John the Iberian was a 10th-century Georgian monk and religious leader who played a central role in the monastic life of Mount Athos. Born into a noble family in Tao-Klarjeti, he originally lived as a military commander and was married before undergoing a spiritual transformation. He eventually became a monk and moved to the Byzantine Empire, where he co-founded the Iviron monastery. As its first abbot, he transformed the institution into a significant center for Georgian culture, manuscript production, and liturgical scholarship.