Gourias 1 was a monk, described as an evil person, one who deceived the people and who used magic arts: Petrus, Vita Ioannicii 19 (Γουρίας τις ὀνόματι, πάνυ κακεντρεχὴς καὶ δεινός, λαοπλάνος τε καὶ μαγομάντις ὑπάρχων), Sabas, Vita Ioannicii 18 (Γουρίας τις, φθορεὺς καὶ μάγος, χρηστὴν ἔχων ὑπόληψιν ὁ λαοπλάνος παρά τινων).

Gourias 1 met Ioannikios 2 on Mt Alsos in Lydia; he was allegedly jealous of him and planned to murder him; he therefore feigned a desire to become his disciple, and was accepted by him as a disciple and as his attendant: Petrus, Vita Ioannicii 20 (δέχεται αὐτὸν δῆθεν ὡς εἰς μαθητείαν καὶ τὴν τοῦ ὑπουργοῦ τάξιν ἐγχειρίζει αὐτῷ), Sabas, Vita Ioannicii 18.

Using magic arts Gourias 1 made two attempts on Ioannikios 2's life, one by armed soldiers and one by means of poison; Ioannikios 2 survived both, and then received a warning about Gourias 1 in a vision of St Eustathios the military martyr and expelled him forthwith; the story is told to explain the building of a church to St Eustathios by Ioannikios 2: Petrus, Vita Ioannicii 21- 22, Sabas, Vita Ioannicii 18-19.

The date was apparently early in the reign of Leo V (Leo 15), perhaps before the persecution of iconoclasts was resumed.

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