Today, October 29, the Church celebrates the discovery of the relics of St. John of Tobolsktranslated

The discovery of the relics of St. John (Maksimovich; + 1715), Metropolitan of Tobolsk, is celebrated by the Orthodox Church on October 29.

The future saint was born in December 1651 in the city of Nizhyn in the Hetmanate (not far from Chernigov) and was the eldest of seven sons in the noble and pious Maksimovich family.

After graduating from the Kyiv Theological Academy, he taught Latin for eight years, became a monk at the Kiev Caves Monastery, and soon became a hieromonk-preacher.

Saint John founded the first theological seminary (collegium) in Russia, published 12 spiritual works written in a language understandable to everyone, the most important of which was called “Iliotropion” (“Sunflower”). In it, the saint says that the soul must turn to God, just as a sunflower reaches out to the sun. He is also the author of the work “Pheatron instructive to the king, princes and rulers,” dedicated to the responsibilities of the authorities.

In his church service, Saint John ruled the famous Svensky Monastery near Bryansk, then he was the archimandrite of the Yeletsky Chernigov Monastery. In 1697 he was consecrated Bishop of Chernigov in Moscow.

The saint arrived in Tobolsk in 1711. The diocese was huge, most of the residents…