St. Joannicius

Joannicius was a native of Bithynia who first worked as a swineherd and later served as a soldier. Butler describes his courage and strength, but also his early participation in opposition to holy images. A monk’s conversation helped bring him to repentance and a change of life.

He remained for a time in military service while giving himself to prayer, fasting and penance. On leaving the army he went to the monasteries around Mount Olympus in Bithynia. There he learned to read, committed the psalms to memory and received formation in religious life. Years of solitude followed, together with the guidance of others who sought his counsel.

The man who had once opposed holy images became a defender of their rightful use in the Church. Butler places his later life among the trials and eventual restoration of that veneration. He spent his old age in a cell near his monastery. The source records conflicting estimates of his age, so this reading does not assign a precise lifespan.