John was a Turk by birth (referred to anachronistically as a "Persian" by John Kinnamos). As a child, he had been captured at Nicaea in 1097. Given to Alexios I Komnenos as a present, he was raised in the imperial household. Growing up, he was a constant companion of John Komnenos, Alexios's heir. When the latter ascended the throne as John II in 1118, he appointed John Axouch as "megas domestikos" with the court title of "sebastos". He was the emperor's only close personal friend and confidant, and all members of the imperial family were required to make obeisance to him. After foiling a plot against his throne and life by his sister Anna and her husband Nikephoros Bryennios (who betrayed the plot), John II tried to give his sister's confiscated property to Axouch. Axouch wisely refused as he realised that it would have further soured his relations with the imperial family and make him unpopular with the higher aristocracy. Axouch also asked the emperor for clemency for Anna, and the two siblings were reconciled, at least to a degree.