John of Tobolsk

Portrait, 2nd half of the 18th century

Johannes von Tobolsk (secular name Ioann Maximowitsch Wasil'kowski , Russian Иоанн Макси́мович Васильковский ; * December 1651 in Neschin , Kyiv Voivodeship , Tsarism of Russia ; † June 10th ^July / June 21st,  1715 was ^Bishopric Russia in Tobolsk ), was ^{Bishopric of} Tobolsk and metropolitan and is a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church .

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Johannes was born as the eldest of the seven sons of the father Maxim Wassiljewitsch and the mother Euphrosyne. He attended the College of Kiev - Mogiljansk and then became a Latin teacher . In 1675 he became a monk in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra under the Archimandrite of Prussian origin Innocent Giesel . There he was assigned the ministry of preaching. The monk, who is striking in his extraordinary eloquence, devoted himself particularly to the question of how man can direct his will according to God's will. In 1677 he was sent with a delegation to Moscow to ask for help for Kiev and the Pechersk Lavra in the Russo-Turkish War , and there also from Tsar Fyodor III. receive. In 1681 he became head of the Svensky Monastery near Brjansk . In 1695 he became head of the Yeletsky monastery in Chernigov on the initiative of Archbishop Theodosios von Tschernigow . After the archbishop's death, Johannes was ordained Archbishop of Chernigov by Patriarch Adrian on January 10, 1697. In Chernigov he created a theological training center in 1700, which was valued nationwide for its level and was the first spiritual seminary in Russia. Such sites were also opened in other dioceses based on this model . Numerous sacred works were published in a printing house. During this time, the archbishop was also in contact with the monasteries on Athos , the monasteries in Jerusalem and the monastery of St. Catherine on Sinai . After his elevation to the rank of Metropolitan, John was appointed to the bishopric of Tobolsk in Western Siberia in 1711. There he dedicated himself especially to the mission among the peoples of Siberia and converted many to Christianity. He himself lived undemanding, wore only the robe of a simple monk and helped the poor. Even on the day of his death, the bishop is said to have served arms at the table himself.

Work and worship

John of Tobolsk was canonized in 1916, after he had been venerated for a long time, especially in Siberia. His feast day is the day of his death, June 10 according to the Julian calendar or June 23 according to the Gregorian calendar. John of Tobolsk comes from the same Maximowitsch family as Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco . Both are revered as miracle workers by Orthodox believers.

In addition to spiritual works such as The Royal Route of the Cross or thoughts about God for the benefit of right faith , John of Tobolsk wrote a lot of prose . In 1714 he brought out a translation of Heliotropium, seu conformatio humanae voluntatis cum divina, by the German Jesuit Jeremias Drexel into Russian.

Quote (1708)

"Just as we have to remove harmful active substances from the body so that it does not perish, so we also act in the community of citizens: all healthy and harmless objects can linger in it, but what is harmful has to be cut out." 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Saint John of Tobolsk and Tschernigow: The way of the cross as the royal way to eternal life . 1st edition. Hagia Sophia, Straelen 2010, ISBN 978-3-937129-64-8 , p. 11-15 .
2. ↑ М. Н. Софронова: Православная энциклопедия, ИОАНН. Moscow Patriarchate, accessed October 27, 2012 (in Russian). 
3. ↑ fischerverlage.de

Web links

Commons : Johannes von Tobolsk  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files