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Ioann of Kronstadt, (Ivan Iliyich Sergiyev)
Ioann of Kronstadt, (Ivan Iliyich Sergiyev)A priest, oreacher and philanthropist, Saint of the Russian Orthodox Church. He was descended from a family of clergymen, he was of a son of the religious server I.M. Sergiyev. In 1839–1845 Ivan learned in a parish school in Arkhangelsk and then in the Arkhangelsk religious seminary. In 1851 Ivan graduated from the seminary where he obtaned a distinction and then he was sent to the St. Petersburg Religious Academy where he learned at public cost. Just before the end of studies, he married Elizaveta Nesvitskaya, daughter of an ecclesiarch of the Cathedral of St.Andrew, the First-Called Apostle in Kronstadt. Ivan agreed on the chastity life with his wife. In summer of 1855 Ivan graduated from the Academy and he was conferred the degree of Doctor of Theology and on 10 December of 1855 he was conferred the priest of the Andreyevsky Cathedral. Subsequently he was the permanent senior priest of the Cathedral as an archpriest and chairman of the parish guardianship, he performed the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral almost every day (the last religious service was on 9 December 1908). He was the lector on the theology in the Kronstadt City School from 1857 during many years, and from 1862 he taught the theology in the classical gymnasium . In 1872 he made an appeal to the congregation for the foundation of the House of Industry at the parish guardianship of the Andreyevsky Cathedral, in order to give the work for the poor port workers of Kronstadt during the closing of the navigation ( appeal was published in "Kronstadt Herald", 1872, nos. 3 and 18). The House of Industry, which was founded by him (v. the House of Industry in Kronstadt), was opened on 12 October 1882 in Medvezhya Street ( now 7-9 Feigina Street) in the memory of Emperor Alexander II who was assassinated. The House of Industry included up to 15 charity organizations including a people canteen, free medical office, free elementary school with childen's library, drawing classes, orphan shelter and day children shelter, kid shelter and also it included workshops ( for men: a hemp workshop, cap workshop, shoemaking workshop; for women: a fashionable dress workshop, sewing workshop, embroidery workshop . In 1888 according to the initiative of Father Ioann the 3-storey stone house was built as the night shelter and in 1892 at the yard of the House of Industry , the 4-storey building "Hospitability to Strangers" was built where the poor men settled during their pilgrimage to Father Ioann of Kronstadt. In the 1880s Father Ioann received the fame of the brilliant preacher and the All-Russian great man of prayer, and All-Russia congregation went to Father Ioann for the spiritual help. Up to 80,000 pilgrims visited the Andreyevsky Cathedral in Kronstadt annually and up to 60,000 men performed public prayer in the Cathedral. Father Ioann had the great authority in the Imperial Court. He was summoned to Alexander III dying in Livadia in the autumn of 1894 and he gave communion to Emperor Alexander III on 17 October. His diary "My Life in Christ ", the spiritual-edifying work, was published in 1894, this work was republished repeatedly in subsequent years. Father Ioann was generous donor, who gave the suzeable part of his maney for charity , he was a honorary member and full member of the number of charitable organizatioins including Society of Care about Poor and Ill Children ("Blue Cross"), Community of Nurses named after St. Elizabeth at the Tsarskoye Selo Charitable Society, Charitable Society at the St. Petersburg City Almshouses, Navy Charitable Society, Society for Care on Poor Men of Army and Navy Clergymen, Novocherkassk Orthodox Brotherhood in the memory of Emperor Alexander III, Charitable Society of Grand Duchess Olga Aleksandrovna, St. Petersburg Society of Homeopath-Physicians, Nicholas Society for Care on Poor men of the Petersburg Side, St. Petersburg Society for Helping Carriers, Tver Charitable Society, St. Petersburg Society"Day Nursery" , Circle for the Patronage of the Working Girls etc., he was an honorary chairman of theChrist Charitable Society Sef -Assistance during the Ilnesses and Woman Circle for the assistance to Damaged Soldiers. Many charitable institutions and their churches were consecrated by Father Ioann. To the end of his life Father Ioann was awarded the highest Russian orders including the Order of St .Anna, the Order of St. Vladimir and the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, he was a member of the Holy Synod . In the Revolution of 1905-1907 Father Ioann was elected as an honorary member of the Union of Russian People, he consecrated the ensigns and banner of the Union, presented money for its needs. Father Ioann died at his apartment in 21 Andreyevskaya Street, near the Cathedral in Kronstadt. On 23 December 1908 he was buried in Surskiy (St. Ioann) Monastery in St. Petersburg (49 Karpovka River Embankment), which he founded, in the lower church in the memory of the Prophet Elijah and Tsarina Theodore, patron saints of his parents. In 1923 after the closing of the Monastery, his remains were preserved and then it were hidden under the burial chamber floor in 1926. In 1910 the Society in the memory of Father Ioann of Kronstadt was founded by the circle of his relatives, friends and comrades-in-arms, the purpose of this society was "to help, spiritually and materially, to the needy people, using the same means as Father Ioann of Kronstadt were used". On 3 June 1964 Father Ioann of Kronstadt was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and he was canonized as Saint at the Council on 7-8 Jule 1990 by the the Russian Orthodox Church. Father Ioann of Kronstadt is regarded as the Patron saint of St. Peresburg. Monument to Father Ioann of Kronstadt, according to the design of the sculptor P.Ivanov, was installed in Kronstadt in 2009. Persons
Ivanov, P.
Nesvitskaya, Yelizaveta Sergiyev (Kronshtadsky) Ioann Ilyich, the Saint Sergiyev, I.M Addresses
Feigina St./Kronshtadt, city
The subject Index
St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kronstadt
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