Life and Background
John, known by the name Tornike, was born about the year 920 in the Kingdom of the Iberians (Georgia), into a notable noble family with connections to the Bagrationi ruling dynasty. His father, Chordvaneli, served in the entourage of the Georgian prince Ashot II Kuropalates.
He rose to the position of eristavi, a Georgian military rank equivalent to the Byzantine strategos, and served under the Georgian prince David III of Tao. In the course of his service he also obtained the Byzantine aristocratic title of patrikios.
Around 963 he resigned from military service and retired to the Great Lavra of Athanasius the Athonite on Mount Athos, where he received the monastic name Ioane (John). In the early 970s he was joined there by the retired Georgian officer John the Iberian, his brother-in-law, and by John's son Euthymius.
Recall to Military Service
During the rebellion of Bardas Skleros against the Emperor Basil II (976–979), the emperor summoned John from his monastic life to lead Georgian forces against the rebel. He commanded approximately twelve thousand Georgian cavalry troops drawn from Tao through the loyalist commanders' ties to its ruler, David III.
The decisive engagement, the Battle of Pankaleia, was fought on the Plain of Pankaleia near Caesarea, on or about March 24, 979. The loyalist forces, commanded by Bardas Phokas the Younger together with John, defeated Bardas Skleros, who fled to his Arab ally and ultimately sought refuge in Baghdad. The battle ended Skleros' rebellion.
As a reward John received the title of synkellos, an office associated with the Patriarch of Constantinople. He returned to Mount Athos with the spoils of war, said to include twelve hundred pounds of gold.
Founding of Iviron Monastery
With the wealth brought back from the campaign, John, together with John the Iberian, founded the Iviron Monastery on Mount Athos, established between roughly 980 and 983. John served as ktetor, or founder, while John the Iberian became the first hegoumenos, or abbot, appointed in 980. The monastery's name derives from 'Iviron,' meaning 'of the Iberians,' that is, of the Georgians.
Iviron became a principal center of Georgian religious culture, where scholars and calligraphers translated Byzantine theological texts into Georgian and produced original works. It drew substantial patronage from Georgian donors and nobility, becoming so well endowed that it distributed some of these funds to other monasteries on the Holy Mountain. Euthymius the Iberian joined the monastery's leadership in 1005 as a later abbot. The community maintained strong ties to Georgia for nearly a millennium.
Relics & Shrines
The Iviron Monastery on Mount Athos, which John co-founded, is his major shrine and the enduring monument of his life and patronage.
