Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco Vladyka John

Contents Preface by the compiler What should a Christian be like? A friend of St. John (Maksimovich), the Serbian theologian Archimandrite Justin (Popovich), said that every Christian is called to be a “living walking Gospel” of Christ. Vladyka John himself defined holiness as follows: “Holiness is not just righteousness, for which the righteous are rewarded with the pleasure of bliss in the Kingdom of God, but such a height of righteousness that people are so filled with the grace of God that it flows from them to those who communicate with them.” There is a well-known story about how three brothers came to the gracious elder. Two of them asked him questions about spiritual life for several hours. The third brother sat silently, only occasionally looking at the elder. At the end of the conversation, the elder turned to his silent brother and asked him: “Why are you silent? Don’t you have any questions?” The brother replied: “It is enough for me to look at your face to get all the answers to my questions.” The Lord has vouchsafed me to serve for more than a quarter of a century in the church built by St. John, the Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco, to carry out my pastoral service next to his relics, to witness countless miracles through the prayers of the bishop, and to be convinced that St. John lives and acts as if alive. During these years, “looking at the face of the Bishop,” I collected, to the best of my ability, “the crumbs falling from the table” of the Bishop: information, testimonies, articles, photographs, sermons, documents and memories about this great archpastor, prayer book, ascetic and miracle worker of the 20th century. This book is not my composition, I do not express my personal thoughts in it, I do not share my personal memories. This is a collection, a “basket” of those crumbs that I managed to collect and systematize, so that the reader could learn about the saint of the Russian diaspora, Archbishop John (Maximovich) and through this book, and then, thanks to prayer to him, see his radiant face, enter into spiritual communion with him, touch this “living walking Gospel”, partake of the grace of God flowing from him. Saint John, nourished by both the pre-revolutionary Russian Church and the Church Abroad, was born and raised in Russia, but labored in the diaspora. He lived both under the tsarist regime in Russia and under the so-called. democratic in the West. He lived in body in our times, in the 20th century, and in spirit in ancient times, in the eras of theology and desert living. Remaining on the sinful earth, he was a true celestial. Its rich universal experience, its spiritual significance and deep churchliness can help us find answers not only to the spiritual needs of complex modern times, but also to questions of a national and social nature. The heart of the book, undoubtedly, is its first part - the new and most extensive biography of St. John ever published. It was compiled in French by Bernard Le Caro (Geneva), the spiritual son of a priest close to Bishop John, Archpriest Cedomir Ostojic (Brussels). Father Chedomir was one of those who “sat at the feet” of Saint John and “listened to his word” about the Lord and managed to convey the spirit of Bishop John and love for him to his spiritual son B. Le Caro. The biography of St. John, written by B. Le Caro, is distinguished by sobriety, churchliness and conscientiousness without a shadow of any exaltation. The biography was translated from French into Russian by Mother Juliania Rakhnovskaya (Moscow). I express my deep gratitude to Bernard Le Caro and Mother I. Rakhnovskaya for their enormous work, a labor of love. In the second and third parts of the book, when reading the sermons, words, articles and decrees of St. John, one gets the impression that the author is not our contemporary, but a holy ecumenical father of the 4th century. Some articles and words are published for the first time. Here the reader has the opportunity to read Vladika John’s own words. Decrees of St. John tells us not only about his strict demands on the clergy and parishioners, but also on himself. His severity and exactingness, however, do not contradict his pastoral love. The department of memoirs vividly confirms the faith, spirit of love and jealousy, foresight, constant feat and deeds of mercy of St. John, about which much has been written in his biography. The section of testimonies about the prayerful help of Bishop John (part five) clearly explains why the hearts of people, be they Russians, French, Dutch, Greeks, Serbs, Americans, Romanians, are so drawn to the bishop and how strong his prayer is before the Throne of God. In this section, the reader is offered well-known evidence and new, hitherto unpublished evidence. Preparing the book took much longer than I expected. Despite the fact that the translation of the biography and materials from other sections of the book had long been ready, we could not complete the book. Why did the Lord want to “delay” the release of this book about St. John? I think because Vladyka John was very worried about the division in the Russian Church, but firmly believed that that longed-for and hoped-for hour would come when the High Hierarch of All Rus' would ascend to his patriarchal place in the Mother See of the Dormition Cathedral and gather around him all the Russian archpastors who had come from Russian and foreign lands. This prayer prophecy of Saint John came true in Moscow in May 2007. To a large extent, the veneration of St. John both in Russia and in Rus' Abroad was one of the “stones” of the spiritual foundation on which Russian church unity was recreated. With God's help, the proposed book is the first published by the now united Russian Church with the blessing of the First Hierarchs of both of its parts: His Holiness Patriarch Alexy and His Eminence Metropolitan Laurus. I would like to thank everyone who helped me in compiling this book, in collecting materials, with translations and with their prayerful support. I especially thank Irina Dyakova (Moscow) for her help in editing the book, for her advice and professionalism. May the Lord God reward all helpers. May this work of ours be a modest expression of our gratitude to the Lord God for His mercy towards us and, to some small extent, a justification of our unworthiness. I ask kind readers for holy prayers. Archpriest Peter PEREKRESTOV San Francisco, USA November 13/26, 2007 memory of Saint John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople P.S. On Sunday, March 16th. On the day of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, His Eminence Metropolitan Laurus, the archpastor who was chosen by God to complete the work of restoring Russian church unity, unexpectedly passed away to the Lord. In early October 2007, I had a meeting with Bishop Laurus at the Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville. I asked him for his blessing to publish this book about St. John in the publishing house of the Moscow Sretensky Monastery. The Bishop, smiling, replied: “Of course, God bless.” I believe that this is the last book that Metropolitan Laurus blessed to publish. In 2001, at a meal on the occasion of the enthronement of Metropolitan Laurus, Archpriest George Larin, who served Saint John (Maximovich) in Shanghai, said the following about the new First Hierarch: “Vladika Laurus so reminds me of the ever-memorable Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco... For me, Bishop Laurus is a continuation of Bishop John. He has the same spirit that St. John had.” I would like to dedicate this book to the ever-memorable Metropolitan Laurus. May the Lord rest with the saints, including Saint John, the soul of Vladyka Laurus, and may He give us faith, strength and love to preserve the spirit of these two saints in our hearts. Jordanville, USA March 8/21, 2008 funeral service day for Metropolitan Laurus On June 24, 2008, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church glorified St. John among the general church saints, establishing June 19 (July 2) as his day of remembrance.