Adamovka, Ukraine, July 2, 2021
Photo: svlavra.church.ua
Orthodox Christians from throughout the Orthodox world are celebrating St. John (Maximovitch) the Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco on his feast today, and the faithful of his native village of Adamovka, Ukraine, are no exception.
Yesterday, on the eve of his feast, a new monument to the saint was solemnly consecrated at the skete named in his honor in Adamovka, which is a dependency of the Holy Dormition-Svyatogorsk Lavra. The consecration was celebrated by His Eminence Metropolitan Arseny of Svyatogorsk together with the brethren of the monastery and representatives of the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia who arrived from American especially for the feast, reports the Lavra website.
The bronze sculpture of St. John was installed to commemorate the 125th anniversary of his birth and the 100th anniversary of ROCOR.
Photo: svlavra.church.ua
The festive events began with a moleben at the Lavra’s dependency in the village of Nikolsoe, a few miles from Adamovka. As Met. Arseny explained, St. John’s grandfather is buried at the Church of the Ascension in Nikolskoe, so the future holy hierarch undoubtedly visited there with his parents. Then, the clergy and hundreds of believers bearing icons and banners processed from Nikolskoe to Adamovka while chanting the Akathist to the Mother of God, and prayers to the Lord, the Most Holy Theotokos, St. John, and all the saints.
Once the procession reached St. John’s Skete in Adamovka, Met. Arseny, the Lavra clergy, and Archpriest Gregory Joyce of St. Vladimir’s Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan, celebrated the rite of consecration of the monument. Afterwards, Met. Arseny blessed the faithful with holy water and invited all to a meal, noting that the Maximovitch family always treated the villagers to meals on Church feast days. A Church of St. John now stands where his parents’ house once stood, and the brothers of the Lavra carry on the Maximovitches’ tradition of hospitality, His Eminence emphasized.
Photo: svlavra.church.ua
After the events for the consecration, Sergei Kalfov spoke about the last days of St. John. His father was serving in the church where St. John celebrated his last service and the great saint actually died in his arms. Having learned about the Skete of St. John in Adamovka, Sergei, together with Archpriest Peter Perekrestov, gifted a particle of St. John’s relics, one of his chairs, and some pieces of his vestments to the Lavra in 2009.
A documentary film was also shot in honor of the 125th anniversary of the birth of St. John, and is being shown on Ukrainian television this week.
An icon of St. John began streaming myrrh on his feast day at the skete in 2017.
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