He became bishop of Gangra in the province of Aflagonia in northern Asia Minor. This was an important diocese. It was reported that he participated in the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (325 AD). A number of heretics converted to his teachings thanks to his teaching. His pastoral work was the construction of churches in his diocese, in addition to humanitarian institutions that cared for the needs of the poor. During his pastoral tours, he was riding a donkey and accompanied by two monks who likened his lifestyle to John the Baptist. Help build souls. He also embraced, with the divine blessings and talents bestowed upon him, people’s illnesses, hardships, and the cruelty of nature. His fame as a miracle worker spread, so Emperor Constantius (352-360) invited him. He asked to be saved from a dragon that crouched in front of the entrance to the royal treasury, and he prevented anyone from entering, as he stood in front of the monster with a stick in his hand that had a cross on top of it, as he called on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and dragged the dragon to a pyre that had been prepared before. Feeling grateful, Constantius engraved his name on the door of the treasury building, and exempted Gangra from annual taxes. However, what happened did not cause the Tsar to reject Arianism.

Some dissident heretics set up for him when he returned on the road to Lousiana, which is a crossing between two mountains. When he approached them, they attacked him with stones, sticks, and swords, and a woman roared at him and hurriedly hit him with a stone on his head that killed him. The saint of God did not utter only a few words before leaving him, “O Lord, do not commit this sin to them.” The attackers feared that their matter would be exposed, so they threw him in a pile of hay and fled. The owner of that field came to supply straw for his livestock. He heard an angelic choir and saw a divine light above the place where the body was. The news spread among the people of Gangra, so they transported their father with great sadness and honor and buried him. His shrine became a source of wonders for many years. As for the woman who caused the saint’s death, a demon possessed her and possessed her, but she recovered her health, perhaps because of the saint’s request, “O Lord, do not commit this sin.”

The church celebrates him on March 31.

Troparia in the fourth tune
You became similar to the apostles in their circumstances and a successor in their chairs, and through your work you found promotion to the Theoria, O one who meditates on God. For this reason, you followed the word of truth uprightly and struggled for the faith to the point of blood, O martyr among the priests, Ipatius, so intercede with Christ God to save our souls.
Your deeds of truth have shown you to your flock as a law of faith, an image of meekness, and a teacher of abstinence, Father Ipatius. Therefore, through humility you have achieved exaltation and wealth, so you intercede with Christ God to save our souls.