Synaxarion
By Venerable Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis,
On the same day [September 23], the commemoration of the Holy and Glorious New Martyr John, who was from Konitsa in Epirus and suffered martyrdom in Vrachori (Agrinio) in Aetolia in the year 1814.
Verses
Sprung from a foul-smelling root, O John,
By Venerable Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis,
On the same day [September 23], the commemoration of the Holy and Glorious New Martyr John, who was from Konitsa in Epirus and suffered martyrdom in Vrachori (Agrinio) in Aetolia in the year 1814.
Verses
Sprung from a foul-smelling root, O John,
You brought forth the sweetest fruits of martyrdom.
On the twenty-third, they cruelly severed John’s neck.
On the twenty-third, they cruelly severed John’s neck.
He was from Konitsa, a small town in Epirus, and was born to Ottoman parents, by whom he was also raised in their own delusion. His father, who was a Dervish, enrolled him in the order known as the Dervishes. When he reached the age of twenty, he lived a respectable life, inclining toward Christian virtues and ways with great prudence. Not long afterward, he abandoned his former delusion and came to the light of the knowledge of God, believing in Christ God and being born again through divine Baptism on the island of Ithaca, where he received the name John.
Returning to Xeromeros and settling in a certain village there called Machalas, he married a respectable young woman, with whom he lived a God-pleasing and Christian life. When his relatives learned that he had become a Christian, they employed every means to turn him back to his former delusion. They brought him before the judge of the Hagarenes in Vrachori. He openly and with great boldness confessed his unwavering faith in Christ and did not yield to threats, promises, imprisonment, or the many punishments and tortures inflicted upon him. Therefore, they severed his honorable head on the twenty-third day of September, a Wednesday, in the year of salvation 1814.
His honorable body, having been cast down not far from the Church of Saint Demetrios, was buried by some devout people in a field, which the people of Vrachori have honored ever since. In the year 1974, his sacred relics were found at the Sacred Monastery of Prousiotissa, where they had long before been hidden after being transferred from the grave.
Apolytikion
Tone 1. "Tis erimou pilitis".
Let us honor John, the native son of Konitsa, the boast of Vrachori, and the new warrior of Christ; for, having come forth from a foul-smelling root, he struggled gloriously for Christ and asks deliverance from dangers for those who cry out to him: Glory to Him who has given you strength; glory to Him who has crowned you; glory to Him who, through you, grants us deliverance from the passions.
Kontakion
Tone 3. "Oi Parthenos simeron".
Today the city of Vrachori celebrates, together with Konitsa, your light-bearing memory, O Saint, for you are a native son of the former and its divine honor, and of the latter, having sanctified it as well by the streams of your blood, O John, companion of the Martyrs.
Oikos
Sprung from a foul-smelling root as a plant destined to bring forth better things, you cast off the rags of delusion and clothed yourself in the radiant garment of the knowledge of God, dyed in the blood of Him who was voluntarily slain for our sake as a blameless and spotless Lamb, Christ the Life-Giver, O most blessed John. Following Him with your whole mind, you denied yourself and wholly subjected your mind to the divine will. Rising above the things of this world, you did not fear the insolence of the Hagarenes, but with an unwavering heart entered the arena of martyrdom and lawfully contended against delusion. Watering the Church with streams of blood, you glorified Christ, O John, companion of the Martyrs.
Megalynarion
Rejoice, divine shoot of Konitsa, and protector and helper of Agrinio. Rejoice, O John, New Martyr of the Lord, who asks Him to grant us the forgiveness of our transgressions.
Tone 1. "Tis erimou pilitis".
Let us honor John, the native son of Konitsa, the boast of Vrachori, and the new warrior of Christ; for, having come forth from a foul-smelling root, he struggled gloriously for Christ and asks deliverance from dangers for those who cry out to him: Glory to Him who has given you strength; glory to Him who has crowned you; glory to Him who, through you, grants us deliverance from the passions.
Kontakion
Tone 3. "Oi Parthenos simeron".
Today the city of Vrachori celebrates, together with Konitsa, your light-bearing memory, O Saint, for you are a native son of the former and its divine honor, and of the latter, having sanctified it as well by the streams of your blood, O John, companion of the Martyrs.
Oikos
Sprung from a foul-smelling root as a plant destined to bring forth better things, you cast off the rags of delusion and clothed yourself in the radiant garment of the knowledge of God, dyed in the blood of Him who was voluntarily slain for our sake as a blameless and spotless Lamb, Christ the Life-Giver, O most blessed John. Following Him with your whole mind, you denied yourself and wholly subjected your mind to the divine will. Rising above the things of this world, you did not fear the insolence of the Hagarenes, but with an unwavering heart entered the arena of martyrdom and lawfully contended against delusion. Watering the Church with streams of blood, you glorified Christ, O John, companion of the Martyrs.
Megalynarion
Rejoice, divine shoot of Konitsa, and protector and helper of Agrinio. Rejoice, O John, New Martyr of the Lord, who asks Him to grant us the forgiveness of our transgressions.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
