Mărcuș, Romania, June 14, 2018
Photo: www.episcopiacvhr.ro St. John (Maximovitch), the great wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco, is one of the most beloved saints of Russia and America, and his veneration has spread throughout the entire Orthodox world.
Churches and monasteries have been dedicated to him in Greece and Ukraine, for example, and now a new altar has been recently dedicated in his honor in Romania.
Photo: www.episcopiacvhr.ro On Sunday, the feast of All Saints of Romania, His Grace Bishop Andrei of Covasna and Harghita celebrated the consecration of the outdoor summer altar at Mărcuș Monastery in central Romania, dedicating it in honor of St. John (Maximovitch) and St. John the New of Muscel, reports the diocesan site.
The Sunday of All Romanian Saints was established by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1992.
Photo: www.episcopiacvhr.ro Commenting on the day’s Gospel reading, Bp. Andrei reflected upon the zeal of the holy apostles, in words that could easily apply as well to St. John (Maximovitch):
The four fishermen, Andrew, Peter, James, and John, without making any calculation, without questioning, without negotiating, without laying down any conditions, left everything and followed the Lord, seeing the Divine and loving power of the Savior. They felt He had the words of eternal life. The Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven, well-known by the Savior and His Apostles, was lived and fulfilled by the saints of God in all times and places.
Photo: www.episcopiacvhr.ro Following the Divine Liturgy, His Grace also blessed the monastery’s orphanage. It is fitting that an altar should be consecrated to St. John on the same day that an orphanage is blessed, as St. John himself is known for having taken a great many orphans under his wing in Shanghai, many of whom ended up in San Francisco with him as well.
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