John of Thessalonica

John was archbishop of Thessalonica in the early seventh century, a churchman and writer and the shepherd of the city in the time of the attacks of the Slavs and Avars. He is known above all as the author of the first book of the Miracles of Saint Demetrius, but he also left notable homilies. He departed to the Lord around the year 630 and is commemorated in April, on the 11th and on the 18th according to the calendars in which he appears.

The main source for his life is the first book of the Miracles of Saint Demetrius itself, written between 610 and 620. As a young cleric John took part in repelling two assaults of the Slavs and Avars on Thessalonica, in 597 and in 603 or 609, in the time of Archbishop Eusebius of Thessalonica. He succeeded Eusebius on the throne. During his pastorate two more Slav attacks fell on the city, in 615 or around 617.

The years of his rule over the Church of Thessalonica cannot be fixed exactly. They certainly included the period from 610 to 625, and up to five years more at the start and at the end, between 605 and 630. Other sources say that he occupied the throne twice, from 603 to 610 and again from 617 to 626. A month after his death an earthquake struck the city, which John had foretold, asking the Lord that it should not happen in his lifetime.

Besides the book of the Miracles, John is the author of an Encomium of Saint Demetrius, preserved only in an Old Slavonic translation. His homily on the Dormition of the Mother of God is older than all the others of its kind that have survived. At the Seventh Ecumenical Council a passage was read from a homily of his on the Temptation of Christ in the wilderness, now lost, in which he defended the veneration of holy icons. A homily on the Holy Cross in Patmos codex 380 may be his or that of John III of Thessalonica.