A WESTERN ORTHODOX HYMN FOR ST. JOHN MAXIMOVITCH OF SHANGHAI AND SAN FRANCISCO (JULY 2ND)

 

By Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West) 

On June 27th, our jurisdiction celebrates the memory of the Holy Hierarch, St. John Maximovitch of Shanghai and San Francisco, who established the work in Shanghai and who re-established an Orthodox hierarchy for the Western Church.

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Traveling shepherd of the Russian flock, scattered by Bolshevik wolves and godless ideology, thou wast a pastor who gladly suffered for the good of all mankind, teaching through example and holy sacrifice. In Shanghai, the Philippines, San Francisco, and France, and in many other places thou didst sojourn, teaching thy disciples to love God, honor the saints, and to preach the Orthodox Gospel unto the four corners of the earth. Pray for us now as we continue the work thou hast taught us to do: Alleluia! 

Preaching salvation though slow of speech, thou wast shown to be like a new Moses, leading thy people out of socialist captivity, O blessed John. Pray for us to be delivered from bondage to sin and the invisible foe, that, rejoicing, we may cry out to God our Savior: Alleluia!

Desiring to remember as is meet the ancient Church of the West, of lands which had fallen away from the Orthodoxy by the confusion of Protestants, the innovations of Papist, and departure from the counsel of Right-Believing Christians, thou didst revive the Western Orthodox Church, O lover of the saints of the East and the West. With the Western Saints pray thou today in heaven on behalf of us Western Orthodox who pray on earth: Alleluia!

We see thee as a new chosen one of God, who wast manifest in the latter times as one of the holy Hierarchs of Gaul, exhorting thy flock to preserve the same Orthodox Faith that they confessed, and astonishing the peoples of the West by thy holy life and clear doctrine. Pray for us, that we too may abide in this Faith:

Rejoice, thou who wast a new Martin by thy miracles and ascetic feats.

Rejoice, thou who wast a new Germanus by thy confession of the Orthodox Faith.

Rejoice, thou who wast a new Hilary by thy divine theology.

Rejoice, thou who wast a new Gregory by thy love and glorification of God's saints.

Rejoice, thou who wast a new Faustus by thy monastic fervor.

Rejoice, thou who wast a new Caesarius by thy steadfast love for the canons of the Church of God.

Rejoice, O Father John, for thou hast come into the glory of our Risen Lord, with whom all nation and tribe and kindred are gathered, praising and glorifying Christ forever! 

Rejoice, for Christ shines brightly upon thy face, and thy body lays incorruptly!

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May Christ hear the prayers of St. John before His throne!