As a young man, he began a career in the church administration, but left it to become a hermit on Mt. Agrioserike. Still later, he joined a cenobitic monastic community at a place called Bonyssa.[1][2] When the see of Amastris fell vacant in c. 790, the Patriarch of Constantinople Tarasios appointed George to fill it, despite the emperor favouring a different person for the post.[1]