic life the blessed one was tonsured a monk. He spent the three years after his tonsure in complete seclusion, and then went to Chalcedon, to George the Great Faster (commemorated 21 February). The Lord’s chosen ones lived together for three years. During this time the Venerable Joannicius learned the whole Psalter by heart. At last the saint, now very old, settled in the house of Antidion and remained in seclusion until the end of his life.
In the seventy years of his labours the Venerable Joannicius reached a high degree of spiritual perfection. According to the testimony of the saint’s disciple Pachomius, he gained the grace of foresight. During prayer the blessed one rose into the air; once he walked across a river in flood. He could become invisible to people and make others invisible too: so, for example, he once led captive Greeks out of prison before the eyes of many guards. The poison and fire with which the envious tried to settle scores with the saint did him no harm. It is known that the Lord’s chosen one freed the island of Thasos from countless snakes.
The holy ascetic foresaw the day of his repose, and died on 4 November 846, according to one account at the age of ninety-four, and according to the testimony of another source at a hundred and fifteen.
