John IV Okropiri

Saint John IV Okropiri, a hierarch, was Catholicos of Georgia, born around the 920s and primate of the Church of Georgia from about 980 to 1001. The epithet Okropiri means "Golden-⁠mouthed". Catholicos Basil III (1090-1100) relates, in his account of the miracles of Saint Shio, that John's parents were long without children and asked the intercession of Saint Shio of Mgvime (commemorated 22 May). After they obtained a son, the pious parents gave him to the Shio-⁠Mgvime monastery to be raised.

There John acquired the holiness and wisdom for which the people called him Catholicos Golden-⁠mouthed. It is said that he was in everything equal to the great John Chrysostom, whose virtues and deeds those who wish to learn may read in a book written about him, which is lost. In the history of the Church of Georgia a second Catholicos John Okropiri is also known, who held the throne from 1033 to 1049.