Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco

Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco (Russian: Иоанн Шанхайский и Сан Францисский, romanized: Ioann Shankhayskiyi i San Frantsiskyi; born Mikhail Borisovich Maximovitch, Russian: Михаил Борисович Максимович; June 4, 1896 – July 2, 1966) was a prelate of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia who is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church. He is also referred to as St. John the Wonderworker and St. John Maximovitch. Mikhail Maximovitch was born in 1896 in the village of Adamovka of the Izyumsky Uyezd of the Kharkov Governorate of the Russian Empire (in present-day eastern Ukraine). Growing up, he collected icons and church books, and indulged heavily in the reading of the lives of saints. As a child, he converted his French caretaker from Catholicism to Orthodox Christianity. Maximovitch attended Poltava Military School from 1907 to 1914. Later, he attended and received a degree in law from Kharkov Imperial University in 1918. He studied and attended church in Kharkiv, where he was inspired by Metropolitan Antony Khrapovitsky to deepen his religious understanding. He later recalled that the local monastery had become more important in his life than secular institutions. John's family moved to Yugoslavia and brought him to Belgrade in 1921. In 1925, Maximovitch graduated from Belgrade University with a degree in theology. To support his impoverished family, he sold newspapers. In 1926, he was tonsured and ordained a hierodeacon by Russian Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), who gave him the name of John after his distant ancestor, John of Tobolsk. Later that same year, he was ordained to the priesthood by Russian Bishop Gabriel (Chepur) of Chelyabinsk. After his ordination, John reportedly stopped sleeping in a bed and only ate once a day. For several years, he worked as an instructor and tutor in Yugoslavia. He worked as a religious teacher in the Gymnasium of Velika Kikinda between 1925 and 1927.