By Fr. George Dorbarakis
Venerable Ioannikios is known first of all to the entire faithful of the Church from the troparion composed by him, which is said daily during the Service of Compline (both Small and Great): “My hope is the Father, my refuge is the Son, my protection is the Holy Spirit, O Holy Trinity, glory to You.” His departure from the world, as we saw in his synaxarion, was the result of his avoidance of human glory, a sign of the humility that possessed him, consequently of the presence of the glory of God within his heart, which also became his guide for the spiritual path that he had to follow. According to the Hymnographer, “you possessed humility," and therefore "you walked the path that leads, without return, to the heavenly city. For the Holy Spirit, who had rested in your heart, was your guide.” And this constitutes a paradox: how could a soldier, who fought with such bravery and killed so many enemies in war, have such grace of God in his heart?
Apart from the fact that the example of Venerable Ioannikios reminds us that we should not rush to judge our fellow men superficially – “judge not according to appearance,” said the Lord Himself – the explanation may be found in a remark of the Hymnographer who says: “"With wisdom, O Ioannikios, you exchanged the fleeting things of this life for the lasting and eternal things of the Kingdom of God, taking up the cross of following the Lord, you withdrew to inaccessible mountains, like the great Elijah." We are under the impression that the honor and glory bestowed upon the Saint by the emperor as a soldier at the time served merely as a pretext, in order to lead him to a definitive decision to withdraw from the allure and snares of this world. He must already have been in reflection and turmoil about the practicality of his life, which is why when he found himself at the limit point of accepting or not human glory, his will inclined to where his heart beat: to follow Christ with complete giving of himself; to exchange the fleeting things for the lasting things. Perhaps this refers us to the Apostle Paul, who, although he persecuted Christians before his conversion to the Christian faith, must not have felt good about what he was doing. And apparently that is why the Lord, seeing the depth of His heart, called him in an extraordinary way to become His apostle.
The Hymnographer then refers to the spiritual struggle of purifying the Saint’s heart, which led him to such an expansion of his inner world that in addition to being a miracle worker, he was also foresight: “By the grace of the Holy Spirit, Venerable one, after you cleansed the eye of your mind, you were given the grace of prophecy, so that you can speak of the future as present, and see the distant as near."
However, where we think we should particularly focus is on a hymn from the eighth ode. The Hymnographer sees the Saint standing on a high mountain, like a lamp on a lampstand – according to the word of the Lord, of course, “no one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel, but on a lampstand” – and from there, he illuminates the minds of people with faith, because he shows them in an excellent way the true path of life and thus raises them with his divine word to the height of dispassion in Christ. “Standing atop the mountain, like upon a lampstand, Venerable one, you illuminated all thoughts with faith, most excellently guiding them O Ioannikios, showing the path of life and elevating them with divine words toward the heights of dispassion."
Why the emphasis of this particular hymn? Because in extremely critical days, such as the ones we are going through – today in particular is characterized as the most critical of all due to the changes that can occur in politics and not only our lives – the Saint, as the hymn says, who functioned therapeutically for people, in the sense that he corrected thoughts, can help us in a corresponding way. That is, let us also learn by listening to him not to remain attached to what causes turmoil and fear – the movements of this life – but with an enlightened mind to persist in the true path, which is none other than the life of Christ, and to aspire to the height of transcending human passions and situations. And it is logical: this life permanently has the characteristic of turmoil, because it is not a permanent state. “For the form of this world is passing away.” “We have no lasting city here, but we seek the one to come.” Let us not make the mistake of considering that what we go through as a society and a nation is eternal. These come and go. However, the eternal things that are Christ and His holy word never pass away: “My words shall not pass away.”
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
