The Monk Peter

Commemorated on July 1

      The Monk Peter was born at the end of the VIII Century at Constantinople into a patrician family. During the reign of the Byzantine emperor Nicephorus (802-811) Peter was appointed as a military-commander and participated in the campaigns of the Greek army against Bulgaria. In one of the battles the Greeks suffered a set-back. The emperor was mortally wounded, and Peter amidst many other soldiers was taken captive.
      One time by night, during a time of fervent prayer, the holy Evangelist John the Theologian appeared to him in a vision and released him from captivity. Having returned to Constantinople, Saint Peter left the world and withdrew into a monastery on Mount Olympos (Asia Minor) and became a monk. There he passed his time in constant ascetic efforts for 34 years under the guidance of the Monk Joannikios the Great (Comm. 4 November). The Monk Peter spent the whole time of his monastic life in strict fast and constant vigil, he wore a prickly hair-shirt and went about bare of foot. He lived the final 8 years of his life at Constantinople, where he founded a church and a monastery in the name of Saint Euandros.
      The Monk Peter died in his seventieth year of life (+ 854) and was buried in his monastery.