John of Shanghai and San Francisco

Before emigration

Born on June 4, 1896 in the town of Adamovka, Izyumsky district, Kharkov province (now Slavic district of Donetsk region ) in a noble Orthodox family that financially supported the Svyatogorsky monastery on the Seversky Donets . Father - Boris Ivanovich Maksimovich (1871-1954); Izyumsky district leader of the nobility of the Kharkov province. Mother - Glafira Mikhailovna Stefanovich-Sevastyanovich (d. In 1952). Parents emigrated and lived in Venezuela in the 1950s. Father's uncle - General Konstantin Klavdievich Maksimovich . The well-known church leader of the 18th century, Metropolitan John Tobolsky (Maximovich), glorified by the Russian Church in the guise of saints in 1916, belonged to the same family .

From childhood, he was distinguished by deep religiosity, his favorite reading was the lives of saints ^[6] , however, according to family tradition, he chose a military education, enrolling in the Petrovsky Poltava Cadet Corps in 1907, and graduated in 1914 ^[7] .

He expressed a desire to study further at the Kiev Theological Academy , but at the insistence of his parents he entered the law faculty of Kharkov University . I studied spiritual literature on my own. He was acquainted with the Archbishop of Kharkov Anthony (Khrapovitsky) , who became the leader of his spiritual life ^[7] . Michael was greatly impressed by the arrival in Kharkov of Bishop Barnabas (Nastić) , later Patriarch of Serbia ^[8] .

In 1918 he graduated from the Law Faculty of Kharkov University. During the reign in Ukraine, the hetman P.P. Skoropadsky served in the provincial court. When Kharkov was occupied by the army of General A.I. Denikin, he again served in court. He was a member of the parish council ^[7] .

Life in Yugoslavia

With the retreat of the white troops, he went with his family to the Crimea . In November 1920, he was evacuated to Constantinople , from where in 1921 he arrived in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes ^[7] along with his parents and two brothers ^[9] . One of them received higher technical education and worked as an engineer in Yugoslavia , the other, after graduating from the law faculty of the University of Belgrade , worked in the Yugoslav police.

He entered the theological faculty of the University of Belgrade . Received allowance from the State Commission of the Kingdom of CXS for Russian refugees ^[10] . According to the memoirs of Nikolai Zernov , “Small in stature, heavy and broad in the shoulders, with puffy cheeks and red lips under a reddish Little Russian mustache, he gave the impression of a large, concentrated power in himself. He had little contact with other students, only at the end of the course I got to know him more closely <...> He was very poor, earned his living by selling newspapers. Belgrade in those years was covered with impassable mud during rains. Maksimovich wore a heavy fur coat and old Russian boots. Usually he burst into the audience belatedly, densely covered with street dirt, took out a greasy notebook and pencil stub from his bosom, and began to record the lecture in his large handwriting. He soon fell asleep, but as soon as he woke up, he immediately resumed his writings. Many of us were curious to find out what records Maximovich received, but no one dared to ask him to let us read them ” ^[11] .

In 1924, Metropolitan Anthony Khrapovitsky , who led the Russian hierarchy in the kingdom, was recited in the Russian Trinity Church in Belgrade.

On behalf of Metropolitan Anthony, he prepared a report on the origin of the law on succession in Russia, in which he investigated the question of how this law corresponds to the spirit of the Russian people and its historical traditions.

October 13, 1925 he graduated from the theological faculty of the University of Belgrade ^[12] . He received the highest marks (10 points) for 5 of 28 subjects passed to them ^[13] .

After graduating from Belgrade University, he was appointed law teacher to the Serbian State Gymnasium of Velika Kikinda ^[7] .

On the feast of the Entry into the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1926 in the Milkovo Monastery , the only male monastery in Serbia at that time with a Russian charter and a Russian brotherhood ^[9] , Metropolitan Anthony was tonsured a monk with the name John in honor of St. John of Tobolsk . In the same year, Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky) was ordained a deacon , and on December 4 of that year, Bishop Gabriel (Chepur) became a priest ^[7] .

Since 1927 he taught pastoral theology and church history at the Theological Seminary of the Apostle John the Theologian of the Ohrid Diocese in the city of Bitola . Bishop Nikolai (Velimirovich) , addressing the seminarians, spoke of John Maksimovich as follows: “Children, listen to Father John; he is an angel of God in a human form ” ^[14] .

