John, Disciple of Gregory of Decapolis
Our Venerable Father John the Confessor, Disciple of Saint Gregory of Decapolis
Venerable · Confessor · d. 9th century
Commemorated 18 April — Repose of the confessor-disciple
John was the disciple, fellow-ascetic and spiritual son of St Gregory of Decapolis, and shared his master's labours and sufferings for the holy icons in the second iconoclast persecution of the ninth century. Faithful to Gregory to the end, and himself a confessor of the veneration of images, he reposed in peace and is honoured on April 18.
John lived in the age of the renewed iconoclasm of the ninth century, when the emperors Leo the Armenian and his successors again warred against the holy icons. He attached himself to the great confessor St Gregory of Decapolis, following him as disciple and attendant through his travels and his contests for Orthodoxy. Under Gregory's guidance John was formed in the monastic life — in obedience, fasting, vigil and prayer — and shared the hardships his master bore for the faith, standing with the iconodules against the persecuting court.
He was himself a confessor, suffering reproach and affliction for the veneration of the images and refusing all communion with the heretics. When St Gregory reposed, John continued in the same confession and the same ascetic life, and, having kept the faith unshaken, reposed in peace. His memory is joined in the synaxaria to that of his teacher and of the confessors of the second iconoclasm.
Feast and commemoration
April 18 (church date; Old Calendar civil May 1). He is honoured as a confessor and venerable disciple of St Gregory of Decapolis; his service is that of the common of an ascetic-confessor.
Hymns
Troparion — Tone 8 (common of an ascetic-confessor)
By a flood of tears thou didst make the desert fruitful, and by thy sufferings for the holy icons thou didst confess the faith; thou becamest a beacon shining upon the world by thy struggles, O John our father, disciple of Gregory: intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Original translation from the Greek
Iconography
John is painted as a monk in the tunic and mantle, bearded and holding a scroll or cross; he may be shown together with his teacher St Gregory of Decapolis. No pre-1900 icon of him has been identified for this collection.