Saint Joannicius the Great

Saint Joannicius the Great, born in Bithynia around 762 and dying on November 4, 846 in Antidium, was a Byzantine Christian saint, sage, theologian, and prophet. He is known for his devoted asceticism and staunch defense of icon veneration during the reign of Emperor Theophilos, an iconoclast. Joannicius spent most of his life as a hermit on Mysian Olympus, near what is today Bursa, Turkey. His commitment to icon veneration influenced the eventual restoration of this practice in the Byzantine Empire under Empress Theodora's reign. Saint Joannicius served in the Byzantine army before dedicating himself entirely to ascetic study and monastic contemplation. He is celebrated with a feast day on November 4 in both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church, though it falls on November 17 in the Old Calendar.