During the summer holidays, he lived in the Milk Monastery, spoke closely with the rector, Archimandrite Amvrosiy (Kurganov) , archimandrite Thaddeus Vitovnitsky (then a young novice Tomislav) warmly recalled his conversations at the monastery. After the rector passed away in May 1933, and the situation in the monastery changed ^[15] .

In the same period, he published a number of theological works (“The veneration of the Virgin and John the Baptist and the new direction of Russian theological thought”, “How the Holy Orthodox Church honored and reveres the Mother of God”, “The Doctrine of Sophia - the Wisdom of God”), in which from patristic positions polemicized with supporters of the theological concept of " sophiology ", primarily with priest Sergius Bulgakov .

Like many Russian emigrants, he greatly respected the king of Yugoslavia , who patronized refugees from Russia, Alexander I Karageorgievich . Many years later, he served a memorial service for him at the place of his murder in one of the streets of Marseille . Other Orthodox clerics, out of false shame, refused to serve with the lord on the street. Then Vladyka John took the broom, on the swept area of ​​the sidewalk laid the bishop’s orlets, lit a censer and served a memorial service in French.

Bishop in China

On June 3, 1934, the ROCOR Synod of Bishops determined John to be the bishop of Shanghai , the vicar of the Chinese and Beijing diocese ^[7] .

On June 10 of that year, in the Russian Trinity Church in Belgrade, he was consecrated bishop. The consecration was headed by Metropolitan Anthony, who then sent a letter to Archbishop Demetrius (Voznesensky) , where he wrote: “As my soul, as my heart I send to you Bishop John. This small, physically weak person, almost looking like a child, is a miracle of ascetic endurance and severity in our time of universal spiritual relaxation ” ^[16] .

December 4, 1934 arrived in Shanghai, where by that time there were about 50 thousand Russian refugees. He managed to quickly resolve differences between Orthodox parishes.

Under Bishop John in Shanghai, the construction of the St. Nicholas Church (1935), the monument to the Tsar Martyr, was completed . In 1936, he opened the courtyard of the Beijing Women's Pokrovsky Monastery, where 15 sisters labored ^[17] . Other temples were also built in Shanghai, including the Cathedral in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God, the “Companion of Sinners” .

During his life in China, he gained fame as a philanthropist, was a trustee of various philanthropic societies. With his blessing and with his personal participation, a hospital, a shelter, a gymnasium, nursing homes, a public canteen, and a commercial school were built in Shanghai ^[17] . He organized an orphanage for orphans and children of poor parents in the name of St. Tikhon Zadonsky - at first there were eight children in it, and then already hundreds (in total about 3,500 children were brought up in the orphanage). The bishop himself picked up sick and starving children on the streets of Shanghai slums and brought them to a shelter. In the biography of Bishop John it is said:

His favorites were children, whom he so eagerly kept to himself. He was always interested in them, examined them, sent them cards and brought gifts. He could look into their eyes for several minutes with that warm radiant light that penetrated into the depths of his soul, and it was like an embrace of a mother for a baby. This look was unforgettable. The body of this ascetic was like a dried bark of a tree, but everyone who met his gaze felt like the most beloved creature on earth.

He paid much attention to religious education, visited prisons, visited patients in a psychiatric hospital. Already during this period, numerous cases of healing the hopelessly sick through his prayers gained fame. Every day served a liturgy.

In 1945, after the occupation of Manchuria by the Red Army , the Orthodox bishops in China, formerly under the jurisdiction of the ROCA, recognized the church authority of Patriarch Alexy I. In this situation, Bishop John (Maximovich) for some time commemorated the services of both the Moscow Patriarch and the head of the ROCOR, Metropolitan Anastasia (Gribanovsky) .

On June 20, 1946, he issued a Decree informing of the decision of the ROCOR Synod of Bishops, who met in Munich on May 20, 1946, to form the Shanghai Diocese of the ROCA, headed by Bishop John, and Archbishop Victor "to be allowed from the administration of the Shanghai Diocese." The news from Munich, declaring Shanghai Vicarism an independent diocese, was a surprise to Bishop John, but he accepted it. In the diocese of Bishop John, 12 priests and three protodeacons were in the clergy. With the announcement of the formation of a new diocese, the Orthodox population of Shanghai was divided into two jurisdictions: Patriarchal - up to 10,000 and Bishop John - up to 5,000 people ^[18] .

