Ioannikos the Great

Reading from the Synaxarion:

Saint Joannicius was born in Bithynia about the year 740. His father
was named Myritrikes and his mother Anastaso When he had reached
maturity, he excelled in soldiery and was counted worthy of royal honours
for his bravery. He had been brought up an iconoclast, but while yet
a soldier, he was converted to Orthodoxy by a certain holy elder.
He later forsook all things and departed for Mount Olympus, where he
spent the remainder of his life in asceticism. Becoming great in
virtue, he reposed in the Lord in the year 834, having lived some
ninety-four years. To this Saint is ascribed the brief prayer, "My hope is
the Father . . . ."

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
With the rivers of your tears, you have made the barren desert
fertile. Through sighs of sorrow from deep within you, your labors have
borne fruit a hundred-fold. By your miracles you have become a light,
shining upon the world. O Ioninicus, our Holy Father, pray to Christ our
God, to save our souls.

Kontakion in the Fourth Tone
We the faithful on this day all come together, righteous Joannicius,
to keep thy sacred memory; and we beseech thee to intercede that we
may all find great mercy with Christ our Lord.