Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco: A Saint for Modern Times

Today, July 2nd (New Calendar) we celebrate the Feast of Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco.   Also known as Saint John Maximovitch, he is revered for his asceticism and his wonder working miraculous service to God.

He was born in Russia near the turn of the 20th century.  He attended military school as a boy and studied law as a young man.  His family left Russia for Belgrade before the bloody apocalypse of the Russian Revolution.  There he earned a degree in theology in 1926.  A year later he was tonsured a monk and then a priest.

In 1934 he was ordained a bishop by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and assigned to Shanghai.  There he unified a fragmented Orthodox community and like most Holy Elders, began an orphanage for the children of the street in a city under Japanese military rule. 

As a public figure, it was impossible for him to completely conceal his ascetic way of life. During the Japanese occupation, even when he routinely ignored the curfew in pursuit of his pastoral activities, the Japanese authorities never harassed him.

When the Communists took power in China in 1949, the Russian colony was forced to flee, first to a refugee camp in the Philippines and then to the United States and Australia.  Archbishop John personally traveled to Washington, D.C., to ensure that his people would be allowed to enter the US.

Saint John arrived in San Francisco in 1962 where he served as Archbishop until his repose on July 2nd 1966.  And this is the day that we celebrate the wonder working Saint imploring him to intercede for us.

These are only the facts of his material life.  To write of all of the miracles reported due to St. John’s sanctity would make his story far too long for a single post.   Truly amazing stories of his sanctity and miracles are widespread in the Orthodox faithful in the East and especially in the Orthodox West.  I strongly encourage you to read of his life and miracles at The Orthodox Christianity website here.

Saint John is especially dear to us at Holy Transfiguration because of his defense of Western Rite Orthodoxy.  Our synod was present at his Canonization in1994.  Learning about and praying with Saint John is an all-to-rare opportunity to learn about Holiness in these sadly profane times.

Holiness did not disappear in modern times – we universally ignore it, except for these once-in-a-lifetime Holy Elders.

Saint John pray for us!