Gregory was born in the late 8th century at
Irenopolis in the
Isaurian Dekapolis, whence his sobriquet.
Francis Dvornik placed his birth between 780 and 790, while
Cyril Mango regarded the year 797 as a
terminus ante quem for his birth. His parents were Sergios and Maria, and he had at least one brother, whose name is not known. A later relative of the family was the early 10th-century
Patriarch of Constantinople,
Euthymius. According to his
hagiography, he began his elementary schooling at age eight, but fled his home to the mountains when his parents wanted to marry him (ca. 815/6). There he encountered the former bishop of Irenopolis, who had been forced to abandon his see due to his opposition to the renewed adoption of
Iconoclasm. After receiving his blessing, and on the advice of his mother, he entered the monastery where his brother was already a monk. Soon, however, he fell out with his pro-iconoclast abbot, and abandoned the monastery for that of his maternal uncle, Symeon. He remained at his uncle's monastery for 14 years, after which he asked permission to retire to a cave as a hermit (ca. 830). There he reportedly experienced a vision of the
Tabor light, as well as an appearance by a woman who miraculously cured him of sexual desire by means of some sort of operation, a possible allusion to Gregory being a eunuch. In ca. 832/3, after receiving a "divine command", he began his wanderings across the Byzantine world. He went first to
Ephesus, whence he took ship for
Prokonnesos,
Ainos and
Christoupolis. From there he journeyed overland to
Thessalonica and
Corinth. From Corinth he took again ship to
Rome via
Rhegion and
Naples. Gregory remained in a cell in Rome for three months, before continuing his journey to
Syracuse in
Sicily, where he again spent time in isolated contemplation in a tower in the harbour. From Sicily he returned to Thessalonica via
Otranto, where he was mistaken for an Arab spy and mistreated (ca. 834). At Thessalonica he taught several pupils, including
Joseph the Hymnographer. A few years later, possibly ca. 836/7, he went on—accompanied by Joseph, according to the latter's hagiography—to
Constantinople, where he stayed at the Antypas Church or the
Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, and visited the monastic community of
Mount Olympus in
Bithynia. His last years were marked by illness, first
epilepsy and then from
hydropsy. He died on a 20 November in the year 842 or, according to different interpretations, 841 or perhaps earlier still. In ca. 850, his remains were transferred to a monastery founded by Joseph the Hymnographer near the grave of
John Chrysostomos in the
Church of the Holy Apostles. == Hagiography and veneration ==