Kiev, November 4, 2024
St. Philaret (left), St. John (right). Photo: UOC Information Center
On October 23, the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church canonized two 20th-century saints: Archimandrite Philaret (Kochubei), abbot of Zverinetsky Skete in Kiev, and Blessed John the Wanderer, a Fool-for-Christ.
St. Philaret’s feast day is set as December 14, and St. John’s as November 25, reports the UOC’s Information Center.
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St. Philaret was the last abbot of Kiev’s Zverinetsky Skete before its closure in 1934. On January 15, 1931, he was arrested by the Kiev State Political Directorate and sent to Lukyanivska Prison on charges of anti-Soviet agitation.
On September 14 of the same year, he was sentenced to 5 years of exile in Kazakhstan. On December 14, the sentence was reduced to 3 years in a labor camp.
He ended his earthly journey in a mass grave near Arkhangelsk. His exact date of death is unknown.
The saint’s feast day is December 14 (the day of his Heavenly patron, the day of his monastic tonsure, and the day when the final verdict was issued that determined the last, confessional milestone in the saint’s life).
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St. John lived in the 19th-20th centuries. Nothing is known about his childhood and youth. As an adult, he went to the village of Ploske in the Kirovograd Province, presumably from the Cherkasy Province.
Choosing, by God’s will, the ascetic feat of being a Fool-for-Christ, the saint wandered from village to village, had no roof over his head, and taught people to preserve the Orthodox faith. For this, he received the nickname “Wanderer.”
Blessed John dressed poorly and walked barefoot. Only in severe frost would he wrap rags around his feet. For his gift of clairvoyance, he was also called “Seer.”
St. John ended his earthly journey as a martyr, being killed by Germans near the village of Ploske on November 25, 1943. The villagers buried the saint’s body in the local cemetery.
In May 2021, St. John’s relics were found and transferred to the Oleksandria Diocese’s Holy Theophany Convent in the village of Dikivka. Miracles of healing began to occur through his relics.
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