Escape from China. Tubabao

As the Chinese Communist Army advanced towards Shanghai, the International Refugee Organization asked several governments to provide temporary shelter to refugees, as well as to Russian emigrants and people of some other nationalities who were permanently resident in Shanghai. Only the Philippine Republic responded to this appeal, having allocated an uninhabited part of the island of Tubabao for a temporary settlement of refugees from China. The evacuation of refugees from Shanghai to Tubabao began in January 1949 and ended in early May of that year ^[19] .

He himself arrived at the camp in Tubabao a few days before Easter 1949, which was an event of exceptional importance in the spiritual life of the camp. According to the memoirs of A. N. Knyazev: “Vladyka John of Shanghai arrived in Tubabao by jeep and immediately proceeded to the Holy Mother of God Cathedral, where he was met by Hieromonk Modest, Priest Father Filaret of Astrakhan and Protodeacon Father Konstantin Zanevsky and the Bishop's choir led by G. . The cathedral was crowded with worshipers of the Lord. After a prayer service and a cup of tea, Vladyko proceeded to the St. Seraphim Church, where he was also met with a bell ringing, and in the church - Archpriest Father Athanasy Shalobanov and Father Nikolai Kolchev, hieromonk Father Nikolai and deacon Father Pavel Metlenko. The choir sang under the direction of I.P. Mikhailov. After a brief service, Vladyko went to the St. Archangel-Mikhailovsky Church, and here he was met with a bell ringing by Protopriest Father Matvey Medvedev and Father David Shevchenko with a choir led by M. A. Shulyakovsky ” ^[20] .

His stay in Tubabao, which lasted about three months, was dedicated to meeting the spiritual needs of his flock and getting to know the daily life of refugees. He left the camp on July 12, 1949, heading to the US capital, Washington, where he was busy with the US Congress to grant the Tubabaites permanent residence in the United States. During his stay in Washington, he founded there the parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, now known as the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist ^[21] . A smaller portion of the refugees left for Australia .

Ministry in Western Europe

November 27, 1950 by the decision of the Council of Bishops of the ROCOR appointed Archbishop of Western Europe ^[22] ; he retained control over the remaining parishes of the Shanghai diocese (in Hong Kong, Singapore, etc.). Prior to his arrival in the diocese, she was temporarily ruled by Bishop Leontius of Geneva (Bartoshevich) ^[22] .

July 21, 1951 arrived in Paris, lived in Medon at the Resurrection Church. Since Russian Parisian churches were under the jurisdiction of the Western European Exarchate of Russian Parishes of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Brussels was considered the official residence of the Archbishop John, he was titled "Archbishop of Brussels and Western Europe." The center of active work of Archbishop John was the Brussels Church in the name of Job the Long-suffering , laid in memory of Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich .

On October 21, 1953, the Council of Bishops decided: “To approve for Archbishop John, in addition to the title of Archbishop of Brussels and Western Europe, the title of the Head of the Russian Orthodox Churches in China and the Philippines” ^[23] .

Most of the time he spent in the vicinity of Paris . In 1952 he moved from Medon to Versailles , lived under the diocesan administration, located in the building of the Russian Cadet Corps named after Nicholas II ; was chairman of the board of trustees of the cadet corps. Often visited the Lesninsky Mother of God Convent in Fourques , served in Paris on temporary rental premises. In December 1961, he consecrated the Parisian Church of All Saints, who shone in the Russian land .

Under him, veneration of the Western saints of the undivided church (that is, those who lived before the separation of the Catholic Church from the Orthodox Church ) was restored to the diocese. In Orthodox churches began to commemorate the patroness of Paris, Saint Genevieve (Genevef) , the enlightener of Ireland, St. Patrick (Patricius) and other famous saints in the West. He was actively engaged in missionary activity, took under his guardianship Orthodox churches in France and the Netherlands , helped to prepare local clergy, and to publish liturgical literature in French and Dutch . He also nurtured Greek, Arab, Bulgarian and Romanian Orthodox parishes, giving them a special status. Contributed to the emergence of the parishes of the Western rite . He ordained a Spanish Orthodox priest for the Madrid mission.

