Jonah the Presbyter was a Palestinian priest of the late eighth and early ninth centuries, remembered chiefly as the father of two confessor-saints of the iconoclast period: Theophanes the Hymnographer and Theodore the Branded (Graptus). After the death of his wife he withdrew to monastic life at the Lavra of Saint Savva the Sanctified, where both of his sons had earlier been tonsured. He is commemorated on September 22 in the Slavic calendar (September 21 in Greek usage).
His two sons were glorified for their confession of Orthodoxy during the iconoclast controversy. According to the tradition, the iconoclast emperor Theophilos had the brothers branded on their foreheads with iambic verses, from which Theodore in particular took the byname "the Branded" (Graptus). Theophanes, the elder remembered as a hymnographer, later became Bishop of Nicaea.
Living at the Lavra of Saint Savva, Jonah was remembered for an ascetic life of fasting, prayer, and compunction. The tradition relates that he was granted the gift of healing, and that many came to him seeking cures. He reposed in old age in the ninth century and remained at the Lavra until his death.
