John (Maximovitch) the Wonderworker

St. John Maximovitch

Our father among the saints John (Maximovitch), Archbishop of Shanghai and San Francisco (1896-1966), was a diocesan bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), serving widely, from China to France to the United States.

He departed this life on June 19 (O.S.) or July 2 (N.S.), 1966, and was officially glorified by the ROCOR on July 2, 1994. His feast day is not yet celebrated by all Orthodox churches, though many will nonetheless refer to him with the title Blessed or even Saint.

This article or section is a stub (i.e., in need of additional material). You can help OrthodoxWiki by expanding it.

Photo of St. John

Life

Born on June 4, 1896, in the southern Russian village of Adamovka, he was given the baptismal name of Michael. He was educated at the Poltava Military School (1907-14), Kharkov Imperial University, from which he received a law degree (in 1918), and the University of Belgrade (where he completed his theological education in 1925). He was tonsured a monk in 1926 by Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky) of Kharkov (later the first primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia), who later ordained him hierodeacon in 1926. Bishop Gabriel of Chelyabinsk ordained him hieromonk on November 21, 1926. Hieromonk John was consecrated bishop on May 28, 1934, with Metropolitan Anthony serving as principal consecrator, after which he was assigned to the Diocese of Shanghai. Twelve years later he was named Archbishop of China.

In 1951, Archbishop John was assigned to the Archdiocese of Western Europe. During his time there, he also served as archpastor of the Orthodox Church of France, whose restored Gallican liturgy he studied and then celebrated. He was the principal consecrator of the Orthodox Church of France's first modern bishop, Jean-Nectaire (Kovalevsky) of Saint-Denis, and ordained to the priesthood the man who would become its second bishop, Germain (Bertrand-Hardy) of Saint-Denis.

In 1962, Archbishop John was assigned to the Diocese of Dan Francisco. He reposed during a visit to Seattle on July 2, 1966.

External links

• Life and miracles of St. John Maximovich - By Bishop Alexander (Mileant)
• St. John Maximovich: e-book for Windows® with Internet Explorer
• Saint John Maximovitch Eastern Orthodox Web Page
• Life of St. John Maximovitch the Wonderworker - Compiled by Fr Demetrios Serfes
• Orthodox Veneration of Mary, the Mother of God, written by St. John the Wonderworker himself, published with a foreword by Seraphim Rose.
• Homilies and Other Writings of Saint John the Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco.
• St John the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Shanghai
• Akathist to our Holy Hierarch John