His father, King Bosmarios of Iberia, invited noted philosopher Mithradates from Lazica (also called John the Eunuch) to take part in Murvan's education.

[6] Here he received a brilliant education under a personal patronage of the Roman empress Aelia Eudocia, wife of Theodosius II.

In Jerusalem, they were received by Melania the Younger, a famous ascetic whom Peter had met earlier in Constantinople and who might have inspired him to follow her.

Melania bestowed upon them the monastic garb in a ceremony in the Anastasis and they became monks at her monastery on the Mount of Olives under their new names Peter and John.

According to his biographer, John Rufus, Peter refused to write to or receive letters from home lest it undermine his ascetic discipline.

In the early 470s, Peter moved to Peleia near Ascalon where he continued ascetic activities, visiting various towns and villages of Palestine.

For three years he lived at the hermitage of Hilarion, then for some time in a shack on the seashore near Azotus before moving on an estate at Yavneh-Yam, the port of ancient Iamnia, formerly belonging to Eudocia and now managed by a follower of his.