The Nicene Age · AD 313–400

Innocent of the Mount of Olives

d. c. AD 395 · Presbyter-ascetic of the Mount of Olives · Rome(?) → Jerusalem

The Nicene Age

Who Innocent of the Mount of Olives was

A palace official under Constantius who buried the courtier's life and reappeared as a presbyter-monk on the Mount of Olives, where Palladius lived beside him three years and vouched for what he saw: a guilelessness like a child's, tears at other men's sins as at his own, and a relic-chapel of John the Baptist where the possessed were healed. The Holy Land's new monasticism, staffed by the empire's dropouts.

Verified single attestation

Lausiac History 44 only.

Also listed in desert fathers & mothers.

Common questions

When did Innocent die?

Innocent of the Mount of Olives is dated d. c. AD 395 in the archive, which places Innocent in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.

Which early sources mention Innocent?

Innocent of the Mount of Olives is named in 1 primary-source passage catalogued here, drawn from Palladius of Galatia. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was Innocent from?

The archive associates Innocent of the Mount of Olives with Rome(?), Jerusalem. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.

Who were Innocent’s contemporaries?

The archive links Innocent of the Mount of Olives to 2 other figures, including John of Lycopolis and Evagrius Ponticus. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.

Primary-source mentions (1)

Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

The Lausiac History 44

c. AD 420
Innocent, presbyter of the Mount of Olives, with whom I lived three years — a man without guile, whom I never knew to be angry, weeping for the sinner as for himself.
Palladius of Galatia · 44 · source text

Connected in the archive

People

Events in this lifetime

Place

Places served

The 2 places the sources put Innocent, in the order the record moves through them. This is what the sources attest, not a reconstructed route.

  1. 1Rome
  2. 2Jerusalem

See these places on the atlas →