Biography

He was born the eldest of three children. His given name was Theophylact. At eighteen, he determined to become a monk and joined Paul the Hesychast at his hermit

Hermit

A hermit is a person who lives, to some degree, in seclusion from society.In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament .In the...

age in Phrygia

Phrygia

In antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the...

, where he took the religious name "Peter".

The two of them started a pilgrimage

Pilgrimage

A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...

 to Jerusalem, but, reportedly because of a vision, they went instead to Bithynia

Bithynia

Bithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian Bosporus and the Euxine .-Description:...

. There Paul established a monastery at the church of St. Zachary in the area of Atroa. The monastery grew quickly, and Paul named Peter as his successor on the former's death in 805.

Leo V the Armenian

Leo V the Armenian

Leo V the Armenian was emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 813 to 820. A senior general, he forced his predecessor, Michael I Rangabe, to abdicate and assumed the throne. He ended the decade-long war with the Bulgars, and initiated the second period of Byzantine Iconoclasm...

 was in power at the time, and supported the Iconoclasts

Iconoclasm

Iconoclasm is the deliberate destruction of religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually with religious or political motives. It is a frequent component of major political or religious changes...

 in their efforts to destroy religious imagery. Peter was forced to disband the monastery for the safety of the monks during these persecutions, himself travelling first to Ephesus

Ephesus

Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era...

 and later Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

. His reputation as a thaumaturge

Thaumaturgy

Thaumaturgy is the capability of a saint or magician to work miracles. It is sometimes translated into English as wonderworking...

 and spiritual director

Spiritual direction

Spiritual direction is the practice of being with people as they attempt to deepen their relationship with the divine, or to learn and grow in their own personal spirituality. The person seeking direction shares stories of his or her encounters of the divine, or how he or she is experiencing...

 had become widespread by this time, and he was rarely left to pursue the secluded life he sought in peace. He wandered throughout the area in his efforts to find seclusion, ultimately finding some privacy in the area of Coracesium in Cilicia

Cilicia

In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...

.

Upon the death of Leo V, the iconoclast persecution dissipated, permitting internal struggles within the church to rise to the forefront. One of these involved accusations by several bishops and abbots that Peter exorcised

Exorcism

Exorcism is the religious practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed...

 demons not by the power of God, but rather the power of Beelzebub

Beelzebub

Beelzebub -Religious meaning:Ba‘al Zəbûb is variously understood to mean "lord of flies", or "lord of the dwelling". Originally the name of a Philistine god, Beelzebub is also identified in the New Testament as Satan, the "prince of the demons". In Arabic the name is retained as Ba‘al dhubaab /...

. Peter tried to convince them otherwise, unsuccessfully, and ultimately had to seek the help of Theodore the Studite

Theodore the Studite

Theodore the Studite was a Byzantine Greek monk and abbot of the Stoudios monastery in Constantinople. He played a major role in the revivals both of Byzantine monasticism and of classical literary genres in Byzantium...

 in persuading them. Theodore wrote a letter to all the monks of the area, telling them that Peter was in fact above reproach in conduct, teachings, and beliefs, and was as good a monk as could be found. This letter survives to this day.

Peter then returned to St. Zachary's and helped to reorganize two other monasteries he had established. During this time, he himself resided at a hermitage in Atroa. Iconoclastic attacks broke out again, more virulent than before, and Peter again found himself having to disperse his monks, successfully doing so just barely before the local bishop arrived to forcibly remove them. Peter himself left to reside with a locally famous recluse named James. While living with him, Peter cured Paul of Prusias of a fever. This was ascribed as a miracle at the time, but was apparently accomplished by doing nothing more than giving Paul a good, nutritious meal.

Iconoclast persecution increased in the area, obliging Peter and James to leave for the safety of the monastery of St. Porphyrious on the Hellespont. Peter later left for the Bâlea Lake area, where he visited his friend and fellow opponent of iconoclasm Joannicius

Joannicius the Great

Venerable Saint Joannicius the Great, in original Greek Ioannikios the Great - respected Byzantine Christian saint, sage, theologian, prophet and wonderworker, the hermit of Mount Olympus , monk and abbot...

 before returning again to St. Zachary's. After delivering a final statement of farewell to the assembly, he died in the choir

Quire (architecture)

Architecturally, the choir is the area of a church or cathedral, usually in the western part of the chancel between the nave and the sanctuary . The choir is occasionally located in the eastern part of the nave...

while praying the evening office on 1 January 837.