Antony the Younger

Venerable Antony the Younger (Antonios ho Neos) was a Byzantine military officer who became a monk, and reposed on 11 November 865 at Constantinople. The Orthodox Church commemorates him on 11 November and 1 December.

He was born in 785 at Phossaton near Jerusalem, named John Echimos, the son of Photeinos and Irene; he had at least a brother, David, and a sister, Theodoule. The account of his life says that as a child he was brought to the hermit John, who foretold his future. When their mother died, around 800, he and his siblings left Palestine for Attaleia, where he entered imperial service, probably in the navy. In 821 or 822 he was promoted ek prosopou (deputy governor) of the Cibyrrhaeot Theme and held the post until 825. He took part in the suppression of the rebellion of Thomas the Slav, in 822 to 823, spent ten months in Constantinople in 823 to 824, then returned to his theme and led the repulse of an Arab attack.

In 825, just as he was about to be married, he was secretly tonsured by the stylite monk Eustratios, with the name Antony. With his servant Theodore he spent some time at Amorion, then at Pylae and Nicaea, and from there at the Agauron or Pandemos monastery on the Bithynian Olympus. His life says that on these journeys he was repeatedly rescued from need in a miraculous manner. In 829 or 830, on the order of Emperor Theophilos, he was tried by the epi ton deeseon Stephen for his persecution of the adherents of Thomas the Slav after the end of the rebellion, was imprisoned for five months in Constantinople, whipped and released, and returned to Agauron. Later (Raymond Janin places it between 837 and 843) he went to Briles, where he lived in a chapel dedicated to Saint Panteleimon. He then spent some time at the monastery of Heraclius at Kios, returned to Agauron until 842, and again to the monastery of Heraclius until 848, when he moved to the metochion of All Saints in Constantinople.

Around 855 he cured Petronas, the uncle of Emperor Michael III, who became his disciple. The two had a very close relationship, and Antony is said to have prophesied Petronas's great victory over the Arabs in 863 at Lalakaon. In that year he moved to Ephesus, then returned to Constantinople in 865 and spent his final days until his repose in the monastery of Leo the Deacon. His life was written by a disciple who visited him shortly before his death; preserved in several manuscripts, it is a valuable historical source, rich in information about Byzantine medical services, everyday life, law and administration.