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This post is a collection of quotes, relating to the above-mentioned claims, from trusted persons and historical sources. We offer them with no interpretation of our own and for the consideration of those who love both the Saint and the truth. We hope that the content presented below will be examined in conjunction with whatever other TRUSTWORTHY information is available.
Note: some of the quotes below also contain information about other, related, subjects - this "additional information" is included with the hopes of others being benefited from it.
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Fr. Seraphim Rose reveals in his "Vita Prima of St. John Maximovitch" that: "He [St. John] staunchly defended the Church (Julian) Calendar against new calendar innovators. He forbade his clergy to participate in 'Pan-Orthodox' services because of the dubious canonicity of some participants; and the activities of the Orthodox 'ecumenists' caused him to shake his head in disbelief."
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| Fr. Seraphim Rose of blessed memory |
Fr. Seraphim Rose also wrote in a Letter dated April 3/16, 1970: "The same is true of Metropolitan Philaret and Archbishop John (Maximovitch) in China: it is formally correct that for several days in 1945, after receiving false information that Metropolitan Anastassy had died, the Synod was dissolved, the church situation in Russia changed completely as a result of the war, and the Patriarch was elected legally, they did commemorate Patriarch Alexy, but when the connection with Metropolitan Anastassy was soon reestablished and the truth became known, they both became such convinced enemies of Moscow, so at odds with Moscow that Moscow still today remembers Archbishop John as the head of the 'schism' in China and Metropolitan Philaret’s very life was constantly in danger from his anti-Soviet and anti-Patriarchate statements and sermons."
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In the 1963 declaration of the chairman, G.K. Bologov, and members of the Russian Emigration Association of Shanghai, which was composed and witnessed to under oath on May, 9, 1963, in San Francisco, we read: "Vladyka John was never in submission to the Patriarch of Moscow, did not enter into any relations of any kind with the Moscow Patriarchate, nor ever had any contact with it, and that the letter of March 21, 1963, which was printed on the second page of the newspaper Russkaya Zhizn (No. 5326, April 30, 1963), is a slander, a lie and calumny aimed at besmirching the honor of an Orthodox Russian hierarch, whose selfless and valiant struggle against the terrible onslaught and pressure on the part of the representatives of the Soviet authorities and the hierarchs who joined the Soviet side - including his ruling bishop - took place before the eyes of the thousands of anti-Communist Russians of Shanghai ... he selflessly fought against the Communist propaganda, which was luring the Russian souls with false patriotism and was persuading and intimidating Russian people to take out Soviet passports and repatriate under the amnesty of Stalin to the Soviet Union."
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S.L. relates: "Apart from having been one of his [St. John's] altar-boys for some 7 years, during which time I witnessed a number of instances where he displayed his implacable opposition to the MP’s hierarchy e.g. Vladika ordering his secretary in 1946 to eject 2 MP 'archbishops' that arrived to see him; everybody that knew Vladika would testify that any notion of him recognizing the then 'patriarch' Alexis I, is not only sheer fantasy but an insulting lie..."
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| Metropolitan Demetrius |
Metropolitan Demetrius passes on the following story from the Life of St. John: "He therefore visited Sampson and Xenia, to their delight, since they had been members of his flock when Vladyka was a bishop in China. They rejoiced greatly, and considered it a great blessing and honor that Vladyka was in their midst. Sampson opened the [MP] church for Vladyka to enter and venerate the icons, etc., but Vladyka John refused to enter the church.
Sampson and Xenia pleaded with him just to enter and exit. They would have considered it a great blessing that their former bishop had entered and prayed there. But Vladyka, to their sorrow, adamantly refused to enter the church, saying that it was in raskol (schism). Vladyka insisted that the few Russians of the Chinese immigration should start their own parish under the Russian Synod Abroad."
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Vladyka Philaret of NY writes concerning St. John in a letter dated 23 August/5 September 1981: "... keep in mind that the Church Outside of Russia, as it has to this moment, so too in the future, will never acknowledge the Soviet hierarchy as legal representatives of the much-suffering Russian Church persecuted by the Communists. The Soviet hierarchy has betrayed Christ and His Church, and fell away from the True Church when it came into agreement with the God-fighters – the enemies of the Truth.
There can be no question that we would accept that 'hierarchy' as legal. That could only happen in the event that the Soviet hierarchy would fervently denounce and deny the degrading declaration of Metropolitan Sergius and return to the True Orthodox way. But since that is not so, there can be no dealing (communion) by us with that 'hierarchy,' not only prayerful, but also mundane, as was pointed out by Metropolitan Anastassy’s will, which was accepted as a guideline and an accomplishment by the Church Abroad.
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| Saints Philaret of NY and John Maximovitch |
No doubt you have heard about the late Archbishop John, who reposed fourteen years ago? This was a great man of prayer, a faster and an ascetic, completely filled with the pure Orthodoxy of the Holy Fathers. While he was yet alive, by his prayers there were unquestionably numerous revelations of the miraculous power of God. And now, his place of rest and his tomb in the Cathedral in the city of San Francisco has become a place of continual pilgrimage by the Russian Orthodox people, who are praying at his tomb and receiving the fulfillment of their requests…
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| Saints Philaret of NY and John Maximovitch |
And so, Vladika John said that those who had gone astray from the Truth, the Soviet hierarchs, had fallen away from the Church; and now, while speaking as representatives of the Russian Church, are in fact self-styled and apostates, with whom there can be no communion, as had been indicated by Metropolitan Anastassy. For that reason, all of their rulings (declarations), actions and orders are without grace, unlawful and invalid.