When he was a diocesan bishop, a church was erected in the name of the holy righteous Job the Long-suffering in Brussels in memory of the martyr Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich . According to the memoirs of contemporaries,

Vladyka was unpretentious in everyday life: he wore vestments from the cheapest fabric, wore shoes on sandals barefoot, and often went barefoot, no matter what the weather, giving shoes to the poor. He was a true non-possessor, a follower of another great Russian saint - the Rev. Nile of Sora . He was a man of God.

The activity of Bishop John was highly appreciated not only by many Orthodox people, but also by representatives of other faiths. There is a story about how a Catholic priest told his flock in Paris that there are miracles and saints in the modern world, as evidenced by the Russian Saint John Bose (saint Jean Pieds Nus) walking in the streets of Paris - he was referring to Bishop John.

US Service

In 1962 he moved to the United States. At the end of the year, at the request of the spiritual children with whom he left Shanghai, he was instructed by the Foreign Synod to head the San Francisco Diocese. The local Russian community experienced a deep split there.

With the arrival of Bishop John, the hope was connected that he would be able to bring peace to the affairs of the Russian colony, and resume work on the construction of the cathedral in San Francisco . The arrival of the saint moved things off the ground, donations flowed plentifully, construction resumed. But this did not bring peace. The denunciations flew into the Synod against the Bishop and a coalition of his opponents began to organize, which was also joined by influential clergy of the “conservative” synodal party - Archbishop Nikon (Rklitsky) , Archbishop of Los Angeles Anthony (Sinkevich) , Archbishop of Canada Vitaly (Ustinov) , Archbishop of Chip Seraphim (Ivanov) and the Secretary of the Synod, Protopresbyter George Grabbe ^[24] .

During this period, he was considered one of the main candidates for the post of head of the ROCOR Synod in conditions when the elderly Vladyka Anastasiy led the church only nominally. However, Vladyka John was faced with intrigues by some church leaders, who contributed almost immediately after his appointment to the department to initiate proceedings against him on charges of financial irregularities in the construction of the cathedral in San Francisco . He was supported by part of the bishops of the ROCOR, among whom were the bishops Leonty (Filippovich) , Savva (Sarachevich) , Nektariy (Kontsevich) , and also Archbishop Averky (Taushev) who arrived at the trial. The trial in San Francisco court in 1963 ended with the complete acquittal of Vladyka John.

On August 13, 1963, after a long, over a year, comprehensive study of the San Francisco Troubles, the Council of Bishops of the ROCOR decided to approve the archbishop at the San Francisco Chair . John (Maksimovich).

In response, an Extraordinary Meeting of the Initiative Group of Opponents of the Opponents was convened in San Francisco on August 18. John. " At this meeting, the “Group Standing for the Cleanliness of the Synod” stated that they were not alone, that “the American Union of Churches, which promised support,” had already drawn attention to the entourage of Archbishop John. It should be noted that the American Union of Churches consists mainly of representatives of Protestant denominations. Opponents of the saint did not skimp on slander, at the same meeting they accused the saint of the fact that he "has been negotiating with the Greek and Serbian Church for six months ... to go to one of them ... and for this purpose and seeks to take possession of the property of the Cathedral of the Sorrow Cathedral ... ow. John surrounded himself with people with a communist past ”(ibid.) And so on ^[24] .

The cathedral in honor of the icon of the Mother of God of All Sorrows of Joy in San Francisco was successfully completed during the life of the archbishop. In his crypt, he was later buried.

Feeling that he could no longer manage the further management of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Anastasius (Gribanovsky) announced his decision to retire, and offered to elect a successor to him. After a long debate at this meeting, the votes were almost evenly divided between Archbishop John (Maximovich) and Archbishop Nikon (Rklitsky). In order to avoid a split on May 27, the youngest bishop, Brisbane Filaret (Voznesensky), was elected the new ROCOR First Hierarch ^[24] .

Archbishop John was very strict about violations of traditional Orthodox piety. So, when he found out that part of the parishioners on the eve of the Sunday Vespers have fun at the ball on the occasion of Halloween , he went to the ball, silently walked around the hall and went out silently. The next morning, he issued a decree "On the inadmissibility of participation in amusements on the eve of Sunday and holiday services":

The sacred rules are narrated so that the eve of the holidays is held by Christians in prayer and reverence, in preparation for participating in or attending the Divine Liturgy. If all Orthodox Christians are called to this, then all the more so when they are directly involved in church service. Their participation in entertainment on the eve of the holidays is especially sinful. In view of this, those who were on the eve of Sunday or a holiday at a ball or similar entertainment and amusements cannot participate in the choir the next day, attend, enter the altar and stand on the choir.

