From the Prologue of Ochrid
A native of Ioannina, the former capital of King Pyrrhus. When his impoverished parents died, the young John moved to Constantinople and there continued his trade (for he was a craftsman). Not long before that the Turks had conquered Constantinople, and many Christians out of fear had denied Christ and accepted the Mohammedan faith. Saint John had his workshop right among such apostates. The more the young John burned with love for Christ the Lord, the more strongly he manifested himself as a Christian before these betrayers of Christ. And he began to dispute with them about the faith, and finally to reproach them for their betrayal of Christ. Then they dragged him before the court and falsely accused him, alleging that he had previously accepted Islam and had now returned again to Christianity. After being tortured and beaten with rods and iron bars, they cast him into prison. The next day — it was the day of the Resurrection of Christ — they again led him out for torment, and John came forth joyfully singing: "Christ is risen from the dead!" To his tormentors he boldly said: "Do what you will, that you may send me the sooner from this brief life into eternal life: I am a servant of Christ, I follow Christ, I die for Christ, that I may live with Him!" After that John was bound in chains and led to the place of burning. Seeing the great fire prepared for him, John himself ran and leaped into the flames. But his tormentors, seeing how he loved death in the fire, pulled him out of the fire and condemned him to beheading by the sword. When they cut off his head, they cast both head and body into the fire. Later Christians sifted through the ashes and gathered some remains of his honorable and wonderworking relics, and buried them in the Great Church in Constantinople. Thus he ended his life by a martyr's death and received the glorious martyr's crown — Holy John of Ioannina, on April 18, 1526.
