Tag Archives: St. John of San Francisco

An anniversary for St. John of San Francisco.

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It is the 30th anniversary of the canonization of St. John (Maximovitch), Archbishop of Shanghai and San Francisco. At Holy Virgin Cathedral, “Joy of All Who Sorrow,” the celebration of the feast will spread over three days this week, and members of my parish expect to travel there to participate.

You can read the life of St. John and why he is called “The Wonderworker” – here.

On this joyous occasion I want to share this exhortation from the saint:

Though a man may be found in a weak state, that does not at all mean that he has been abandoned by God. On the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ was in trouble, as the world sees things. But when the sinful world considered Him to be completely destroyed, in fact He was victorious over death and hades. The Lord did not promise us positions as victors as a reward for righteousness, but told us, “In the world you will have tribulation – but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world”.

-St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco

 

Health and healing, water and blessing.

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Last weekend I drove a visiting priest to San Francisco, from where he was going to return to his home across the world the following day. But before I dropped him off at the church where he would serve that evening, he asked if we might stop by Holy Virgin Cathedral, where the relics of St. John the Wonderworker reside. I was quite happy to do that!

Every time I visit there, I feel more comfortable and more deeply blessed, but so far, not less overwhelmed by the size of the space, especially the height of the cathedral, and the numerous icons covering the walls and also freestanding around. The names are all in Cyrillic, so there are many who remain unidentified to me, though this time I recognized more of the saints just from having got to know them better elsewhere.

When I tried to get a picture of my companion as he stood praying next to St. John’s casket (he is somewhat hidden behind a palm), I realized that I could include the whole of one of the stained glass crosses in my picture. Later he and I discussed the used of stained glass in Orthodox churches, and I made note of how in the image we were looking at, there were no human figures, so no saints were cut in pieces, as it were, by leaded lines. He liked these examples of stained glass. I guess I still am not used to them.

It was timely that I came away with that picture, because today was our commemoration of the Procession of the Honorable Wood of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord.

“The origin of this Feast is explained in the Greek Horologion of 1897: ‘Because of the illnesses which occur during the month of August, it was customary at Constantinople to carry the Precious Wood of the Cross in procession throughout the city for its sanctification, and to deliver it from sickness.'”

A service for the Blessing of Water was held this evening, the hymns all about healing; and our rector reminded us that though we may tend to seek medical care when we are ill, we ought always to pray first, especially for the healing of our sin-sick souls.

Today is also the beginning of the Dormition Fast, by which we prepare our hearts to imitate the life of the Mother of our Lord, and we make ready to remember her death, on August 15th. The consideration of her example, and the shortness of our own lives, also help put us in a condition of receptiveness to the healing power of the Holy Spirit.

The Lord is my Light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

A prayer from tonight’s service:

O Lord our God, Who art great in counsel and wondrous in deeds; Fashioner of all creation, Who preservest Thy covenant and Thy mercy for those who love Thee and keep Thy commandments; Who receivest the compunctionate tears of all who are in need. For this reason Thou camest in the form of a servant, being not afraid of our image, but granting true health to the body and saying, “Behold, you who have become healed; sin no more!” And with clay Thou madest the eyes whole, having commanded them to be washed, at a word making them to rejoice in the light, putting to confusion the floods of passions caused by the enemies and drying up the bitter sea of this life, subduing the floods of sweet things heavy to bear: As the same King, O Lover of mankind, Who hast granted us to clothe ourselves with the garment of snowy brightness, by water and the Spirit, send down upon us Thy blessing by the partaking of and sprinkling with these waters, washing away the filth of passions.

St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco

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In memory of St. John the Wonderworker I am posting this story of a day of which he was the main part, one day in the last months of my late husband’s life. Today is his feast day and I am not taking part in any communal celebrations, but I wanted to at least share again a bit of his story and mine. I hope you will follow the link to read more about him.

From November 2014:

Our friends Mr. and Mrs. C drove Mr. Glad and me to San Francisco this morning for a visit to Holy Virgin Cathedral, the “Joy of All Who Sorrow.” We were going there for the same reason many people come from all over the world, to pray at the relics of St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco.

Strange as it may seem to find those cities sharing a place in the name of this saint, they form an outline of his fascinating and famous life. He was in particular famous to his many adopted children and flock of Orthodox, some of those who had settled in China years before his arrival, after fleeing from the Bolsheviks. In 1949 as the Communists John-of-San-Francisco photo smilewere coming to power there, he helped 5,000 of these expatriates to emigrate, eventually to the United States. Later still he established the cathedral in San Francisco where his incorrupt relics remain.

In the car on the way we told what stories we could remember about St. John. One thing he was famous for was ending up barefoot much of the time because he was always coming across someone who was without any footwear; again and again he would take off his own shoes and give them away.

Fr. John was glorified (recognized as a saint by the Orthodox Church) in 1994, and is often called St. John the Wonderworker. It was a joy to visit this place — my third time — with our friends and to pray together, asking St. John’s prayers as well.

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We were the only ones in the church for quite a while, but as we were leaving we met a few people coming in who were from Romania. The bishop in the group, it turns out, had served the liturgy at the canonization of St. John back in 1994! We were really pleased to meet someone who had such a special connection to the saint, and who was obviously thrilled to be visiting again.

P1110802Afterward we needed lunch, so we followed the advice of the candle desk attendant at the cathedral and ate at a Russian restaurant called The Red Tavern that was also in that Richmond District neighborhood. We were the only people there, too, though from the name we half expected when we went through the door to see a group of Bolsheviks plotting in the back corner.

A young woP1110798man only recently from Ukraine was our waitress and we enjoyed talking to her and eating the wonderful food. I didn’t think that I liked Russian food much, but everything I tasted was superb: dark brown bread scented with caraway, fresh cabbage salad with golden raisins and tomatoes; thinly sliced fried potatoes; and barley-mushroom soup with a complex and rich flavor. We all shared some Polish poppy seed dessert that we could tell had marzipan in the filling. We cut the two pieces into two more and ate them off these pretty dishes that the waitress said were their “dessert plates.”

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The forecast had been for cold and foggy weather in San Francisco today, but the sun was shining on our day and we didn’t even need our sweaters. Also, in our souls, we felt the warmth of Christ and of our friendship.

Malachai 4:2 But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness shall rise with healing in his wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

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