He died on July 2, 1966 during a prayer in his cell during his visit to the St. Nicholas parish in Seattle in front of the Kursk-Root miraculous icon of the Mother of God. The body lay for 6 days in a coffin in the heat, while no smell was felt and, according to eyewitnesses, the hand of the deceased remained soft. ^{[4] [25]} The remains of St. John Maximovich did not undergo decay and are openly in the tomb of the cathedral. The Canonization Commission, which examined the relics of Vladyka John, found that they looked like the relics of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra and the Orthodox East. ^[26]

After his death, many believers in writing confirmed the facts of miracles that were performed by the prayer of Bishop John. In the room where the saint died, a chapel is arranged ^[27] .

The question of his canonization was discussed in May 1993 at the ROCOR Bishops' Council. Only Archbishop Anthony (Sinkevich) spoke out against canonization, and the First Hierarch of the ROCOR, Metropolitan Vitaly (Ustinov), noted that "he used to impede the glorification of Archbishop John, but now he does not want to be in opposition to the glorification, leaving aside everything personal." On May 7, the Council decided to glorify St. John (along with the hierarchs Innocent of Moscow and Nikolai of Japan ), coinciding with the glorification of the celebration in 1994 of the 200th anniversary of Orthodoxy in America. On May 13, it was decided to coincide the canonization on the day of the repose of Archbishop John - July 2, 1994 ^[28] .

On July 2, 1994, the celebrations of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia took place on the occasion of being ranked among the saints. The sermon of Metropolitan Vitaly at the glorification of Archbishop John contained the following words:

We hungry and thirsty want to be filled with the truth of God at the crayfish of St. John. We came to him with a deep sense of gratitude that he, for all of us, weak and weak, was able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We always rejoice when someone succeeds in breaking free from the tenacious claws of the prince of the world and gaining eternal bliss. Our gratitude to St. John also dissolves with a feeling of deep repentance. You, Father John, our saint, came out of our midst, you know us and our main inconsolable grief - Russia! So help! ^[29]

At the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church on June 24-29, 2008 he was glorified for general church veneration ^[30] .

On January 9, 2015, the First Hierarch of the ROCA Metropolitan Hilarion of East America and New York, in response to a request from the Presidium of the Unions of the Cadets of Russian Cadet Corps Abroad and the decision of the annual meeting of the New York Association of Foreign Cadets on October 24, 2014, "blessed and satisfied" blessed the proclamation St. John the heavenly patron of Russian foreign cadets ^[31] .

According to the bishop of the Orthodox Church in America, Vasily (Rodzianko), he defined his attitude to the Russian Orthodox Church as follows (said in 1951 ^[32] ):

Every day on proskomidi I remember Patriarch Alexy . He is the Patriarch. And our prayer still remains. Due to circumstances we were cut off, but liturgically we are one. The Russian Church, like the whole Orthodox Church, is eucharistically united, and we with it and in it. And administratively we have to, for the sake of our flock and for the sake of certain principles, follow this path, but this does not in the least violate our mysterious unity of the whole Church. ^[33]

- Fomin S.V. The Jordanville Hermit

However, in 1955, Bishop John issued an appeal in which he praised the deed of part of the Palestinian monks who did not join the Moscow Patriarchate at that time. In it he wrote:

Knowing the subordination of Moscow church authority to the Soviet government, knowing that the Moscow Patriarch is not a free servant of God and His Church, but a slave of the atheistic power, those Holy Monasteries and institutions refused to recognize his authority and remained subordinate to the power of the free part of the Russian Church - the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Churches abroad, although through recognition could have great material benefits. Russian Convents in the Holy Land is the personification of a clear Christian conscience in the Middle East and their presence and confession prevent Orthodox peoples from opening their hearts there for the influence of church authority, which depends on the enemy of the Church and God. The courageous feat of confessing the truth by those Residences evokes a feeling of tenderness and is worthy of admiration for him. ^[34]

I did not agree with those who called the Moscow Patriarchate the “Soviet Church” or the “Red Church”.

