Feast of Saint John of Chicago celebrated in Estonia

“Saint John during his tenure as rector of Chicago’s Holy Trinity Cathedral.”

NARVA, ESTONIA [OCA/St. Catherine Representation Church]—His Eminence, Metropolitan Cornelius of Tallinn and Estonia, presided at services here marking the feast of Saint John Kochurov of Chicago on Saturday, November 13, 2010.

In 1907, after completing his tenure in the United States—as rector of Chicago’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, he was responsible for its design and construction, while he helped establish other parishes in the Chicago area, downstate Illinois, and elsewhere—Saint John was assigned to Narva’s Holy Transfiguration Cathedral. He was given the special task of teaching the Orthodox Christian faith in the city’s secondary schools—a position he held until his assignment to Saint Catherine Cathedral, Tsarskoye Selo, in 1916. On October 31, 1917, he was martyred by revolutionary soldiers, thus becoming the first clergyman to endure death for the faith at the hands of the emerging atheistic regime. He was glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church on December 4, 1994.

At the invitation of Metropolitan Cornelius, Archimandrite Zacchaeus, Representative of the Orthodox Church in America to the Moscow Patriarchate, concelebrated at the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Narva Icon of the Mother of God with Archpriest Vitaly Gavrilov, parish rector, and numerous clergy of the Estonian Orthodox Church. At the conclusion of the Liturgy, Archimandrite Zacchaeus presided at the celebration of a Service of Thanksgiving honoring Saint John.

“Metropolitan Cornelius celebrates the Liturgy on the Feast of Saint John.”

Similar celebrations were held elsewhere, including Chicago’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, at which Priestmonk Matthias [Moriak], recently nominated as candidate for the vacant Episcopal See of Chicago by the Assembly of the Diocese of the Midwest, was present for the Revised Julian celebration October 30-31, 2010.

A detailed account of Saint John’s life and martyrdom may be found on the OCA web site at http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=103122.

Additional information and photos of the celebration in Narva may be found on the web site of Saint Catherine Representation Church at http://st-catherine.ru.