Saint John of Kronstadt

John of Kronstadt or John Iliytch Sergieff (pre-reform Russian: Іоаннъ Кронштадтскій; post-reform Russian: Иоанн Кронштадтский; 31 October [O.S. 19 October] 1829 – 2 January 1909 [O.S. 20 December 1908]) was a Russian Orthodox archpriest and a member of the Most Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. He was known for his mass confessions, numerous miracles, and charitable work, as well as his monarchistic and anti-communist views. John is a saint of the Eastern Orthodox Church and is known with the epithet "Righteous". The future Saint was born as Ivan Ilyich Sergiyev (pre-reform Russian: Иванъ Ильичъ Сергіевъ; post-reform Russian: Иван Ильич Сергиев) on 31 October [O.S. 19 October] 1829 in the northern village of Sura, near the White Sea, in Arkhangelsk Governorate, Russian Empire. He came from a hereditary corporation of village clergymen, and his father was a poor dyachok in the local church. The little that is known about his early life is mainly from late memories. In his autobiography, he claims that his parents gave him to a parish school but that the study was too difficult for him. However, he prayed earnestly and received inspiration. He became the top student in the school and then in the seminary, which enabled him to enter the Theological Academy in Saint Petersburg, the Russian capital. He became the 35th out of 39 students who graduated from the academy in 1855. From 1855, he worked as a priest in Saint Andrew's Cathedral in Kronstadt, the naval base near St. Petersburg. He married the 26-year-old daughter of the archpriest of the cathedral. Benjamin (Fedchenkov) (1880–1961) writes that after the marriage, he surprisingly refused to have sexual relations with his wife, despite her complaints to the church authorities. Their niece Rufina lived with John and Elizabeth. The young priest behaved unusually: Not everyone perceived his innovations positively, especially church authorities.