November 1/October 19 – Holy Righteous John, the Wonderworker of Kronstadttranslated

Lord! Grant me a simple, kind, open, believing, loving, generous heart, a worthy receptacle for You, the All-Good!

Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt In a difficult time filled with temptations, the Lord gave Russia a great man of prayer - Father John of Kronstadt. He clearly saw the impending evil of atheism and before his death (1908) he prayed: “Oh, Lord, save the Russian people, the Orthodox Church, they are perishing in Russia! Everywhere debauchery, everywhere unbelief, blasphemy, anarchy! Lord, everything is in Your hands. You are the Almighty! As a parish priest, living in the world, he rose to a spiritual height that could only be achieved through long years of monastic work. The birthplace of the great shepherd was the village. Sura in the Arkhangelsk province, where, according to Father John himself, “for three and a half centuries, priests from the Sergiev family held the priesthood successively at different times.” Vanya Sergiev was born in 1829 so weak that he was immediately baptized. From an early age he loved to go to church and would get up at night to pray. After graduating from the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, Father John was appointed a priest to St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kronstadt.

He lived with his wife, Elizaveta Konstantinovna, for half a century; they lived...