It is 60 years since the passing into eternity of Saint Ioan Maximovicitranslated

Thursday marks six decades since the passing into eternity of Saint Ioan Maximovici, Archbishop of Shanghai and San-Francisco.

Archbishop John was born on June 4, 1896 in the Kharkov region, then in southern Russia. At baptism he received the name of Michael. He came from the noble family Maximovici, from which Saint Hierarch Ioan, metropolitan of Tobolsk, well-known writer, spiritual poet and enlightener of Siberia was also descended.

The estate of the Maximovich family was in the vicinity of the Sviatogorsk monastery. Young Mihail spent the whole summer at the monastery.

At the age of 11 he was sent to the military school in Poltava. During these years he met Bishop Teofan of Poltava, who remained for him a model of holiness until the end of his life.

In 1914, Mikhail graduated from the cadet school and, following his intimate vocation, decided to enter the Theological Academy in Kiev. At the request of his parents, he enrolled in law school courses.

Pruning in monasticism In 1921, during the civil war, he emigrated to Belgrade with the whole family. In 1925 he graduated from the Faculty of Theology. In 1926 he was ordained a monk and ordained a hierodeacon in...