It is clear when the phrase “Soviet church” is used by the inhabitants who are new to the church language, but it is not suitable for responsible and theological conversations. When the entire hierarchy of South-Western Russia passed into Uniatism , the Church continued to exist in the person of a believing Orthodox people, after many sufferings restored its hierarchy. Therefore, it is more correct to speak not about the “Soviet church”, which in the correct sense of the word “Church” cannot be, but about a hierarchy in the service of the Soviet government. Attitude to her may be the same as to other representatives of that power. Their dignity gives them the opportunity to act with great authority and replace the voice of the suffering Russian Church and mislead those who think of them to learn about the actual situation of the Church in Russia. Of course, among them there are conscious traitors, who simply don’t find the strength to fight the environment and go with the flow, is a question of their personal responsibility, but on the whole it is the apparatus of Soviet power, the atheistic power. Being one hierarchy in the liturgical field, for grace acts independently of personal dignity, in the field of socio-political it is a cover for Soviet atheistic activity. Therefore, those who are abroad and becoming ranks in it become conscious accomplices of that power ^[24] .

• The doctrine of Sophia the Wisdom of God. - Warsaw, 1930.
• How the Orthodox Church honored and honors the Mother of God. Ladomirova : Pochaev printing house 1932. (same: Ladomirova : Pochaev printing house 1937).
• The word in the name of the bishop of Shanghai on May 27, 1934. Belgrade.
• The Origin of the Law on Succession in Russia / Preface. St. John Shanghai. Shanghai, 1936.
• The spiritual state of Russian emigration. Belgrade, 1938.
• Holy Russia - Russian land. M., 1997.
• Conversations about the Last Judgment. M., 1998.
• Words like the saints of our father John, archbishop. Shanghai ...: A collection of sermons, teachings, letters, instructions and decrees. San Francisco, 1994 (2nd edition: M., 1998.).
• Let the Russian land be updated. M., 2006.
• Holy Right Prince Alexander Nevsky // Our News. - 1997. - No. 448.
• About prayer

