Ioannes 16 was also known as Pikridios (τῷ λεγομένῳ Πικριδίῳ): Theoph. AM 6282. This is a nickname, whose derivation is uncertain; see Winkelmann, Quellenstudien, pp. 197, 218 with n. 830.

Ioannes 16 was protospatharios and the tutor of the emperor Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8) (Ἰωάννῃ τῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ καὶ βαγύλῳ αὐτοῦ: Theoph. AM 6282, see Mango and Scott, Theophanes, p. 640, n. 5 for the meaning of βάγυλος as "tutor"); in 790, when a conspiracy to overthrow the all-powerful eunuch Staurakios 1 was uncovered, Ioannes 16 was among those punished; although not named as a conspirator he was one of those especially close to the emperor (see also Damianos 1, Petros 8 and Theodoros 14); he was among those flogged and tonsured by the empress Eirene 1 in early 790 and exiled to the West, perhaps to Sicily (ἐξώρισεν ἐπὶ τὰ κατωτικὰ μέρη ἕως Σικελίας): Theoph. AM 6282.

Late in 790, after the release of Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8) from detention by Eirene 1 in October, Ioannes 16 was sent by Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8) together with Michael 5 (Michael Lachanodrakon) to the troops of the Armeniakoi, to obtain from them an oath not to accept Eirene 1 as ruler (μὴ δέξασθαι Εἰρήνην τὴν αὐτοῦ μητέρα εἰς βασιλέα: Theoph. AM 6283); they also apparently were to confirm the soldiers' own choice, Alexios 1, as their strategos; Ioannes 16 is identified as the tutor of Konstantinos 8 and protospatharios (Ἰωάννην, τὸν βάγυλον αὐτοῦ καὶ πρωτοσπαθάριον): Theoph. AM 6283.

Ioannes 16 is probably identical with the koitonites Pikridios who founded a monastery in the reign of Eirene later known as Ta Pikridiou: Patria Const. III 156 (II 265. 11-12 Preger) (τὰ δὲ Πικριδίου ἔκτισεν Πικρίδιος κοιτωνίτης ἐν τοῖς χρόνοις Εἰρήνης τῆς Ἀθηναίας), cf. Janin, Eglises I 3, p. 417 (the mone of the Pikridion was situated beyond the Golden Horn) and Winkelmann, Quellenstudien, pp. 156, 197, 210, 218.

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