Venerable Peter is one of the most celebrated ascetics to settle upon the Mount Athos.
It is recorded that Peter’s profession was soldier in the imperial armies.
Sent forth with the Roman army against the Saracens, he was taken captive and shut up in the prison of Mesopotamia.
Through the miraculous aid of St. Nicholas and St. Simeon the Righteous, was freed and fled to Rome, where he fulfilled a promise to God that he would take the monastic habit.
Returning to the East, the ship that transported him stopped in Athos and the saint settled in a desolate place, which the Theotokos and Saint Nicholas indicated.
The Theotokos told the first ascetic of Mount Petros that Athos had received Athos from Her Son and God as an inheritance, for those who wish to forsake worldly cares and strife
Her love will be with the faithful slaves of God and her joy will be great, for in her “garden” people will praise incessantly the glory of Jesus.
She will aid those who come to dwell here and who labor for God, and keep His commandments.
Thus, Venerable Peter, with the help of Virgin Mary, lived in a small cave, which survives to this day, between Great Lavra monastery and Skete of Holy Trinity.
Lived 53 years with strict and wonderful ascesis, eating wild herbs and angelic bread, completely naked, because his clothes were worn out, after many demonic attacks.
His hair and beard had grown out and covered his body in place of clothes, girded with the leaves of herbs.
The heaven was his ceiling while his bed was on the ground. He endured all that sadness for the future glory of the heavens.
One year before his death, God allowed a hunter to meet him, to speak about his holy life to the future generations.
The following year, when the hunter returned with two monks, Venerable Peter had already reposed.
They took his body and transferred it to Fokes in Thrace. The relic became a source of sanctification and healing for the ill.
In a newer version, his tomb is in the Monastery of Iviron.
His life was written by the monk Nikolaos Sinaitis and St. Gregory Palamasin the 9th century.
Joseph the Hymnographer composed a canon to honour him, mentioning the fragrance of his relic.