articles

• Skopichenko O. In Memory of Vladyka John // Orthodox Russia. - 1966. - No. 15. - S. 3-7
• The word of Metropolitan Filaret before the requiem by Archbishop John // "Orthodox Russia". - 1966. - No. 13. - S. 3-4
• Talberg N.D. In memory of the righteous archpastor // Orthodox Russia. - 1966. - No. 13. - S. 5
• The funeral service for the Bishop of Archbishop John of West America and San Francisco // Orthodox Russia. - 1966. - No. 14. - S. 3-4
• Metropolitan Filaret about Archbishop John // Orthodox Russia. - 1966. - No. 18. - S. 3-4
• John (Shakhovskaya), Archbishop. In memory of Saint Fellow // "The New Russian Word". - New York. - 1966. - No. 19515. - S. 5
• Rayer V. What is Bishop John for us? // "Orthodox Russia". - 1966. - No. 18. - S. 6-8
• In memory of the archpastor of the ascetic: On the anniversary of the death of Archbishop John (Maksimovich) // Russian Life. - 1967. - July 6
• Savva of Edmont, Bishop. In memory of the Archbishop John // Orthodox Russia. - 1967. - No. 1-24
• Reyer V. In Memory of Vladyka John of Shanghai // Orthodox Russia. - 1968. - No. 10. - S. 6-7
• Blessed John Maximovich. - Platinum, California: Brotherhood of Rev. Herman of Alaska. - 1971
• Sava, Bishop. In memory of Archbishop John. On the fifth anniversary of the death // Orthodox Russia. 1971. - No. 19. - S. 6-7
• Fedorova Z. In memory of the Archbishop John // "Orthodox Russia". - 1976. - No. 14. - S. 8
• Makov D. In memory of the Archbishop John’s Vladyka // Orthodox Russia. - 1976. - No. 17. - S. 11
• Savva of Edmont, Bishop. Chronicle of veneration of Archbishop John (Maximovich). On the 10th anniversary of the death of 1966-1976. - Platinum: California: Edition of the Holy German Desert. - 1976. - 203 S.
• Annals of veneration of Archbishop John (Maximovich) - Platinum, California: Brotherhood of Rev. Herman of Alaska. - 1980
• Maksimovich U., archpriest. Holy of our days. On the 20th anniversary of the repose of Archbishop John (Maximovich). Shanghai - San Francisco // "Orthodox Russia". - 1986. - No. 15 (1324). - S. 1-2
• Filaret, Metropolitan. Archbishop John of Shanghai-San Francisco // Orthodox Russia. - 1989. - No. 1 (1382). - S. 4
• Archbishop John (Maksimovich). Archpastor, Prayer Book, Ascetic / Collection. comp. Priest Peter Perekrestov - San Francisco: Publication of the Western American Diocese. - 1991. - 235 S.
• Lukyanov V., archpriest. Festivity in memory of the 25th anniversary of the death of Archbishop John of West America and San Francisco // Orthodox Russia. - 1991. - No. 15. - S. 6-7
• Lukyanov V., archpriest. The memory of the righteous with praise. On the 25th anniversary of the blessed death of Archbishop John (Maksimovich) // Orthodox Russia. - 1991. - No. 12 (1441). - S. 2-3
• Blessed John the Miracle Worker. Preliminary Information on the Life and Miracles of Archbishop John (Maksimovich) / Compiled by Hieromonk Seraphim Rose and Hegumen German (Podmoshensky). - M .: “The Rule of Faith”; "Russian Pilgrim". - 1993. - 350 C.3
• Gan S. World Congress for the Glorification of the Saints of Our Father John the Archbishop of San Francisco // Orthodox Russia. - 1994. - No. 15. - S. 8
• Archbishop John (Maksimovich) as a guardian of church property in Shanghai // Orthodox Russia. - 1999. - No. 23. - S. 5-7
• Helping us the Holy Lord. A brief biography of the same in the saints of our St. John // "Orthodox Russia." - 1994. - No. 13 (1514). - S. 2-6
• Kazantsev N. St. John and the Fates of Russia // Our Country. - 1996. - No. 2301. - S. 1
• St. John (Maximovich) and the Russian Church Abroad. - Jordanville: Holy Trinity Monastery. Printing house prep. Job of the Pochaev Holy Trinity Monastery. - 1996. - 64 S.
• Sainted Russian Abroad Ecumenical Wonderworker John. - M.: “Orthodox pilgrim.” - 1997. - 702 S.
• Peter, hieromonk. Eminent Bishop Archbishop John. To the twenty-fifth anniversary of the death // "Tribune of Russian thought." - 2002. - No. 4. - P. 112—121
• Lukyanov V., protopresbyter. The word on the glorification of St. John // "Tribune of Russian thought." - 2002. - No. 4. - P. 122—124
• Mileant A., Bishop. Vladyka John is a great righteous man of the 20th century // “Tribune of Russian thought”. - 2002. - No. 4. - S. 105—111

the books

• Vladyka John The great righteous of the 20th century. - Los Angeles: Publisher of the Church of the Protection of the Holy Virgin. - no date - 19 C.
• Seraphim (Rose) , hieromonk. German (Podmoshensky) , hegumen. Blessed John the Miracle Worker. M., 1993
• Saint of the Russian Diaspora, Ecumenical Wonderworker John. M., 1997.
• Priest Dionisy Pozdnyaev. Orthodoxy in China (1900-1997). 1998.
• Savva (Sarachevich) , bishop. Annals of veneration archbishop. John (Maksimovich): The miracles of God today. Platinum; M., 1998.
• Vladyka John is a saint of the Russian Diaspora . Compiled by prot. Peter Perekrestov . M., 2008, Sretensky Monastery.

• The Life of St. John, Archbishop of Shanghai and San Francisco On the official website of the MP July 2, 2008
• Service to St. John of Shanghai and the San Francisco Miracle Worker
• Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco Wonderworker In the Orthodox Calender
• Biography from the book Archbishop John (Maximovich). “Let the Russian land be renewed”
• Biography
• Biography
• The word of Hieromonk John (Maximovich) when he was named bishop of Shanghai
• Saint John the Barefoot Shanghai // Orthodoxy and Peace portal
• A documentary that seeks to talk about the life of St. John of San Francisco - Saint John of San Francisco: The Movie is a feature length documentary
• Documentary film “John of Shanghai. Miracle Worker of the Last Times ”, including stories about the Hierarch of the people who knew him