Saint John of Kronstadt

Saint John of Kronstadt (Russian: Иоанн Кронштадтский) (19 October 1829, Sura, Arkhangelsk–20 December 1908, Kronstadt) was a Russian Orthodox Christian presbyter and a member of the synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Wonder-Working Father John Sergiev was one of the great elders and saints who participated the spiritual revival started by St. Paisius Velichkovsky (1722-1794). Widely venerated as a saint even during his lifetime, and the only married parish priest in the Russian calendar of saints, Father John is known for his spiritual gifts of powerful prayer, healing, spiritual insight and great love for all people. He also reawakened the Russian Orthodox Church to the Apostolic tradition of receiving Holy Communion at every Divine Liturgy. For this reason he is most commonly portrayed holding a Communion chalice.

He was born as Ivan Ilyich Sergiyev (Russian: Иван Ильич Сергиев) on 19 October 1829 at Sura, near the White Sea, in Russia.

From 1855 he worked as a priest in Saint Andrew's Cathedral in Kronstadt, the naval base near St Petersburg. Here he committed himself to charity, especially to those who were remote from the Church, and travelled extensively throughout the Russian empire. He was a member of the conservative Union of the Russian People, but did not commit himself politically.

In the early 1890s St. Father John became well known, and people from all over Russia came to him every day in thousands. Even the dying Tsar Alexander III of Russia, in 1894, summoned Father John to Livadia Palace (in the Crimea) so he receive communion from the holy man.

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