Lo, thy care for thy flock in its sojourn hath prefigured the supplications which thou dost ever offer up for the whole world. Thus do we believe, having come to know thy love, O holy hierarch and wonderworker John! Wholly sanctified by God through the ministry of the all-pure Mysteries, and thyself ever strengthened thereby, thou didst hasten unto the suffering, O most gladsome healer. Hasten now also to the aid of us who honour thee with all our heart. - Troparion, tone 5
I am delighted to report that a new video recounting the life of St John the Wonderworker has been released on DVD. As a great lover of this Saint, I thoroughly look forward to receiving my copy. A trailer of the DVD has been posted to Youtube and is here:
Copies of the DVD may be obtained from the Revd Father Peter Shashkoff at StJohnofSF@gmail.com.
St John, as I have posted in the recent past, was a great supporter of the restoration of Orthodoxy to people of western lands, encouraging devotion to the first-millennium Saints of the west, and blessing for use, and himself serving, the Gallican Divine Liturgy of St Germain. He had a love for encouraging the young in the Faith and is reported to have often been late for Divine Liturgy because he would stop to skip and to play other games with young people in the street. I would have loved to see a becassocked archbishop in such a situation.
Among the stories of him that I have heard is one from the days when he took care of my own diocese. He was making a visitation to the parish of St Nicholas, in Bradford, went to the address to which he had been told to report, and was asked to stay on the doorstep while a cup of tea was fetched for him, which he humbly did. It seems that his host was unconvinced that the little man in a tattered cassock was in fact the archbishop, such was his unpretentious appearance and humble manner. Yet it speaks in his host's favour that the Saint was offered hospitality in spite of the doubts over his identity.
I have read his book on the Mother of God, and have two books about him, Man of God, which includes many stories from those who encountered him during his rearthly life, and Lantern of Grace, which contains many high quality photographs of him, including some from the glorifcation services. Both are available from Father Gregory at the St John of Kronstadt Press.
There is a collection of his writings here, and some good photographs here.
St John serving the restored Gallican Mass at the then ROCOR Cathedral of St Irenée in Paris
St John's Feast falls on the 19th of June, being the 2nd of July in the Orthodox Church calendar.
Holy Wonderworker John, pray to God for us!
4 comments:
Thank you for this: Holy Wonderworker John [pray for us!] is a Saint of whom I only know a very little and have wanted to correct this. Thank you for all of this information and sources.
God bless.
You're very welcome, Ian. St John took his final earthly breaths in his cell, in the presence of the Kursk root icon of Our Ladye of the Sign. You may remember that I had the great privilege and humbling honour of being asked to be a guardian of this very icon when it toured the UK at the end of 2007. It was an amazing experience and one that I will never forget. It was also a very prophetic week.
Do read his writings and about him. Between him and Fr Seraphim, I am envious of those who lived only a half century earlier than I have. I suppose the answer is to find the Saints of our own age.
Lord, have mercy.
I suppose the answer is to find the Saints of our own age.
I remember being very upset that I knew about Tolleshunt Knights for six years before Fr Sophrony died and never went and sometimes I wonder if I would have the discernment to recognise a saint anyway :-( Thank you for the video, though, it's great. I will certainly get the whole thing.
Yes I certainly want it as well. As for Fr Sophrony, it took somebody outside of the UK to tell me about his legacy. I'm not sure what that says about my awareness of what's on my own doorstep.
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