John the Laz

Venerable John the Laz (John of Lazica) was a Georgian eunuch, a cubicularius at the imperial court, then a monk and theologian of early Christianity, around the fifth century, one of the key figures of monasticism in Palestine. He was the tutor, lifelong companion and possibly the godfather of Peter the Iberian. Our sources give no date for his commemoration and do not say whether he was canonized by any Church.

At birth he was named Mithridates. He was born in Lazica, part of the kingdom of Iberia, in the reign of Vakhtang I Gorgasali. Mithridates was, most probably, a eunuch and courtier at the Roman imperial court. He changed his name after he became a monk. John, inspired by the example of Saint Passarion of Palestine, and his disciple Peter the Iberian, also a Georgian by origin, whom he met at the Great Palace in Constantinople, decided to flee to Jerusalem and to organize a monastery with a hospice for poor pilgrims, where they would engage in unceasing praise and worship of God. They chose a place not far from the Tower of David. According to the Life of Peter the Iberian, the blessed fathers Peter and John went to a deserted place near the Jordan and built a monastery there. When a quarrel arose with a neighbour over the boundary of the monastery's property, words grew into a fight, and the neighbour struck John in the face.

In 444 John left Jerusalem with Peter and went to Gaza. Peter soon became a bishop. John had weak health and suffered from a skin disease, and his face was covered with blisters. Peter, worried, took him to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Peter and John prayed all night with bitter tears and groans, and at last, at dawn, John's face was completely healed by the divine power of the holy cross.

John died in 463 or 465. He was buried in a Georgian monastery in Jerusalem or in the Judean desert, not far from Bir el-⁠Qutt, where Georgian inscriptions have been found. According to the Life of Peter the Iberian, he was buried in Peter's monastery between Gaza and Maiuma, where his memory was also kept every year. Peter died in 491 at Yamnia, and his disciples buried him beside John the Laz.