The Monastery of Saint John the Theologian ( el, Μονή Αγίου Ιωάννου του Θεολόγου), commonly known as the Pelekete monastery ( tr, Pelekete manastırı; el, Moνή Πελεκητής), is a ruined

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

-era monastery near modern

Tirilye Tirilye (also known as Zeytinbağı, ''Olive yard'') is a town in Bursa Province, Turkey, situated west of Mudanya along the Marmara seashore. The area, which was inhabited since the eighth century BC, was formerly known as Τρίγλεια, ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

(medieval Trigleia in

Bithynia Bithynia (; Koine Greek: , ''Bithynía'') was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Pa ...

). The monastery dates back to the 8th century, but its exact date of establishment is unknown. Its common name, "''Pelekete''", means "hewn with an axe" in Greek, and refers to its location on a steep rock.Talbot (1991), p. 1620 The monastery was a centre of

iconodule Iconodulism (also iconoduly or iconodulia) designates the religious service to icons (kissing and honourable veneration, incense, and candlelight). The term comes from Neoclassical Greek εἰκονόδουλος (''eikonodoulos'') (from el, ε ...

opposition to

Byzantine Iconoclasm The Byzantine Iconoclasm ( gr, Εικονομαχία, Eikonomachía, lit=image struggle', 'war on icons) were two periods in the history of the Byzantine Empire when the use of religious images or icons was opposed by religious and imperial a ...

, and in 763/4, it was attacked and burned down by the fanatically iconoclast governor

Michael Lachanodrakon Michael Lachanodrakon ( el, Μιχαήλ Λαχανοδράκων; died 20 July 792) was a distinguished Byzantine general and fanatical supporter of Byzantine Iconoclasm under Emperor Constantine V (). As a result of his iconoclast zeal, in 766 h ...

. Lachanodrakon tortured the monastery's ''

hegoumenos Hegumen, hegumenos, or igumen ( el, ἡγούμενος, trans. ), is the title for the head of a monastery in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, similar to the title of abbot. The head of a convent of nuns is called a hegumenia ...

'', Theosteriktos, and other monks, 38 of whom were buried alive at

Ephesus Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in t ...

.Talbot (1991), p. 1620 The monastery was restored towards the end of the century after the end of the first period of Iconoclasm, and a certain Makarios became its ''hegoumenos''. With the resumption of Iconoclasm after 813, he was exiled and imprisoned, but the monks of Pelekete continued to oppose Iconoclasm. The monastery disappears thereafter from the sources, but is identified by modern scholars with the ruins of a monastery 5 km west from the town of

and dedicated to Saint John the Theologian. Locals today call it Aya Yani or Ayani, a corrupted form of its Greek name, meaning "Saint John".

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* {{in lang, el}
Hagiography of Makarios of Pelekete
Byzantine church buildings in Turkey Byzantine Iconoclasm Greek Orthodox monasteries in Turkey 8th-century churches Buildings and structures in Bursa Province Byzantine Bithynia

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