June 4, 2018

Holy Venerable Martyr John, Abbot of Monagria Monastery (+ 761)

St. John of Managria (Feast Day - June 4)

Verses

Although placed in a sack, and hidden in a deep place,
John received a place in heaven.

Our Venerable Father John was Abbot of Monagria Monastery located at Mount Olympus in Bithynia near Cyzicus. We read about him in the life of Saint Stephen the Younger, where it says that in the first year of the persecution of Emperor Constantine V Copronymos, he was martyred for his veneration of the holy icons. This took place in the year 761, when he refused to trample on an icon of Christ and the Theotokos, and for this he was placed in a weighted sack and thrown into the sea to drown.