But that does not mean that the whole enslaved much-suffering Russian people had betrayed Christ and had left Him; for already for more than sixty years, they have been waging a heavy battle with the enemies of faith and church, protecting and preserving the faith and their holy things. We know of numerous witnesses from there of the miraculous manifestations of the grace-filled strength of God, in no way connected with the 'official' Soviet church."
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Matushka Anastasia Shatilova, whose father was in charge of the ROCOR chancellery, said she saw a letter from St. John repenting with great humility that he had once wrongly commemorated the Moscow patriarch.
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In the book "Blessed John the Wonderworker" by Frs. Seraphim and Herman of Platina it is written: "At the end of the war, persuasion and pressure were brought to bear on Russian clergy everywhere to submit to the newly-elected 'Patriarch' of the Soviet Church. Of the six hierarchs in the Far East, five submitted; only Bishop John resisting all persuasions and threats, remained loyal to the Russian Church Abroad. In 1946 he was raised to the rank of Archbishop over all the Russian faithful in China."
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| "Patriarch" Alexis I |
Decree of his Holiness, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia to His Eminence Archbishop Victor of Peking and China.
Upon information received from his Eminence Archbishop Victor of China, and his Eminence Metropolitan Nestor of Harbin, a Ruling has been made on the situation of Church matters in the Religious Mission in China.
The determination of the Holy Synod as published in the Synodal Journal of the 12th of June 1946, No. 15, states: Agreeing to the request of his Eminence Archbishop Victor to appoint Bishop Juvenalis (formerly of Tsitsikarsk) under his jurisdiction, to replace and assume Shanghai’s Bishop John’s cathedra for his refusal to recognize the Moscow Patriarchate’s jurisdiction.
Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Alexis.
Head of Moscow Patriarchate matters,
Protopresbyter N. Kolchitsky
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The text below is excerpted from "One Church" Vol. XII #9-10 September - October 1958. It was published in the U.S.A. by the Patriarchal Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Catholic Church in America [this is the MP - editor]: "Presumably the Church in China was also reconciled at this time. At any rate by the Ukase of Patriarch Alexis of Moscow, dated 27 December 1945, the Mission in China was re-united to the Russian Mother Church and the break caused by the schismatic activities of the Karlovitz Synod [ROCOR] was healed.
But the perspectives for church work were somewhat clouded by the schism in 1946 of the vicar bishop of Shanghai, John Maksimovich, who took the lead in an opposition movement against the Patriarch and his ruling bishop at Peking. Through the intrigues of this hostile group, Archbishop Victor of Peking was arrested on false charges by the Shanghai military authorities on 19 October 1947 and it was only after energetic mediation by the USSR consular officials that he was set free."
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The Roman Catholic publication "The Eastern Churches Quarterly", Vol. VI, No. 6, (April-June, 1946), states: "The Orthodox Church is in a bad way, and is rushing toward a split. Archbishop Victor of Peking is definitely for the Soviets, while John of Shanghai has elected to stay independent."
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Iona Seraphimovich Ma reveals the intensity of St. John Maximovitch's struggles and the plans to murder him: "Unfortunately, I had to leave my family behind in Shanghai. During this period, Archbishop John provided assistance to my family. In 1945 Japan surrendered and I returned to my military service in counter-intelligence and anti-Soviet work in Nanking (the post-war capital of China).
At this time, the governing Archbishop of China, Victor, became a Soviet citizen and worked as a Soviet spy in Peking. Archbishop Victor began encouraging Russian emigrants in China to apply for Soviet citizenship and return to the Soviet Union. Many took his advice and did just that. Archbishop Victor was rewarded with Stalin's medal.
During this period, there were more than ten Russian priests in Shanghai. Some (Father Gabriel, Father Michael and some others) had applied for and received their Soviet citizenship. Others left China by other means. There were approximately 15,000 Russian emigrants living in China at the time. About one third or approximately 5,000 emigrants acquired Soviet citizenship.
However, Archbishop John refused to join the Soviet Party as Archbishop Victor had insisted that he do. Therefore, the Soviets ordered Archbishop Victor to come from Peking and forcefully occupy the cathedral in Shanghai. Their immediate plan was to have Archbishop John murdered. Another plan to dispose of Archbishop John was to first physically restrain him, remove him from the cathedral in Shanghai and deliver him to a Soviet ship waiting to take him to the Soviet Union...
After learning of the plan to kidnap and assassinate Archbishop John, I developed a plan to protect him and the cathedral in Shanghai, as well as other Orthodox churches in China. The same night I learned of the horrific plan of the assassination, I presented my proposal to the Chinese government. I must add that the Americans also supported Archbishop John and made a report similar to my own to the Chinese government; they were of great assistance in this endeavor.
Archbishop Victor was immediately arrested by the Chinese police, and a patrol of armed guards was dispatched to protect the cathedral in Shanghai and the person of Archbishop John day and night. The Chinese government recognized Archbishop John as the governing bishop in China. Later, I advised Archbishop John to apply for Chinese citizenship; finally he agreed. After processing all of the necessary documents for the archbishop, I personally delivered to Archbishop John the government approval. Only after the archbishop acquired Chinese citizenship did the Soviets abandon their plans to capture Archbishop John and take over the cathedral in Shanghai. Our beloved Archbishop John and the cathedral were saved."
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| St. John Maximovitch |
And finally, St. John Maximovitch himself compares the Sergianists to apostates who had fallen in times of persecution and who stood in need of repentance. Thus Saint John wrote: "Even among the hierarchs outwardly subject to the Soviet regime, many are inwardly tormented by this and when the opportunity will come, they will act according to the example of those at the Council of Chalcedon who declared with tears that they had given their signatures at the Robber Council under coercion, and according to the example of the Most Holy Patriarch Paul, who was tortured by his conscience and took the Schema in recognition of his weakness under the Iconoclasts."
St. John pray unto God for us!