Svyatogorsk, Ukraine, May 13, 2021
Photo: staticflickr.com
During Bright Week, footage was shot at the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s Holy Dormition-Svyatogorsk Lavra and its St. John Skete for a new documentary film about St. John the Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco.
The film is being made in honor of the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, with the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York, the First Hierarch of ROCOR, and His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, reports the Svyatogorsk Lavra’s press service.
Photo: staticflickr.com
The film crew recorded an interview with the abbot of the monastery, His Eminence Metropolitan Arseny, who spoke about St. John’s childhood in the village of Adamovka, not far from the Lavra. As His Eminence recalled, little Michael, the future Archbishop John, was very religious from childhood and would often walk to the monastery for services.
Sadly, after the Russian Revolution, St. John and his family were forced to flee their homeland forever. The emigration caused by the revolution led to Russians settling throughout the world, but as Met. Arseny related, wherever they ended up, they were united around the person of St. John. The documentary also features interviews with people living in the United States, New Zealand, Europe, and the Philippines, all of whom were blessed to know St. John.
The premier of the documentary will take place in July, timed to the feast of St. John on June 19/July 12.
A monument to St. John will also be erected in his home village of Adamovka, thus, “The Holy Hierarch will symbolically return to his homeland—to the place where the Maximovitch family estate was, and where now the Svyatgorsk Lavra’s skete consecrated in honor of this saint now operates.”
The first services were held at the skete’s Church of St. John in 2009, and it was finally consecrated in 2018. The feast of St. John on July 2 is celebrated with a cross procession to the skete. An icon of the great wonderworker began to stream myrrh during the 2017 celebrations.
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